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� Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th AnniversaryCampaign Diary
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3 Mosquitos to Germany but only 1 aircraft bombed, at Hannover. No losses.
Duisburg
216 aircraft of 5 types. 5 aircraft - 2 Halifaxes, 2 Stirlings, 1 Wellington
- lost.
Most of the bombs fell in open country west of the target. Duisburg
reports 18 buildings destroyed, 66 seriously damaged and 24 people killed.
Minor Operations: 5 aircraft to Le Havre but this force did not bomb, 3 Blenheim Intruders, 1 Lancaster minelaying in the Frisians. No losses.
3 Mosquitos to Germany but only 1 bombed, at Mannheim or Worms. No losses.
12 Lancasters minelaying in Kiel Bay and off Denmark. No losses.
3 Mosquitos to Germany but only 1 bombed, at Frankfurt. No losses.
Osnabr�ck
192 aircraft - 91 Wellingtons, 42 Lancasters, 40 Stirlings, 19 Halifaxes. 3 Halifaxes and 3 Wellingtons lost.
Visibility was good but the initial flares were dropped over a wide area. Osnabr�ck's report shows that 206 houses and 1 military building were destroyed and nearly 4,000 other buildings were damaged, mostly lightly. Among industrial buildings hit were a vehicle works, a gas-meter factory, a textile factory and an iron foundry. 62 people were killed - 40 civilians, 17 foreign workers, 5 service or air-raid men - and 107 injured.
Minor Operations: 18 aircraft to Le Havre, 13 Blenheim Intruders, 3 aircraft minelaying in the Frisians. No losses.
An important event which occurred on this night was the first effective jamming by the Germans of Gee signals.
3 Mosquitos to Germany but only 1 aircraft bombed at Cologne. No losses.
Minelaying: 52 aircraft to Kiel Bay and the Danish coast. 1 Lancaster and 1 Stirling lost.
Mainz
154 aircraft - 68 Wellingtons, 33 Lancasters, 28 Stirlings, 25 Halifaxes - on the first large raid to this city. 6 aircraft - 3 Wellingtons, 2 Halifaxes, 1 Lancaster - lost.
Much damage was caused in the centre of Mainz. The number of people killed is believed to be 152 - 87 men, 64 women and 1 soldier - but there may be some doubt about this.
Minor Operations: 16 aircraft to Le Havre, 9 Blenheim Intruders, 9 Hampdens minelaying in the Elbe, 3 Lancasters on leaflet flights. 1 Halifax and 1 Lancaster lost on the Le Havre raid.
1 Mosquito attacked a chemical factory at Wiesbaden but its bombs fell short. The aircraft returned safely.
Mainz
138 aircraft of 4 types followed up the previous night's raid. 5 aircraft - 2 Lancasters, 1 Hampden, 1 Stirling, 1 Wellington - were lost.
More damage was caused in the centre of Mainz and also in industrial
areas. The main railway station was seriously damaged. Again there is
some confusion over casualties; figures of 40 and 163 are quoted for
numbers killed.
The town of Bingen, 15 miles west of Mainz, recorded that the nearby
villages of Kempten and Gaulsheim were each hit by a 4,000lb bomb on
this night. 130 houses were damaged in Kempten and 97 in Gaulsheim but
only 1 person, in Kempten, was injured.
Minor Operations: 6 Blenheim Intruders, 9 aircraft minelaying in the Frisians, 2 Lancasters on leaflet flights. No losses.
7 Bostons on a shipping sweep off the Frisian Islands claimed 1 ship sunk and 1 Mosquito bombed Essen. No aircraft lost.
Minelaying: 36 aircraft to many locations along the German and Dutch coasts. 1 Stirling lost.
1 Mosquito to Mannheim turned back.
1 Mosquito to Mainz was lost.
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D�sseldorf
131 aircraft of 5 types. 4 aircraft - 2 Lancasters, 1 Hampden, 1 Wellington - lost.
