In Memory Of

BREYTENBACH, JACOBUS STEPHANUS JOHANNES

Service Details
Age:
 34
Date of Birth:
 1910-12-22
Service No:
 1520
Rank:
 Sergeant
Regiment:
 Umvoti Mounted Rifles, S.A. Forces
Date of Death:
 1945-04-19
Cause of Death:
 Died in air raid, whilst a POW in Germany. During the infamous marching column of POWs from Fallingbostel to Lubeck, where they would have been a potential "bargaining chip" with the Allies at the end of the war, a patrol of Royal Air Force Typhoons mistook the column for German troops and attacked with rockets and cannon fire. Close to 60 men were wounded and 30 were killed, as well as a few German guards. The Typhoons came back over for a second run, but brave POWs ran in the open field, waving their arms to stop a second attack, which the pilots did when realizing their terrible mistake
Commemoration
Grave Reference:
 11. E. 8.
Cemetery:
 BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY
Localitly:
 Berlin, Berlin
Country:
 Germany
Additional Information
Son of Jan Andries and Jacoba Maria Susanna Breytenbach, of Louwsburg, Natal, South Africa. Born Louwsburg. A motor mechanic. Captured at Tobruk. Commemoration stone in Vryheid Cemetery