TALES FROM THE WESTERN FRONT

CHAPTER 3 ◊ JERICHO AND ALBERT

Down the Boulevarde d’Alsace Lorraine, over the Somme and up the D929 road which leads to Albert. Beautiful morning for a visit to a prison and a cemetery! The prison in question is the Amiens jail which lies on the left hand side of the Albert Road. With its high walls and generally forbidding appearance, it’s very easy to spot. Dodging the wacky racers, I cross over to visit the site of one of the most remarkable rescue missions of World War II, the Amiens Prison Raid, codenamed Operation Jericho. Yes, World War II. I know that I’m meant to be concentrating on the previous conflict but this is an opportunity to pay my respects to some very brave men.

On February 18, 1944, a flight of 18 Mosquito fighter-bombers took off from a snowbound airfield in southern England in an attempt to bring down the walls of Amiens Jail with bombs, similar to Joshua's stunt with his trumpets at Jericho in Biblical times. The reason for the 1944 attack was that, among the 700 or so inmates languishing behind bars, were 180 Resistance men whose presence was urgently needed to cause diversionary mischief in the build up to the forthcoming D-Day landings. The raid was also designed as a morale booster for the local Resistance who had had a disastrous winter with betrayal rampant, especially in the Abbeville cell.

So an audacious plan was conceived to use the high speed Mosquitoes in a low level attack designed to blow holes in both the exterior and interior walls of the prison in the hope that the Resistance men would be able to escape in the ensuing mayhem. The fact that twelve executions had been scheduled for February 19, to be followed very shortly by others, lent an air of urgency to the planning. This impending doom by firing squad also ensured that, in case of injury or death caused by the raiders, there would be no complaints from the prisoners since they were to die anyway. Either way the proceedings were going to be incredibly risky for inmates and fliers alike.

The attack was under the command of Group Captain ‘Pick’ Pickard, D.S.O., D.F.C. and involved 18 Mosquitoes. The three squadrons left RAF Hunsdon at 11.00 hours which meant that the attack on the prison would occur at about midday in the hope of catching the prison staff at their dinner. Crossing the Channel just above the wave tops in a severe snowstorm, the attackers made landfall near Dieppe and pressed on to Amiens. By this time the weather had greatly improved and so the fliers were able to come in at treetop height as planned, parallel with the road to Albert where today the only hazard is the traffic. After initial misses, the main objectives were achieved. The guards’ canteen took a direct hit and breaches were made in both the inner and outer walls through which prisoners were seen to be escaping. By this time the Germans were on full alert and struck back with anti-aircraft fire and Focke-Wulf 109s from the nearby airfield at Glisy. Of the Mosquitoes involved only two failed to return, one of which was Pickard’s. Going back to ride shotgun on the other non-returnee, Pickard was caught in a combination of flak and 109s giving his life in a vain attempt to help one of his colleagues.

The results of the raid were controversial locally at the time due to widespread collateral damage and the fact that, although 50 Resistance men escaped, so did 179 criminals, while a further 150 prisoners and guards lay dead or wounded. Nevertheless it was, to say the least, a most remarkable feat of arms which, like the Dambusters before, meant a great deal in terms of boosting morale both at home and amongst the Resistance. Traces of the raid still remain in the form of the repaired wall to the left of the prison entrance and a shrine and plaque which is dedicated ‘To the French patriots killed on 18 February, 1944, in this prison, martyred by the barbarous Nazis’. And, of course, there are the graves. There are always the graves.

About 200 metres up the road is the St Pierre Cemetery, one of Amiens’ municipal graveyards, with a CWGC extension at the back. Here lie bodies mostly from the Great War but also some from World War II, including those of fliers from the Jericho Raid. The sun was shining through the trees as I walked up the path, the only other people about being three old ladies industriously cleaning their family vaults. I found ‘Pick’ Pickard’s grave quite easily with that of his observer, John Broadley, beside him, together in death as they were in the cockpit. Pickard was 28 and Broadley 24. On Pickard’s grave is the well-worn epitaph ‘At the going down of the sun we shall always remember him’. I hope we do.