Alexander Kelso Shiels

This memorial page is dedicated to Alexander Kelso Shiels, one of more than 725 war victims connected to the municipality of Deurne documented by Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers. The municipality of Deurne and the surrounding villages of Liessel, Vlierden, Helenaveen, Neerkant and Zeilberg were liberated in the autumn of 1944 during heavy fighting. Victims fell on all sides: Allied soldiers from countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and New Zealand, and German soldiers.

But the archive covers more than just the combat victims on Deurne soil. Residents of Deurne who lost their lives elsewhere are also commemorated: civilians who were murdered in concentration camps, forced labourers who died in Germany, people who were executed or succumbed to the effects of persecution and oppression. In addition, residents of Deurne who entered German military service and were killed elsewhere are also included.

Stichting Oorlogsslachtoffers has been documenting the story of all these people since 1995, without distinction of nationality, side or background. The goal is to give every person a name and a face, and to keep their memory alive.

Additional information

Grave location: 24. F. 5.

Aged 21. Son of James Lyle Shiels and Catherine Wilson Shiels of Auchinloch, Lanarkshire.

During the night of 26–27 April 1944, Lancaster ND 873 was shot down whilst returning from a bombing mission on Essen by Oberfeldwebel Rudolf Frank (pilot), Oberfeldwebel Hans-Georg Schierholz (radio operator) and Oberfeldwebel Heinz Schneider (flight engineer), who launched the attack on the Lancaster ND 873 in a Messerschmitt Bf-110G4 night fighter from Nachtjagdgeschwader 3.

When, after several bursts of fire, the night fighter followed the Lancaster to check whether sufficient damage had been inflicted, the Lancaster suddenly lost altitude, preventing the night fighter from manoeuvring to the left or right in time, resulting in a collision with the Lancaster. As a result, the Nachtjager was so badly damaged that it too later crashed in the vicinity of Heeze. Oberfeldwebel Rudolf Frank was killed in this crash; Oberfeldwebel Hans-Georg Schierholz and Oberfeldwebel Heinz Schneider were warned in time by Oberfeldwebel Rudolf Frank, enabling them to safely eject from the aircraft using their parachutes.

The Lancaster crashed in flames near the ‘Astense Aa’ in the ‘de Berken’ nature reserve. Alexander Kelso Shiels, Harold Edward Dyerson, Roy William Laybourne, Alexander Strathern McJannett, Alfred Thompson McKay, George Edwin Nicholls and Lawrence Lindsay Smith were killed in the crash. They were originally buried in Venlo but were later reinterred at Jonkerbos War Cemetery.

Alexander Strathern McJannett and Harold Edward Dyerson most likely did not lose their lives on Deurns’ territory, but in Asten, on the other side of the Astense Aa.

Sergeant Major Rudolf Frank

Sergeant Major Hans-Georg Schierholz

View all persons in the category: Allied soldiers killed in action