NA121 - Luftkriegsarchiv Köln

During the approach to Bochum, the Halifax NA121 came under fire from several aircraft of Night Fighter Squadron 2. The Halifax was hit, severely damaged and the pilot Raymond Guise was killed.

The navigator Maurice Dabadie then ordered the crew to leave the aircraft. As the front exit hatch was jammed by the fire, only the radio operator Claude Alavoine and the air gunner Jaques Vautard were able to leave the aircraft and parachute to safety. Both reached the ground almost unharmed and became German prisoners of war.

The remaining crew members crashed with the aircraft near Hückelhoven and died in the process. Only two members of the crew, Maurice Dabadie and the pilot Raymond Guise, were identified and buried in the cemetery in Hückelhoven. Nothing can be determined about the whereabouts of the three other crew members.

The presumed mortal remains of Alfred Pothuau were transferred after the war to the Mémorial de la Résistance in Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure near the town of Angoulême (Charente), where a small memorial plaque commemorates him.