Operations Manna and Chowhound

1945 humanitarian food drops over the German occupied Netherlands by the Allies

Operation Manna and Operation Chowhound were humanitarian food drops to relieve the Dutch famine of 1944–45 in the German occupied Netherlands undertaken by Allied bomber crews during the last days of the war in Europe. Manna (29 April – 7 May 1945), which dropped 7,000 tonnes of food into the still Nazi occupied western part of the Netherlands, was carried out by British Royal Air Force (RAF) units and squadrons from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and Polish Air Force squadrons in the RAF. Chowhound (1–8 May 1945) dropped 4,000 tonnes and was undertaken by the United States Army Air Forces. In total, over 11,000 tonnes of food were dropped over one and a half weeks with the acquiescence of the occupying German forces to help feed Dutch civilians in danger of starvation. After it was realised that Manna and Chowhound would be insufficient, a ground based relief operation named Operation Faust was launched. On 2 May, 200 Allied trucks began delivering food to the city of Rhenen, behind German lines.

By early 1945, the situation was growing desperate for the three million or more Dutch still under German control. Prince Bernhard appealed directly to Allied Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, but Eisenhower did not have the authority to negotiate a truce with the Germans. While the prince got permission from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eisenhower had Air Commodore Andrew Geddes begin planning immediately. On 23 April, authorisation was given by the Chief of Staff, George Marshall. Allied agents negotiated with Reichskommissar Arthur Seyss Inquart and a team of German officers. Among the participants were the Canadian future writer Farley Mowat and the German commander in chief, General Johannes Blaskowitz. It was agreed that the participating aircraft would not be fired upon within specified air corridors.

The British operation started first. It was named after the food which was miraculously provided to the Israelites in the Book of Exodus. The planning of the operation was initially done by the Royal Air Force. The first of the two RAF Avro Lancasters chosen for the test flight, the morning of 29 April 1945, was nicknamed Bad Penny, as in the expression "a bad penny always turns up". This bomber, with a crew of seven young men (five from Ontario, Canada, including pilot Robert Upcott of Windsor, Ontario), took off in bad weather despite the fact that the Germans had not yet agreed to a ceasefire. (Seyss Inquart would do so the next day.) Bad Penny had to fly low, down to 50 feet (15 m), over German guns, but succeeded in dropping her cargo and returning to her airfield. Operation Manna then began in earnest. British aircraft from 1 Groups, 3 Group, and 8 Group took part, with 145 sorties by Mosquitoes and 3,156 by Lancaster bombers. The bomber crews were experienced with bomb drops from but this operation was performed at a height of , some even flying as low as , as the cargo did not have parachutes. The drop zones, marked by Mosquitoes from 105 and 109 Squadrons using Oboe, were: Katwijk (Valkenburg airfield), The Hague (Duindigt horse race course and Ypenburg airfield), Rotterdam (Waalhaven airfield and Kralingse Plas) and Gouda. Bomber Command delivered a total of 6,680 tons of food. John Funnell, a navigator on the operation, says the food dropped was tinned food, dried food and chocolate. The idea was for people to gather and redistribute the food, but some could not resist eating straight away, which caused some people to get sick and vomit, (and some died) a result that fatty food can have in starved bodies known as refeeding syndrome. On the other hand, distribution sometimes took as long as ten days, resulting in some getting the food only after the liberation. Many lives were saved, and it gave hope and the feeling that the war would soon be over.

On the American side, ten bomb groups of the US Third Air Division flew 2,268 sorties beginning 1 May, delivering a total of 4,000 tons. Four hundred B 17 Flying Fortress bombers of the United States Army Air Forces dropped 800 tons of K rations during 1 to 3 May on Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. At least one B 17 crew, that of the Stork Club from the 550th squadron received battle recognition despite having no guns for their humanitarian mission, as a result of receiving fire from German flak.

Three aircraft were lost: two in a collision and one due to engine fire. Bullet holes were discovered in several aircraft upon their return, presumably the result of being fired upon by German soldiers who were unaware of, or violating, the ceasefire.

Earlier, before the start of the airdrops, there had been a distribution of white "Swedish bread" made from Swedish flour that was shipped in and baked locally. A popular myth holds that this bread was dropped from aircraft, but that is a mix up between the air operations and another humanitarian assistance whereby flour from Sweden was allowed to enter Dutch harbours by ship. Also, no food was dropped using parachutes during operations Manna and Chowhound, as is often wrongfully claimed.

A commemorative plaque to thank the Royal Air Force for their help in mounting Operation Manna was presented in May 1980 by Dr. Willem Scholten, Minister of Defence of the Netherlands and is displayed in the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, England. On 28 April 2007, British Air Commodore Andrew Geddes was honoured when a hiking trail in the Rotterdam district of Terbregge, the Air Commodore Geddespath, was named after him. This path goes past the Manna/Chowhound monument in the noise barrier of the northern highway ring road around Rotterdam. The official unveiling of the plaque was performed by Lieutenant Commander Angus Geddes RN (Geddes's son) from England and Warrant Officer David Chiverton from Australia (Geddes's grandson).

Operation Chowhound was featured in episode 9 of Masters of the Air, a television miniseries for Apple TV+ from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.