Joseph Ogg

Joseph “Joe” Ogg was born on the 12th of December 1922 to George and Ann Ogg in Enzie, Banff. Additionally, the family includes brothers and sisters: William, Peter, Betty, and Cathy.

At some point in the war, Joe was approached to join the Auxiliary Units.  Being young, familiar with the land, and in a reserved occupation, this made him a suitable choice. Joe operated with the Spynie Patrol, whose Operational Base was believed to be in Adroughty Woods west of Elgin. During the war, Joe worked as a farmhand for John Milne of Lachlanwell, Alves.

Joe enlisted in the Royal Artillery. In early 1944, the Spynie Section men were invited to London, along with others from across the country. They were told about the SAS and asked to volunteer. Joseph volunteered and joined the 1st SAS. He completed parachute training at RAF Ringway on course number 105B from the 1st to the 14th March 1944. He was then posted to 'B' Squadron, 'A' Troop, 1st Special Air Service Regiment, Army Air Corps.

In his SAS role, he took part in Operation Bulbasket, which involved dropping A troop of B Squadron, 1 SAS, into the countryside around Poitiers, France. Poitiers is situated around 200 miles behind the landing beaches in Normandy. Operating in the Vienne Department in the southwest region of France, the Squadron was deployed to harass and prevent German reinforcements from reaching the allied landing zones in Normandy. Its principal task was to destroy road and rail links and perform hit and run operations against German troops and prevent the 2nd SS Panzer Division from reinforcing the Germans in Normandy. The SAS targets were the railway lines from Limoges-Vierzon and Poitiers-Tours.

The advance party parachuted in on the 6^th of June 1944, followed by further drops on the nights of the 7th, 10th, and 11th of June, with an additional drop of 4 jeeps and four men on the night of the 17th of June. They operated just to the south of the demarcation line, which had marked the border between occupied France in the north and Vichy-controlled France in the south. Though the Germans had moved into Vichy-controlled France in November 1942, after the Allied landings in North Africa, this area was never as heavily garrisoned by the Germans as the north. There were troops in the main towns, but not in the smaller towns or villages.

Unfortunately, due to his aircraft swerving to avoid enemy ack-ack fire, Joseph was blown off course. He landed in the village of Airvault, literally among the German defenders. He managed to escape capture and joined the Maquis in Vienne, in the South of France. There he made the acquaintance of two other British parachutists, Corporal John Williams of London and Private Henry Pascoe of Wellington, Somerset.

On the 3rd July 1944, the location of their camp in Le Verriere Wood, near Poitiers, was betrayed to the Germans. During the resulting battle, 34 SAS soldiers were captured and later executed along with seven members of the French Resistance and a USAF pilot. Joe was wounded on July 3rd, 1944, while fighting with the Maquis in Le Verriere Wood, near Poitiers, against the 500-strong German army column based in Bonneuil-Matours. All three, along with a number of the Maquis, were taken to a French hospital. On the night of their arrival, the F.F.I raided the hospital and carried off the wounded Maquis.

The three British parachutists were discharged from the hospital and taken to Germany as prisoners of war. However, the Red Cross and the War Office were unable to find any supporting evidence.  It is believed that after they were treated at the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Poitiers, they were reportedly given lethal injections by Hauptmann Dr Georg Hesterberg and the bodies disposed of secretly.

A press report on Saturday, the 12th of August 1944, reported that Joe had been wounded and was a prisoner of war. Following this, no other information or contact materialised. A plea for information on his fate appeared in the press in August 1945. The parents of three British parachutists, one of whom hails from Moray, appeal for any information from returning prisoners of war regarding their sons. The Moray soldier, Trooper Joseph Ogg, whose parents reside at Surradale Cottages, Spynie, Elgin, was the last official news received of him. Neither the War Office nor the International Red Cross has been able to secure any information regarding him since. 

It was reported in the press on Saturday, the 3rd of November 1945, that Joseph's parents received official notification of His death. Joe is also remembered on the Alves Parish War Memorial as "TPR. JOSEPH OGG, S.A.S. LACHLANWELL

In January 1946, Dr Georg Hesterberg was arrested and sent to Camp 55 - Shalstone Camp, Shalstone, Buckinghamshire. From here, he was sent to the British military court at Wuppertal, Germany, where he was tried in a British military court and found guilty of the murder in July 1944 of 3 wounded SAS men by lethal injection.  Hesterberg was found guilty in April 1947 and sentenced to be hanged, but a further review found the case was not proven, and he was set free in 1952 after Lord Sholto Douglas, Commander-in-Chief of Germany, quashed the charge.

The Ogg family placed press advertisements in memory of Joe every year up to 1953.