During the Covid lockdown of 2020 Mr Leslie Cousins was surprised to discover his fathers personal diary amongst family papers. He was very generous and provided me with a copy.
This post is about Pilot Officer Herbert Leslie Cousins diary and the mission on which he paid the ultimate price. He was flying on a daylight called Operation Sunrise on 24 July 1941, as a member of 144 Squadron RAF based at RAF North Luffenham.
P/O Cousins and his wife Almer (married 28 October 1940) had one child, a son called Leslie, who was born in 1942 some nine months after his father’s death. P/O Cousins was killed by enemy fire during a raid on the Nazi capital ships docked in Brest, France on 24 July 1942. The Hampden aircraft he was the navigator/bomb aimer for returned to the UK but he had been fatally injured during the raid and was declared dead on landing. He is buried in St Illogan’s churchyard, near Redruth in Cornwall.
P/O Cousins joined the RAF on 3 June 1940 – leaving his role at Price Waterhouse and Co Chartered Accountants. He trained at RAF Cranwell, RAF Cranage, RAF Cottesmore (operational training unit) and was posted to a Hampden bomber squadron at RAF Hemswell in May 1941. The squadron moved to RAF North Luffenham on July 1941.
The diary covers the period 1 January 1941 to his death on 24 July 1942. It is written about his day to day experiences and observations about his domestic life. His diary reflects that life in 1941 was uncomfortable and sometimes unpleasant. His numerous rented accommodation (he had his wife Alma with him, whom he married in 28 October 1940) sounds hard.
In service life he had little income, travel across the country by train was tortuous and required many changes. He comments that his wireless and bicycle were sometimes rented and he had no car. He comments on some ‘dreadful’ Rutland land ladies!
In 1941 the winter weather was freezing and particularly in the air at altitude. He frequently mentions beer, and the lack of it. His most frequent off duty entertainments were ‘the flicks’and also bridge in the evenings. He did a lot of reading and spent much time wrestling with fiendish ‘Torquernada’ crosswords.
His diary reveals that weather was always commented on, other topics were frustration at bits of inadequate kit and orders, rumours (such as the invasion flap). He often comments that stuff was u/s – which is service slang for unserviceable.
One entry records that he has realised in July 1941 that 6 or 7 of his Cottemore course of 11 students were all dead. He also witnessed an Avro Manchester crash in flames near the airfield and he saw 2 airmen bale out, he desribed watching that as ‘horrible’ (this was probably a 61 Squadron Manchester, whose engines regularly failed resulting in fire).
In July 1941, the war was not going well. Britain stood alone and the Nazis occupied most of mainland Europe. Britain as always (as it is now) is dependent on imports of food and materials. After the fall of France, the Germans with battleships, U boats and the Focke Wulf Condor aircraft were once again trying to throttle Atlantic supply routes. The threat of invasion was also still present.
In May 41, the dramatic chase of the Bismark had taken place and she was hit by the HMS Prince of Wales and later by torpedoes launched by Fairy Swordfish aircraft. Whilst the Bismark was sunk the Nazis still had 3 of their largest fast offensive ships based in Western France which could challenge the Atlantic lifeline. This was a threat to national survival and at the time it was a critical target to be attacked.
The two battleships were the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau. These ships were about 236m long and carried 11 inch guns and were capable of over 31 knots. The third ship was the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen in Brest was armed with 8 inch guns, 207m long and was capable of over 30 knots.
The RAF was tasked with bombing the ships in port, mining approaches and also using torpedos. It was a major objective. The target was extremely well defended with fighters and flak. At the time the RAF jokingly referred to the three ships as the ‘Brest Bomb Target Flotilla’ and the RAF bombed and went back and bombed again and again to the French ports. Continually taking losses in machines and men. Eventually it led to the German Navy moving the ships in the Channel Dash on 11 February 1942.
Bombing and mining raids from North Luffenham and Woolfox would continue from early 1941 all the way through to the Channel Dash (e.g three 61 Sqn Manchesters were lost on the night of 31 Jan/1Feb 42 – 14 dead, 8 POW and 1 evader). A cursory count in Bomber Command Diaries shows that the target had been attacked 28 times before Op Sunrise.
On 24 July 1941 a major RAF operation called ‘Operation Sunrise’ was put into effect to bomb the ships Brest in daylight. However, the Sharnhorst had been moved to La Pallice which caused the raid plan to be modified. It was originally intended to task about 150 aircraft against Brest. This raid was now was split to the 2 ports. This would be no easy target. It was unlikely to be of any surpise to the defenders. The docks would be well defended with fighters, anti-aircraft guns and smoke to obscure the target. It would be considered a ‘cold courage’ target but because of its strategic significance, one where the RAF was prepared could expect to take heavy losses for the national effort.
During the Operation the RAF lost 21 aircraft for the 151 aircraft bombing (13.9 percent). Of the 660 men flying that day about 68 were killed, 38 went in captivity and 6 aircrew evaded capture (note these figures may be inaccurate). The Halifax and Wellington forces took serious casuaties. Hits were made on the warships – 4 on Gneisenau and 3 on Scharnhorst. The raid was judged a success, as the Sharnhorst was returned to Brest for repair, taking 4 months. The ships never sailed on raids and were moved to Bremerhaven in the Channel Dash (see post: http://www.rafnorthluffenhamheritage.me.uk/?tag=channel-dash
The individual losses are in the Bomber Command Losses book for 1941. Pilot Officer Cousins death was not recorded in Bomber Command Losses as the aircraft was not lost. His death is recorded in the unit operations record book (Form 540). Also a 144 Squadron Hampden was lost when it was shot down by fighters – Flt Lt Barr (3 killed and 2 POW).
Plt Off Cousins is buried in St Illogan’s Church in Redruth Cornwall.
This post is incomplete, as the detail of what the crew did exiting the target area and how they fought fighters back across the channel and semi-crash landed at Predannack in Cornwall needs to be told in Part 2 of this post about P/O Cousins.
As I have stated before, as the stories about individuals crystalise I become more humbled and P/O Cousins sacrifice is one of cold courage, knowing that an attack in daylight would be costly and a true determined fight against fighters, flak and the environment. This is the definition of a battle. The dramatic illustration below is from a painting in the RAF Club in London (artist unknown).
