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Royal Air Force Bomber
Command 60th Anniversary
Campaign Diary
1941
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September
More favourable weather brought an increase in operational tempo
during the early part of September. 140 aircraft were despatched to
Brest during the night of the 3rd/4th, but were recalled due to deteriorating
weather. However, 53 aircraft failed to receive the signal and continued
the mission, bombing the estimated position of German warships through
a smoke-screen with little success. The heaviest raid on Berlin to
date was flown during the night of the 7th/8th when 197 aircraft (Wellingtons,
Hampdens, Whitleys, Stirlings, Halifaxes and Manchesters) attacked
the German capital. Fifteen aircraft were lost. The daylight career
of No 90 Squadron and its Fortresses was brought to a halt less than
two months after it had started, the type having had little success
in the high-altitude daylight role since its first operation in early
July.
October
The month did not start promisingly with only small-scale operations
possible by day or night and then, between the 5th and 10th, no operations
at all because of poor weather. It wasn't until the night of the 12/13th
that any real activity was recorded. That night, 373 aircraft (a new
highest total) were involved in operations - 152 to Nuremberg, 99
to Bremen, 90 to H�ls with 32 on minor operations such as minelaying.
The Nuremberg raid highlights the problems of navigating by dead reckoning
with a changeable wind as bombs were reported from Stuttgart, 95 miles
west of the target and Lauingen 65 miles away. The crews sent to the
other main targets were only marginally more successful. Two nights
later, 80 aircraft returned to Nuremberg but again encountered very
bad weather and only 14 aircraft claimed to have hit the intended
target. The weather continued to interfere with Bomber Command's activities
and it wasn't until the night of the 20th/21st, when 284 aircraft
were in action, that any sizeable number of missions was flown. On
that night, Bremen was raided by 153 aircraft, Wilhelmshaven by 47
aircraft, Emden by 36 and Antwerp by 35 (none of which attacked because
of complete cloud cover). The remaining sorties were Gardening and
Nickelling. The daylight Channel Stop operations involving the Blenheims
were becoming less productive and losses were increasing and these
missions finally ended in early November. The operations, it was believed,
had accounted for 101 ships sunk or seriously damaged (it was, in
fact, only 29) with 139 aircraft lost.
November
A new record number of sorties was flown during the night of the
7th/8th, when 392 aircraft were despatched with the main objectives
being Berlin (169 aircraft), Cologne (75) and Mannheim (55). The Berlin
raid suffered not only from cloud obscuring the target, but also at
the hands of flak and fighters. 21 aircraft (12.4%) were lost
(10 Wellingtons, 9 Whitleys and 2 Stirlings). Overall, 37 aircraft
failed to return, a rate of 9.4%. These losses were rapidly swinging
the balance against Bomber Command - indeed, no air force could sustain
this amount of losses for any length of time and, in an attempt to
rebuild the Command's confidence, less well-defended targets were
chosen for future attacks. In four months, Bomber Command had lost
the equivalent of its entire frontline strength, 526 aircraft, and
morale on the squadrons was low.
On the 13th, the Air Ministry dropped the bombshell to the Command's
AOCinC, Air Marshal Sir Richard Pierse, that the bomber offensive
in its present form was to be stopped whilst the future shape and
tactics of Bomber Command was debated. With the exception of a few
minor raids in the following months this is exactly what happened
and, by early January, Pierse had been posted from his position.
December
Operations continued at a very slow pace. The highest number of sorties
for a single night during December was 251 during7th/8th December
when Aachen and Brest were the two main objectives. The Brest attack
marked the operational debut of Oboe when Stirlings from Nos 7 and
15 Squadrons used the device on this raid. The remaining days and
nights passed fairly quietly, but Brest was the recipient of repeated
attacks, and on the 18th, a daylight raid reported that, at long last,
the Gneisenau, still harboured in the port, was hit during an attack
by 47 aircraft. No 2 Group's Blenheims, joined by Hampdens from No
5 Group, took part in the first combined operation of the war. While
a force of Commandos was landed on the island of Vaags� off the Norwegian
coast, the Blenheims made diversionary attacks on shipping off the
coast and enemy-held airfields. The Hampdens meanwhile, attempted
to lay down a smoke-screen for the landing and bomb gun positions.
Although the raid was deemed a success, 8 aircraft of the 29 despatched
were lost (27.5%). The Blenheims also undertook a new kind of
operation - night intruder attacks - on German airfields before the
end of the month, successfully striking Soesterberg airfield in Holland
with bombs and attacking 2 German bombers in the air with guns. The
final bombing raids of note were made during the night of 28th/29th
December when 217 sorties were flown with Wilhelmshaven, H�ls and
Emden the main targets.
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