Name
Georg Anthony
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
30/08/1940
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
HITCHIN CEMETERY
No. 401
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Hitchin Memorials
Biography
A twin-engined Messerschmitt fighter of 4 Squadron, Destroyer Group 76, II Fliegerkorps, Luftflotte 2 which had taken off from Abbeville in France crashed on Ansell's End farmland at Whiteway Bottom Lane, Kimpton at 4.30pm on the 30th August 1940.
It was part of the fighter escort to a Staffel of bombers which had attacked the Vauxhall plant in Luton that afternoon. Both escorts and bombers were badly mauled after attacks by Spitfires from 19 Squadron based at Eastchurch and Hurricanes of 303 Squadron based at Northolt.
The air-gunner/wireless operator, Uffz Heinrich Nordmeier, bailed out and was taken prisoner. The pilot, Ofw Georg Anthony, was less fortunate and having been shot in the head and mouth, was still in the aircraft when it exploded. Only pieces of his body were recovered including his scalp of red hair. He had been born on the 29th May 1913 in Berlin. His Death Certificate was signed by Mr A.E. Lloyd, the Hitchin Registrar, who was to lose two sons in the RAF.
The incident was described by Jack Marshall, a farm worker, who was in the next field to where the plane crashed "I saw a formation of planes. Some fighters were in pursuit and one plane seemed to get cut off from the others and was chased by two fighters. There were two short bursts of machine-gun fire and the plane exploded and crashed". Cyril Butterfield said "As soon as it touched the trees there was a terrific explosion and it dived straight into the ground". Wreckage was strewn over a wide area.
His remains were buried in Hitchin Cemetery Grave No. 401.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, His Death Certificate, Mr A. M Foster, Mr F. Peters, Various German Sources, Herts Pictorial dated 3 September 1940
