THE STORY OF ROBERT ZEHBE.

   September 15, 1940: a day that has been passed down in history as Battle of Britain Day. On this day on the airfield of Nivelles near Beauvais, 1/KG 76 were about to take off shortly after 10-30am. Their Do 17s were to form up then head across the English Channel to make a landfall at Dungeness. Their route would then take them to their target of London’s dockland area. In the pilots seat of Do 17 werke No 2361 coded F1+FH, sat Oberleutnant Robert Zehbe a 27 year old from Kiel. 

   The attack was proceeding according to plan until the bomber force and its attending escort of Me 109s, had crossed the English coast. From now on the fighters of RAF Fighter Command would relentlessly attack the bomber force until it left the coast again on its return. Zehbe and his crew had been lucky. They had avoided the attacking fighters and even later, avoided the AA that had opened fire on the formation. However, their luck was to run out as they neared London. An engine was proving troublesome and would not provide full power. This caused the Do 17 of Zehbe to begin to lag behind the main force. When they reached the outer area of London, the Do 17 was some 500 yards behind the main force and presented itself as a target for any preying fighter.

   A number of RAF fighters had attacked the formation and as many as six had put the Do 17 of Zehbe under attack. Another Hurricane had spotted the lone Do 17 and was to put it under attack. This was the Hurricane of Squadron Leader John Sample, Commanding Officer of 504 Squadron, who was to note that the aircraft was showing, what appeared to him, as a red light. This, as he was later to note, was the burning interior of the Do 17. After delivering his attack on the hapless bomber, John Sample broke away and watched as one of his pilots, Sergeant Raymond Towers Holmes, carried out a further attack. However, running out of ammunition, Holmes’ Hurricane, whether intentional or not, collided with the Do 17 and finally sealed its fate. The Do 17, with its tail unit missing and its wings cropped outboard the engines, fell to earth in Central London.

   By now Zehbe had abandoned his aircraft and was floating down on London, as was Holmes. Zehbe was to come down in Kennington his parachute fouling on a telegraph pole. Drawn out into the streets by the sound of the overhead battle, the people of Kennington watched as Zehbe descended on them. Zehebe’s parachute already damaged, would be descending at a higher rate than usual, one of the panels being damaged. The populace of the surrounding area began to follow his line of descent arriving at an area where it was thought he would land. Zehbe’s parachute, unfortunately, snagged on a telegraph pole leaving Zehbe some feet from the ground. So far, all is fact and traceable. It is what happened next that is shrouded in myth and half-truth

   The crowd that had gathered around Zehbe were in an angry mood, of that there seems to be no doubt. A local ARP Warden was to record in his diary: ‘Enemy parachutist descended among hostile populace in Kennington.’ A reporter from the Daily Herald was also to note that Zehbe was to state: ‘Kamerad, Kamerad. I am an officer. I am an officer.’ Some sources still state that: ‘…the hapless Zehebe came down in Kennington where he was fiercely attacked by a mob of angry civilians…he died of his injuries and was buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery.’ No one doubts that Zehebe died from his wounds but these included probable bullet wounds as well as probable burns. It would appear that the ‘mob’ was made up mainly of women who were after one thing, the silk of Zehbe’s parachute. Grabbing Zehbe by the legs, they attempted to pull him down from his entrapment on the telegraph pole. No doubt Zehbe, faced with a shouting, baying crowd, was in some distress. As can be seen from the account of John Sample, the Do 17 was well ablaze at the time he attacked it. It had come under attack from no less than six fighters before John Sample attacked it. It would, therefore, be acceptable to believe that Zehbe, was at the very least, slightly wounded from any one of those attacks. He may well also have been burned judging by the eyewitness account of John Sample as to the state of the Do 17 when he saw it. However, some sources remain adament that, when Robert Zehbe descended on London, there was a violent assault against the German airman. This remains unsubstantiated

   Robert Zehbe was rescued, by the local police. Superintendent Gillies of Kennington Road Police Station who rescued Robert Zehbe from what was described as a ‘lynch mob’ arrested him. The police van then drove off, not along the road, but across the hallowed turf of the Oval cricket ground, as it took Robert Zehbe to Millbank Military Hospital. Was this move to escape the angry ‘lynch mob’ or an attempt to get Robert Zehbe to hospital as soon as possible because of his wounds? Either way, Robert Zehbe was to die the next day. The local police later handed a leather case, with personal items as well as documents belonging to Robert Zehbe to the RAF. This same case was later presented to Superintendent Gilles who, in turn left it to the metropolitan Police Museum where it still resides.

   In mid 2004, a TV documentary, formed around the recovery of Holmes’ Hurricane from beneath a London street, implied that Holmes was responsible for the destruction of the Do 17 on his own. No other pilots were mentioned in connection with the attack, neither was the plight of Robert Zehbe. The programme also stated that, the Do 17 was enroute to bomb Buckingham Palace. This appears to stem from the myth that one of the bombs landed in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. This bomb appears to have been thrown through the side of the stricken bomber by centrifugal force when the bomber was spinning down out of control. However, the truth does not sit so well as the myth, when applied to TV. Over the years Holmes’ own account of the incident has changed. It is reported that Holmes: ‘…later stated that his wing struck something during his attack….’ This is a different story from Holmes deliberately ramming the Do 17, a statement now widely accepted as fact in the myth of the Battle of Britain.

   If, as some have suggested, Robert Zehbe was attacked by an angry mob and beaten to the extent that he was later to die of his wounds, then this would be classed as a criminal act. However, the Metropolitan Police pass all enquiries on to the Metropolitan Police Museum. While they proudly exhibit Robert Zehbe’s Leather case, they remain noncommittal on anything to do with an attack on Robert Zehbe.

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