"Baptism by Fire in the Night Sky": The First Combat Mission of B-26 Marauder The Gremlin II and 1st Lt. Theodore V. Harwood
456th Bomb Squadron, 323rd Bomb Group – Mission #235, August 13, 1944
In the predawn stillness of August 13, 1944, a young co-pilot, 2nd Lt. Theodore V. Harwood, prepared for his first combat mission in the skies over Nazi-occupied France. The aircraft that would carry him into battle was a weathered but battle-proven Martin B-26 Marauder, tail number 41-31708, affectionately known as "The Gremlin II", one of the most recognized ships in the 456th Bomb Squadron of the 323rd Bomb Group.
Stationed at RAF Beaulieu in Hampshire, England, Harwood and his crewmates were about to undertake Mission #235, a crucial night strike against a German fuel dump in Flers, France, part of the Allied strategy to cripple Nazi logistics in the weeks following the Normandy invasion.
The Crew of “The Gremlin II” – Mission #1 Roster
Pilot: 2nd/1st Lt. William B. Guerrant Jr.
Co-Pilot: 2nd/1st Lt. Theodore V. Harwood
Navigator: 2nd/1st Lt. John W. Kuczwara
Bombardier: 2nd Lt. Jack A. Reynolds
Engineer/Top Turret Gunner: Cpl./Sgt. John H. Knight
Waist Gunner: Sgt./T/Sgt. Velton J. O’Neal Jr.
Prelude to Combat: A Night of Shadows and Preparation
In a postwar interview with Maj. Gen. John O. Moench, Harwood recalled walking the moonlit English flight line and absorbing the surreal quiet before war. The aircraft around him were shrouded in darkness—Douglas A-20s, night-fighting P-70s, and the B-26s waiting like slumbering predators. Despite the stillness, the air buzzed with anticipation and the bitter odor of pre-dawn fuel exhaust.
Harwood described the ritual of preparing for potential capture: leaving personal items behind, stuffing French francs, silk escape maps, and a “butt-hole compass” into their flight suits—tools of survival if they were shot down over occupied territory. He remembered a French instructor teaching them two key phrases: “Je suis Américain” (“I am an American”) and “Je suis blessé” (“I am wounded”). For a young airman, this was not mere theater—this was the thin line between survival and death.
Into the Night: Takeoff and Formation
Shortly after briefing, the B-26s began firing up their Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engines—each putting out 2,000 horsepower. The runway lit only by signal flares and ghostly ultraviolet lamps inside the cockpits. Harwood vividly remembered white lines painted on the British runway that blurred past their windscreen as The Gremlin II clawed into the air at near-stalling speed. Barrage balloons, lowered by the RAF to allow safe departure, loomed ominously as the Marauder narrowly cleared them, gaining just enough lift to stay airborne.
Flight Over France: Instruments and Intuition
Harwood’s Marauder flew as part of a 37-plane formation (3 pathfinders and 34 bombers) toward Flers, maintaining radio silence, guided only by instruments and flares. Visibility was near zero inside the aircraft. Harwood described how “you could not see the other planes, not even inside your own plane.” Every third plane flew at a different altitude (staggered by 1,000 feet) to avoid mid-air collisions. The pathfinders dropped bright flares marking the Initial Point (IP) and the target, allowing bombardiers to take control of the aircraft for the bombing run.
As the 28 100-lb bombs from The Gremlin II rained down from 7,500 feet, distant flashes confirmed massive secondary explosions—an indication that the fuel dump had been ignited. Harwood recalled the eerie beauty of “distant, mute flashes” on the ground, followed by the shout from the bombardier: “Bombs away!”
Over Guernsey: From Shadow to Spotlight
On the return leg, the formation veered slightly off course and drifted over the German-occupied Channel Island of Guernsey, a fortress island bristling with flak batteries and anti-aircraft artillery. Suddenly, the entire sky burst into blinding white as a German aerial flare illuminated the aircraft like targets on a shooting range. A moment later, the dreaded 88mm flak guns opened fire.
Harwood recalled the terrifying power of the German air defenses: “The sky lit up with flare, flak blasts, and searchlights. We were silhouetted—just floating ducks.” Fortunately, no direct hits were recorded, though the shrapnel from an 88mm shell, capable of tearing through a bomber up to 200 yards from impact, passed dangerously close.
Post-Mission Debriefing and Reflection
Despite the flare and the concentrated flak barrage, all aircraft in the strike group returned safely. One Marauder was lightly damaged by flak over the target, but The Gremlin II emerged unscathed. Harwood, in a 1989 interview with researcher Ray Harwood, reflected:
"I don’t think I was frightened… It was just a new experience. At one point we hit prop wash so hard, we knew a 26 had just passed seconds ahead of us. And when the flare burst over Guernsey, it nearly blinded us—then came the flak. But we made it."
Maj. Gen. Moench would later write that the fuel dump raid caused "violent explosions and major fires." It was a critical success for the 323rd, weakening the enemy’s ability to respond to the Allied breakout from Normandy in the weeks after D-Day.
Legacy of “The Gremlin II” and Lt. Harwood’s First Mission
Harwood would go on to fly numerous missions aboard the Marauder, but this first night sortie—his baptism under fire—stood out as a defining moment in his combat experience. The Gremlin II, once flown by Capt. John D. Helton, the most prolific pilot in the 323rd, now carried a new generation of airmen into danger.
In its service, The Gremlin II became not just a machine of war, but a symbol of endurance, precision, and the sheer courage of those who braved the flak-filled skies of Europe. Mission #235 was more than just a strike—it was a statement: the 456th Bomb Squadron was now fighting by night, with surgical accuracy, in an air war growing ever more complex and deadly.
“I slept well that night.”
— 1st Lt. Theodore V. Harwood, recalling his first mission aboard The Gremlin II<
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