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Archive Report: US Forces
1941 - 1945

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.

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15th Air Force
19.07.1944 342nd Bombardment Squadron (H) B-17G 44-6188, 1st Lt. David F. Haas

Operation: München (Munich), Germany

Date: 19th July 1944 (Wednesday)

Unit No: 342nd Bombardment Squadron (H), 97th Bombardment Group (H), 15th Air Force

Type: B-17G

Serial No: 44-6188

Code: Unknown

Location: Moosinning, Bavaria, Germany

Base: Amendola Air Base, Foggia, Italy

Pilot: 1st Lt. David Franklin Haas O-816682 AAF Age 22. KiA

Co Pilot: 2nd Lt. Hersha Franklin Davie O-819763 AAF Age 26. PoW *

Navigator: 2nd Lt. Frank Hall Coleman O-707515 AAF Age? PoW *

Bombardier: 1st Lt. Peter Joseph Parialo O-735142 AAF Age 27. PoW *

Radio/Op: T/Sgt. James D. Loomis 18048308 AAF Age 23. KiA

Engineer/Gunner: T/Sgt Harold Alfred Little 13118685 AAF Age? PoW **

Waist Gunner: S/Sgt Arthur W. Manosh 32855790 AAF Age 19. Murdered (1)

Gunner: Sgt. Edward J. Williams 32229134 AAF Age 27. KiA

Gunner: S/Sgt. Douglas Wade Hendricks 38458631 AAF Age 19. PoW **

Gunner: Sgt. Donald D. Black 15067769 AAF Age? PoW **

Tail Gunner: S/Sgt. George William Bernall 39903333 AAF Age 22. PoW **

* Stalag Luft 1 Barth-Vogelsang, today part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

** Stalag Luft 4 Gross-Tychow, Pomerania, Prussia now Tychowo, Poland (Moved from Stalag Luft 6 Heydekrug. Moved to Wöbbelin near Ludwigslust and then to Usedom near Swinemünde).

REASON FOR LOSS:

B-17G 44-6188 took off from the Amendola Air Base, Foggia, Italy on the morning of the 19th July 1944 on a mission to bomb the Ordnance depot in the Milbertshofen district of München (Munich). The raid damaged most buildings in the depot, including warehouses and sheds, as well as the main rail line, a choke point, and tank cars in a marshalling yard. B-17G 44-6188 was one of four B-17s lost on this mission. (extracted from the “Fifteenth Air Force against the Axis” - Kevin A. Mahoney).

Fighter activity was not reported so it is assumed that the aircraft failed to return to base because it was shot down by flak.

The Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) for this aircraft appears not to exist although there is a Publication and Fiche number for the MACR listed in the US National Archives. As a consequence there is no specific official information available regarding the circumstances of the deaths of the three of the four aircrew that perished or the capture of the remaining aircrew who became PoWs.

The referenced newspaper clipping reported that five United States airmen were captured when their aircraft crashed near Moosinning which is some 24 km (15 mls) NE of München. Two airmen were captured near Wifling which is some 5½ km (3½ mls) SE of Moosinning. Three other airmen were captured and one dead airman recovered near Oberneuching which is some 4 km (2½ mls) SSE of Moosinning.

(1) The exact circumstances of the death of one of the airmen was addressed by a Military Commission which was convened at Dachau, Germany on the 14th September 1945.

Three German civilians were charged in that they did, at or near Moosinning, Germany, on or about the 20th July 1944, wilfully, deliberately and wrongfully encourage, aid, abet, and participate in the killing of Arthur W. Monash, a member of the United States Army, who was unarmed and a PoW in the custody of the German Reich.

The three accused were an Anton Schosser who was a former Kreisstabamtsleiter (Nazi party District Office Manager); Josef Goldbrunner who was a former Obergefreiter (Acting Cpl) in the Wehrmacht and a leader in the Hitler Youth (possibly a Gebietsführer = Area leader); Alfons Jacob Wilm who was a former Kreishauptstellenleiter (Nazi party District Head Office Manager).

The counsel for all the accused requested and was granted a severance of the trial as to the accused Goldbrunner and Wilm. The prosecution agreed to proceed with the trial of Schosser.

Goldbrunner and Wilm were tried by a separate Military Commission at Dachau, Germany on the 17th September 1945 on the same charge. Each of the accused was found not guilty of the charge and they were acquitted.

The court heard that on the 20th July 1944, two American airmen, who had parachuted from their disabled aircraft, where captured in the locality of Wifling, Germany, and were brought to the police station at Moosinning by a Kaspar Heinzl who was a policeman of Moosinning. His police chief, a Johann Braun questioned the airmen and examined their ID Tags. They identified themselves as George Bernall and Arthur W. Manosh [sic], American airmen. Braun recorded this information and their army serial numbers in his daily journal.

Later that same day, Schosser, Goldbrunner, Wilm and the Ortsgruppenleiter (Nazi party Local Group Leader) and Bürgermeister (Mayor) of Moosinning, named Eschbaumer, arrived at the police station. Schosser said that he had been ordered to bring the airmen to Kreisleiter (Nazi party County Leader) Emil Breitenstein for an interview. He told Braun that after the interview the Americans would be escorted to the air base at Erding which was about 9½ km (6 mls) NE of Moosinning. Braun refused since the prisoners could only be released on the authority of Oberstleutnant (Lt Col) Wellner, the commander of the air base.

