Within the Burgwald forest, along the parks walking trails.

This site includes a memorial remembering the crew of the B-24 Liberator 42-7510 El  Lobo  of 579th Bombardment Squadron, 392nd Bombardment Group (Heavy), which was shot down by German fighters and crashed in a wooded area in Dinklage, Germany, during World War II. The memorial includes a plaque mounted on a large field stone and a marker with a wooden-framed photograph of the crew.

On 29 April 1944, El Lobo, piloted by 2Lt Bert Wyatt, took off from its home station at Wendling Airbase in the UK as part of a massed Eight U.S. Air Force strike against the Friedrichstrasse Railroad Station in Berlin to disrupt the German war industry. 

Overall mission included 751 bombers from eight B-17 and four B-24 combat wings -- organized into three forces. The 252 Liberators were the third force. Fighter support by 16 groups from the 8th Fighter Command (593 aircraft), four groups from the 9th Fighter Command (183 aircraft), and two RAF Mustang Squadrons (24 aircraft) was intended to ensure continuous escort for all units while over enemy territory.

Because the winds were both stronger and more northerly than predicted, the bombers were considerably behind the established time schedule. As a result, the B-24s had no fighter escort from just west of Berlin on the way in, through the target area, and for more than 320 kilometers on the withdrawal.

German fighters harassed the B-24s all the way from the target area west to the coast. Attacks were particularly strong in the Dümmer Lake area, and the German focus on stragglers caused two more 392nd Bombardment Group losses, including El Lobo. This aircraft crashed at 13:45 in a forest near the small town of Dinklage, Germany, about 370 kilometers due west of Berlin, with all 10 crew members killed. Several residents remember hearing the sounds of a gun battle, but could see nothing because of the clouds. Another saw El Lobo in the air just before it impacted -- neither of the right-side engines was working, and thick black smoke was coming from the forward part of the fuselage. 

The 580 U.S. bombers that made it to Berlin dropped over 1,408 tons of bombs with fair to good results. On the Continent, Eighth U.S. Air Force lost 26 B-24s, 38 B-17s, and 14 fighters. Several more crashed in England. 392nd Bombardment Group losses on this raid would be the second heaviest ever encountered in its combat history in terms of men killed and planes damaged or destroyed. Of the 181 men who departed Wendling on 29 April 1944, 71 did not return.

All ten El Lobo crewmembers were buried initially in the Forest Cemetery in Vechta, Germany, about 15 kilometers northeast of the crash site (GEOCOORD: 52.71752429, 8.295407770, website https://vechta.kirche-oldenburg.de/waldfriedhof ). In 1946, the U.S. Army Graves Registration recovered and re-interred all crew remains in Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium (also known as US Military Cemetery, Neuville-en-Condroz). In 1949, the families of 2Lt. Wyatt, 2Lt. Tufts, S/Sgt Womer, S/Sgt Monroe, and Sgt Sorrells requested that their remains stay in Ardennes, while other families received and reburied the remains of other crew members in the U.S.

Robert Franke, the brother of navigator 2Lt Douglas Franke, initiated efforts to erect a monument to the aircrew near the crash site. The local community dedicated the memorial stone in 2004, supported by representatives from U.S. Air Force Europe, including an honor guard of the 568th Security Forces Squadron from Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

Two crew members were medically grounded at Wendling and replaced before the fateful mission -- Bombardier 2LT Walter Gichan and Flight Engineer Sergeant Jack Goetz. Although Gichan died several years after the War, Goetz later visited Dinklage and recounted his deep personal connection with the crew and with the crash site.

Source of information: americanarchive.iwm.org.uk, www.af.mil, www.b24.net, www.nwzonline.de

Source of photos:  www.findagrave.com, googlemap

Am 29. April 1944 sturzte hier im

Burgwald ein Liberator-Bombenflugzeug

mit dem Namen ,,El Lobo''

der 392. Bomb Group ab.

Alle zehn Besatzungsmitglieder kamen

dabei ums Leben und wurden

in Einzelgrabern auf dem Waldfriedhof

in Vechta beigesetzt.

Ihre Namen:

2Lt. Bert Wyatt

2Lt. Aubert Tufts

2Lt. Douglas Franke

T/Sgt. Byron Hassett

S/Sgt. William Womer

S/Sgt. Robert Monroe

Sgt. John Sorrells

Sgt. Robert Thompson

S/Sgt. David Harbough

Sgt. Alfred Archambeau

Diese Gedenktafel wurde hier angebracht,

um die zehn Flieger sowie die vielen

anderen alliierten und deutschen Flieger.

Soldaten und Zivilisten zu ehren, die im

Kreis Vechta durch den Luftkrieg uber

Deutschland 1939-1945 ihr Leben verloren.

English translation:

On 29 April 1944, a Liberator bomber

from the 392nd Bomb Group named El

Lobo crashed in the Burgwald near here.

All ten crew members died and were

individually buried in the Forest Cemetery

in Vechta.

Their names:

2Lt. Bert Wyatt

2Lt. Aubert Tufts

2Lt. Douglas Franke

T/Sgt. Byron Hassett

S/Sgt. William Womer

S/Sgt. Robert Monroe

Sgt. John Sorrells

Sgt. Robert Thompson

S/Sgt. David Harbough

Sgt. Alfred Archambeau

This memorial is placed here to honor

those ten Airmen and the many other

Allied and German Airmen, soldiers, and

civilians who died in this area as a result

of the air war over Germany 1939-1945.

Marker text:

L-R: Staff Sergeant David E. Harbaugh, Staff Sergeant William S. Womer, Staff Sergeant Robert W. Monroe, Sgt Robert E. Thompson, Sergeant John F. Sorrells, Sgt Alfred P. Archambeau

L-R: 2nd Lieutenant Bert W. Wyatt, T/Sgt Byron E. Hassett, 2nd Lieutenant Douglas N. Franke, 2nd Lieutenant Aubert M. Tufts