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Lieutenant Antoine BALAS

BALAS Antoine Louis Marie was born on 8 January 1919 in the Bateau district of Vals-les-Bains, in the canton of Aubenas in Ardéche, and lived in Saint-Martin-en-Coailleux in La Loire. He was the son of Jean Baptiste Marie Joseph Balas, an industrialist, and Marie Louise Joséphine Delubac, but also the grandson of Marie Joseph Auguste Delubac, a silk manufacturer and, above all, the inventor, with Count Hilaire De Chardonnet, of artificial silk, which replaced the use of silkworms.
After higher education, he was still a student at the start of the Second World War. But his deferment was cancelled by the General Mobilisation Decree of 2 September 1939, and on 4 October 1939 he entered the Air Force School at Bordeaux-Mérignac.
On 2 December 1939, he was recruited as a special volunteer for eight years by the Bordeaux Military Intendancy, at the Bordeaux-Mérignac Air Force School (officer cadet in the flying cadre by direct recruitment) from 4 October 1939. For the record, he was a member of the ‘Pinczon Du Sel’ class, a French airman who was shot down on 16 October 1939!
On 20 March 1940, he was appointed second lieutenant in the flying corps, and on 9 May 1940 he obtained his pilot's licence.
On 1st July 1940 he was posted to the Salon-de-Provence air base. On 1 December 1940, he was transferred to the 1/51 Bombardment Group at Lézignan in the Aude department.
On 15 January 1941, he was transferred to the 1/25 Group of the 25th Bombardment Wing at Bizerte-Sidi-Hamed in Tunisia, which was equipped with Bloch MB 200 aircraft, robust but slow and nicknamed by many ‘the flying coffins’.

This 1/25 Group took part in the bombardment of Gibraltar on 25 September 1940, then from 17 June 1941 in the fratricidal fighting in Syria which ended on 14 July 1941, where it distinguished itself by obtaining the following commendations:
Mentioned in the Army Order on 6 December 1941:
- « Jeune officier plein d'allant. A effectué 11 missions de guerre du 17 au 30 juin 1941. S'est particulièrement distingué le 24 juin au cours d'un bombardement délicat en obtenant de très bons résultats malgré une vive réaction de la D.C.A ».

This citation is accompanied by the award of the Croix de Guerre with Palm.
Ordered by the Bombardment Air Force on 4 December 1941:
- « Jeune officier pilote observateur ardent. Volontaire pour toutes les missions aériennes de guerre. S'est particulièrement distingué le 10 juillet 1941, au cours du bombardement de la station de pompage T4 ». Cette citation lui vaut l'attribution de la Croix de guerre avec Etoile de Vermeil.

On 20 March 1942 he was appointed lieutenant, and on 1 July 1942 he married and had a son.
After the Allied landings on the North African coast on 8 November 1942, 25 Wing withdrew south of Algiers and came under British command from 24 January 1943. It took part in bombing raids against the Afrika Corps in Tunisia until April 1943, including night bombing raids in which Lieutenant Balas again distinguished himself with the following commendation:

Ordered by the Bombardment Air Force on 17 May 1943:
- « Brillant Officier Commandant d’Avion, plein d’allant, énergique, obtenant toujours le maximum de rendement de son équipage, a confirmé ses brillantes qualités pendant les opérations de Tunisie, au cours desquelles il a effectué cinq missions de bombardement de nuit. S’est particulièrement distingué le 18 avril 1943 en obtenant des coups au but sur le terrain de La Marsa, malgré les réactions violentes la D.C.A. ennemie.
Deux fois cité. Totalisant 62 heures de vol de guerre en 28 missions ».