Schosser telephoned Breitenstein but still Braun refused the request. Braun then telephoned Wellner and explained the request and then listened in as Schosser took the phone and repeated the request to Wellner. Wellner yielded to Schosser’s plea that he be permitted to take at least the dark complexioned airman* who was S/Sgt. Manosh. During these conversations Goldbrunner and Wilm said nothing.

* This request appears to be motivated by Schosser’s concept of Arian purity and the Nazi party prejudices and by his desire to parade the airman as a murderer of women and children to the people. However, records show that S/Sgt Monash was white and of sallow complexion. S/Sgt Monash may have been suntanned and had the appearance of being other than white.

Braun refused to loan his service pistol to Schosser after which Schosser, Goldbrunner, Wilm and S/Sgt. Monash departed in the direction of Erding.

Braun left for Munich and upon his return was informed by one of his policemen that the airman has been killed by Schosser, Goldbrunner and Wilm. Braun reported the entire incident to higher authority.

The court heard that on that afternoon a Lorenz Liegl was cutting some hedges near the Mittlere Isar Kanal bridge, which is about 2½ km (1½ mls) from Moossinning. Liegl saw a car in which a prisoner sitting between Schosser and another unnamed German civilian pass over the bridge and stop on the far side.

At that moment a Frenchman came along with a mowing machine and spoke with Liegl telling him that the prisoner was the captured American airman. A shot was fired over their heads and the Frenchman left and Liegl was told to get on with his work. The car drove on for another 120 m (400 ft) or so and about five minutes later some shots were fired. Liegl rushed over the bridge and saw the airman sitting on the edge of the road. He had been shot and was trying to get up. Liegl heard Schosser tell Goldbrunner to fetch the machine pistol from the car. Goldbrunner handed the weapon to Wilm who then handed it to Schosser.

Schosser shot the airman in the neck and killed him. He then ordered Liegl, Goldbrunner and Wilm to throw the airman’s body into the canal, which they did. Liegl left the scene but then returned some 30 mins later and removed the airman’s watch. Moosinning policeman Heinzl identified a body on the 20th July 1944, which had been recovered from the canal adjacent to the bridge, as that of the dark complexioned airman released earlier from the police station.

In Schosser’s version of the events he claimed that on the outskirts of Mossinning he was stopped by a number of Luftwaffe personnel who questioned Schosser about the airman. When he could not produce any written authorisation or identification they took custody of the airman. Schosser claimed that the hand over was witnessed by an Amtsstellenleiter (head of office to a Kreisleiter) named Krere or Kresere who could not be found to corroborate his claim.

When Schosser heard that the airman had been killed he reported to Breitenstein. Schosser was evasive when questioned and gave the impression that he had killed the airman. Breitenstein appeared to be convinced that he, Goldbrunner and Wilm had murdered the airman.

At the later trial of Goldbrunner and Wilm, Schosser admitted that he had lied at his own trial and confessed to the killing and exonerated Goldbrunner and Wilm.

The court found Schosser guilty of the charge and sentenced him to death. Schosser was hanged at Landsberg Prison in SW Bavaria, Germany on the 21st January 1946.

Burial details:

The initial burial locations of the four airmen that perished is not known.

1st Lt. David Franklin Haas. Air Medal (Oak Leaf Cluster), Purple Heart. Interred at the Lorraine American Cemetery, St Avold, Plot 4G, Row 5, Grave 55. Relocated to Plot K, Row 17, Grave 28. Born on the 2nd September 1921 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Son to Lloris David and Bessie Michel (née Morrow) Haas from New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

T/Sgt. James D. Loomis. Air Medal (2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Purple Heart. Interred at the Lorraine American Cemetery, St Avold, Plot CC, Row 8, Grave 180. Relocated to Plot K, Row 21, Grave 5. Born in 1922 in Norwich, New London, Connecticut. Son of Percy H. (his father predeceased him) and Eva Mae (née Popham) Loomis of Norwich, New London, Connecticut, USA.

S/Sgt Arthur W. Manosh. Purple Heart. Repatriated to Pine View Cemetery, Warren County, New York. Born on the 22nd November 1924 at Glens Falls, Warren, New York. Son to Arthur Carl and Ada Belle (née Pendall) Manosh of Glens Falls, Warren, New York, USA.

Sgt. Edward J. Williams. Air Medal, Purple Heart. Reinterred at the Lorraine American Cemetery, St Avold, Plot 4J, Row 8, Grave 187. Relocated to Plot D, Row 9, Grave 25. Born on the 2nd May 1917 in Newark, Essex, New Jersey. Son of Lugi Pietro Coari and Clara (née Krajewska) Williams of Newark, New Jersey, USA.

Researched by Ralph Snape and Traugott Vitz for Aircrew Remembered and dedicated to the relatives of this crew. Thanks also to Traugott Vitz for his work on the ‘VitzArchive’.

Reference:

The Post Star (Glen Falls, New York) 17th September 1945, page 12, Columns A, B

RS & TV 05.01.2021 - Correction Stalag Luft 1 detail

Pages of Outstanding Interest
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CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
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Acknowledgments: Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
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