The 1944 crashes

During the second world War, Seine Maritime was the target of numerous bombardments by the Germans and by the allies. In the spring and summer of 1944 communication axes and V1 launchpads were targeted. 116 of these pads were hidden in our department and instigated numerous attacks by allied bomber planes. In response, the Germans set up a very effective anti-aircraft system named FLAK (Flugabwehrcanone). Some of the planes that fell victim to  this artillery crashed in Frichemesnil:

On 20 June 1944 an aircraft formation was attacked by the FLAK at La Houssaye Berenger.. One of the planes crashed in flames onto Frichemesnil. It was an RAF, B25c Mitchell bomber, from the 320th squadron. This squadron was made up of Dutch airmen  who had fled  to England after the German occupation of the Netherlands. Their objective was the Grand Parc site near Rocquemont where the V1s were stocked. The four crew members died and their bodies were initially buried in the Frichemesnil cemetery before being transferred to the Dutch military cemetery in Orry-la-ville (Oise):

The four victims were -  the pilot, den Tex Bondt C.J.; the copilot, Luschen H.; a machine gunner, den Hollander L.; and the second machine gunner, Velleman J.H..

The Germans disposed of the remains of the bomber plane. All that remained was the rudder, which Joseph Levasseur, who became mayor of Frichemesnil, offered to the 320th squadron association in the Netherlands in 1989. Joseph Levasseur had witnessed the crash which had happened just a few dozen metres from his farm.

On 4 July 1944, the American lieutenant, Hubert Bischoff, of the USA 8th, parachuted out of his plane and landed in an apple tree near to Mme Ratel’s farm opposite the calvary in Frichemesnil. He was taken in charge by André Hurel, a member of the FFI, who then entrusted him into the private custody of M. André Colinot in Val-le-Bouvier. The lieutenant was then taken by André Gosse to the farm of M. Augustin Vittecoq in Montreuil-en-Caux, where he stayed until 3 September with other airmen before going back to London. André Gosse, nicknamed The Leopard, was the leader of a group of resistants  who saved the lives of 22 allied airmen. He especially transmitted a lot of information to London concerning German troop movements, anti-aircraft installations and the building of V1 ramps. These transmissions were made by clandestine radio or by carrier pigeons.