Visibility was poor and the bombing was scattered. D�sseldorf and Neuss reports only a light raid, the most serious incident being in the centre of Neuss where a 4,000lb bomb caused much blast damage to buildings. 1 person was killed in Neuss, none in D�sseldorf; 13 people were injured. No industrial production of any kind was lost as a result of this raid.
9 aircraft laid mines in the Frisians. 1 Stirling lost.
1 Mosquito bombed Vegesack and returned safely.
Minelaying: 56 aircraft to the Frisian Islands. 2 Lancasters lost.
1 Mosquito bombed the Kiel area and returned safely
Osnabr�ck
139 aircraft of 5 types. 5 aircraft - 3 Wellingtons, 1 Lancaster, 1
Stirling - lost, 3.6 per cent of the force.
111 crews reported accurate bombing. Osnabr�ck recorded a sharp
attack on the north and north-western parts of the town with 77 houses
and 4 military buildings destroyed and 125 other buildings seriously
damaged, including the town's main hospital, a paper-mill and a copper-wire
factory. 7 people were killed and 15 were injured.
Minor Operations: 8 Blenheim Intruders, 4 aircraft minelaying in the Frisians and off Texel and Verdon. No aircraft lost.
The last operational flights in Bomber Command by Blenheims were carried out on this night when 18 Squadron, based at Wattisham, carried out the last Blenheim Intruder operation, attacking airfields at Leeuwarden, Rheine, Twente and Vechta.
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1 Mosquito bombed Hamburg, which reports 2 people killed, 32 injured and 31 bombed out.
Flensburg
118 aircraft, including 31 Pathfinders. 4 aircraft - 2 Wellingtons, 1 Halifax, 1 Stirling - lost, 3.4 per cent of the force.
Flensburg, on an inlet of the Baltic, was in theory an easy target for the Pathfinders on their first operation but the winds encountered were not as forecast and the bomber force drifted north of the target to a part of Denmark whose coast also had many inlets. 16 Pathfinder crews claimed to have marked the target area and 78 Main Force crews also claimed to have bombed in the correct place. Flensburg reports that the town was not hit at all but a Danish report shows that the towns of S�nderborg and Abenra and a large area of Denmark up to 25 miles north of Flensburg were hit by scattered bombing. 26 houses were destroyed and 660 were damaged but only 4 Danish people were injured.
9 Wellingtons laid mines in the Frisian Islands without loss.
The Dieppe Raid
2 Group flew 62 Boston smoke-laying and bombing sorties in support of the Canadian landing at Dieppe; some crews carried out more than 1 flight. 3 Bostons were lost.
1 Mosquito sent to bomb Bremen did not return.
| The Dieppe Raid | ||
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Minelaying: 57 aircraft laid mines at many places from Brest to Danzig. 3 Stirlings and 3 Wellingtons lost. 5 Halifaxes made leaflet flights to France without loss.
1 Mosquito bombed Chocques power-station and returned safely.
3 Halifaxes dropped leaflets over Paris without loss.
6 Wellingtons on cloud-cover raids to Bremen but only 2 aircraft bombed, at Emden. 1 Mosquito to Flensburg. No aircraft lost.
Frankfurt
226 aircraft - 104 Wellingtons, 61 Lancasters, 53 Stirlings, 8 Halifaxes. 16 aircraft - 6 Lancasters, 5 Wellingtons, 4 Stirlings, 1 Halifax - lost, 7.1 per cent of the force. 5 Pathfinder aircraft, including that of the commanding officer of 7 Squadron, were among the aircraft lost.
This was the second Pathfinder-led raid and the Pathfinder crews again experienced great difficulty in locating the target in cloudy conditions; most of the bombing fell in open country north and west of Frankfurt. Local reports say that some bombs fell in the city, with 17 large and 53 small fires and with moderate property damage. 5 people were killed, including 2 Flak gunners, and 95 people were injured. The outlying villages of Schwalbach and Eschborn were heavily bombed.
