Commonwealth War Graves General Cemetery Kranenburg Zwolle

The General Cemetery Kranenburg in Zwolle contains nine Commonwealth War Graves.

There are two crew members of the Wellington bomber HE864:

Flight Sergeant (Pilot) Dennis Wilbert Johnson, R/120884, age unknown
Flight Sergeant (Air Bomber) John Prosnyck, R/110932, age unknown

On 4 May 1943 at 2335 departed from RAF Dalton, the Wellington HE864 of No. 428 Squadron RCAF with the mission: a bombing raid over the city of Dortmund in Germany. The aircraft was part of a formation of 596 bombers, including 255 Lancasters, 141 Halifax, 110 Wellingtons, 80 Stirlings, 10 Mosquitos. HE864 was shot down over the Netherlands by the German night-fighter Uffz. Emil Heinzelmann, IV./NJG1 and crashed at 0216 near Zwolle. Of the five crew members, two were killed in the crash, they are buried in this cemetery. The other three crew members were taken prisoner of war by the Germans. In total 31 bombers got lost during this mission. The damage to the city of Dortmund was high.

There is one crew member of the Halifax bomber W7817:

Flight Sergeant (Air Gnr.) Frederick Thomas Stanley, R/1342121, age 20

On 4 May 1943 at 2301 departed from RAF Middleton St. George, the Halifax of W7817 of No. 419 Squadron RCAF with the same mission as the Halifax bomber HR667 described above. Halifax W7817 was shot by a German night-fighter and crashed down near Zwolle. Of the seven crew members, one lost his life, he is buried in this cemetery, the other six crew members were taken prisoner of war by the Germans.

There are three crew members of the Lancaster bomber ME722:

Sergeant (Air Gnr.) William Ernest Jones, 1061382, age 23
Pilot Officer (Pilot) Thomas Ivor Jones, 171649, age 21
Sergeant (Air Gnr.) Maurice Pickles, 1590407, age unknown

On 21 May 1944 at 2245 departed from RAF Elsham Wolds, the Lancaster ME722 of No.103 Squadron RAF, with the mission: a bombing raid over the city of Duisburg in Germany. The aircraft was part of a formation of 510 Lancasters and 22 Mosquitos. ME722 was shot down over the Netherlands by the German night-fighter Hptm. Martin Drewes, III./NJG1 and crashed at 0050 near Zwolle. Of the seven crew members, three died in the crash, they are buried in this cemetery. Two managed to escape but were taken prisoner of war by the Germans a few weeks later. In total 29 Lancasters got lost during this raid. Despite the clouds, the damage to Duisburg was large

There are three crew members of the Mosquito fighter bomber HR353:

Flying Officer (Nav.) Edward Harry Norman, 55626, age 23
Flying Officer William Alexander Greenshields, 409692, age 27

On 27 November 1944 at 1927 departed from RAF Thorney Island, Mosquito HR353 of No. 464 Squadron RAAF to perform tactical bombing of cities, roads, railways and military targets in the Ruhr. The unit was part of a formation of 17 Mosquitos with the same mission. The aircraft was hit by flak over the Netherlands and crashed near Zwolle. Both crew members were killed in the crash. They are both buried in this cemetery.

There is also a soldier who died on 10 May 1945:

Driver Edgar Ronald Bristow, 2161696, age unknown

We like to add more information about the casualties buried in these graves. If you know more about these graves, please contact us.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar.nl
• Photos: Dick de Bruijne
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• CHORLEY, W.R., RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, 1943, Midland Publishing, Hinckley, 2007.
• MAX HASTINGS, Bomber Command, Pan Macmillan, London, 1999.
• MIDDLEBROOK, M. & EVERITT, C., The Bomber Command War Diaries, Midland Publishing, 2011.
• W.R. CHORLEY, RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, 1944, Ian Allan Publishing, 1997.

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