On 28 September 1943, the 25th Bombardment Wing embarked in Algiers for Liverpool in England, where the French crews would spend 9 months training in RAF schools according to their speciality. These crews were then integrated into the Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command formations to form the following 2 French Heavy Groups:
- the ‘Tunisia’ Group, based on elements of the 1/25 Bombardment Group, which became RAF Squadron 347 equipped with Handley Page Halifax MK III type aircraft.
- the ‘Guyenne’ Group, from a squadron of the 2/25 Bombardment Group, which became RAF Squadron 346, also equipped with Halifax aircraft.
The ‘Tunisia’ Group flew its first sortie on 28 June 1944 from the Elvington base in Yorkshire, and the 2 French Heavy Groups carried out bombing missions against the nests of flying bombs in the north of France. In June 1944 they also took part in protecting the Normandy landings, then in autumn 1944 in supporting Allied troops in Belgium and the Netherlands, and finally in spring 1945, in bombing strategic sites in Germany. Between 1 June 1944 and 25 April 1945, the two French groups carried out 123 missions in which 194 crew members lost their lives.

On 8 August 1944, 7 Halifaxes from the ‘Guyenne’ Group and 6 from the “Tunisia” Group, with 3 Spitfires as escort, were tasked with bombing the ‘secret weapons site’ at Fromentel (Pas-de-Calais), 10 kilometres west of Saint-Omer. The site was a V1 launch pad. This formation of 16 aircraft took off at 18:51 from Elvington, then crossed the coast at Gravelines. Over Watten (Nord), the Halifax MK III aircraft, registration number NA529 L8-L from 347 squadron, 2nd squadron, led by Lieutenant BALAS, was seen by a witness but was already in difficulty, detached from the group as it had probably been hit by coastal anti-aircraft defences. At Watten it was again hit by the local anti-aircraft defences, which were very dense at this point, and it headed towards Saint-Omer along the Aa valley. Presumably hit again by the Wizermes or Setques anti-aircraft batteries, it arrived in Lumbres (Pas-de-Calais) with fire on board and losing parts. Above the town centre, an explosion, probably from a fuel tank, detached the left wing and the aircraft went into a spin: the point of impact should have been Mr Fatout's mill and the houses along the rue Anatole France. However, although it was distraught, the aircraft bent its fall over the roofs of the houses and crashed 200 metres further on, at the end of the pasture known as "du Tir à l'Arc", and the left wing and one engine fell along the river, near the mill. The other engine fell at no. 7 rue Anatole France, slightly damaging the back of a house.
The entire crew of this aircraft was made up of aviators from the French Air Force, whose names are listed below:

- Adjutant Léonce MILLET pilot

- Adjutant André David SIRE mecanich

- Lieutenant Antoine Louis BALAS aircraft commander and navigator

- Chief-Warrant Officer Jean MEYER bombarder

- Adjutant Jacques Jules DESRUMEAUX radio

- Sergeant Louis Georges ACEZAT Upper Machine-Gunner.

- Adjutant Georges Santoni FLAMENT rear machine-gunner.
Adjutant Meyer had jumped by parachute: he landed in a garden but the Germans machine-gunned him during his descent and he was killed before he hit the ground.
Warrant Officer Flament was found in a garden, covered by his parachute, which had not opened.
The other crew members had died because they had remained on board the aircraft.
The next morning, the Germans proceeded to bury the victims, who were taken to Longuenesse. Lieutenant BALAS, Adjutant MILLET and Chief Adjutant MEYER are now buried in the Bruyères cemetery in Saint-Omer (Pas-de-Calais). The bodies of the other airmen were initially buried in Longuenesse cemetery (Pas-de-Calais), then transferred to the cemetery of their home town.

Lieutenant Antoine BALAS received this final citation, alas posthumously, in the Air Force Order:

« BALAS Antoine Louis Marie, lieutenant du Groupe de Bombardement 1/25, officier sorti de l'Ecole de l'Air alliant aux plus grandes qualités militaires et professionnelles une valeur morale exceptionnelle. A toujours été pour ses camarades un exemple de droiture et de discipline, pour l'équipage qu'il commandait, un modèle de courage et d'audace. Le 8 août 1944, au cours d'une mission en territoire occupé alors que son avion avait été durement touché par la Flack au-dessus des côtes Françaises et dans des conditions de vol difficile, n'a pas hésité à continuer sa mission en dépit d'une violente opposition de l'artillerie anti-aérienne qui, le prenant à partie l'a finalement abattu. A de ce fait trouvé une mort glorieuse avec son équipage dans l'accomplissement de son devoir ».