3 Lancasters of 5 Group were sent to bomb specific targets in the towns of Bingen, Mayen and Bad Kreuznach, all on the approach route of the main bomber force to Frankfurt. Bad Kreuznach was believed to be the location of the German Western Army Headquarters. All 3 Lancasters bombed and returned safely. The town records of Bingen describe the explosion of their Lancaster's 4,000lb bomb near the famous Ehrenfels mountain overlooking the Rhine. 225 houses in Bingen were damaged by the blast!
6 Wellingtons minelaying in the Frisians without loss.
4 Mosquitos to Hannover, Brauweiler and Cologne. 3 aircraft bombed with unseen results; 1 was lost.
12 Bostons bombed Abbeville airfield, 4 Mosquitos to Holland and Germany. Bremen reports one Mosquito dropping 3 bombs and scoring a direct hit on the foundry of the Vulkan shipyard, which stopped production for several days. 1 Boston and 1 Mosquito lost.
Kassel
306 aircraft of 5 types. 31 aircraft - 21 Wellingtons, 5 Stirlings, 3 Lancasters, 1 Halifax, 1 Hampden - lost, 10.1 per cent of the force. 142 Squadron, based at Grimsby, lost 5 of its 15 Wellingtons taking part in the raid. Many of the casualties were attributed to night-fighter action.
There was only a little cloud over Kassel and the Pathfinders were able to illuminate the area well. Widespread damage was caused, particularly in the south-western parts of the city. Kassel reports that 144 buildings were destroyed and 317 seriously damaged. Several military establishments were hit and the number of dead soldiers, 28, exceeded the number of civilians killed, 15. 187 civilians and 64 soldiers were injured. Among the buildings severely damaged were all three of the factories of the Henschel aircraft company.
Gdynia
9 Lancasters of 106 Squadron, 5 Group, were dispatched on a special
operation.
Each aircraft was loaded with a special 'Capital Ship' bomb which had
been developed for attacks on large warships. It was believed that one
direct hit could sink such a ship. The target on this night was the
new German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, which was reputed to be almost
ready for sailing. 7 of the Lancasters reached Gdynia, 950 miles from
their base, but could not locate the Graf Zeppelin because of haze and
bombed the harbour area instead. If these aircraft had managed to sink
the Graf Zeppelin, this raid would have ranked as one of the bombing
war's epics. No Lancasters were lost. The Germans never did use the
Graf Zeppelin as an aircraft carrier.
4 aircraft made leaflet flights to France without loss.
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Nuremberg
159 aircraft - 71 Lancasters, 41 Wellingtons, 34 Stirlings, 13 Halifaxes. 23 aircraft - 14 Wellingtons, 4 Lancasters, 3 Stirlings, 2 Halifaxes - lost, 14.5 per cent of the force. The Wellington losses were 34 per cent of those dispatched!
Crews were ordered to attack Nuremberg from as low as possible. The
Pathfinders found their aiming point and, for the first time, marked
it with target indicators adapted from 250lb bomb casings. Photographs
showed that these were placed with great accuracy and the crews of the
Main Force claimed to have carried out a good attack.
A report from Nuremberg does not quite confirm this. Bombs were dropped
as far away as the town of Erlangen, nearly 10 miles to the north, and
4 people were killed there. In Nuremberg itself, the number of bombs
recorded would indicate that approximately 50 aircraft hit the town.
137 people were killed; 126 civilians and 11 foreigners.
Saarbr�cken
113 aircraft - 71 Wellingtons, 24 Halifaxes, 17 Hampdens, 1 Stirling.
This was an experimental raid by a force of oddments - Halifaxes of
4 Group which were being rested from major operations, Hampdens of 5
Group and new crews from other groups. There were no Pathfinders. The
moon was four fifths full and it was judged that this relatively undefended
target, just inside Germany, could be successfully attacked while the
main raid on Nuremberg was taking place.
The raid was not a success; bombing was scattered over a wide area.
15 houses were destroyed and 51 seriously damaged in Saarbr�cken
and one woman was killed. 7 aircraft - 4 Hampdens, 2 Halifaxes, 1 Wellington
- lost, 6.2 per cent of the force.
3 Halifaxes made leaflet flights without loss.
Total effort for the night: 275 sorties, 30 aircraft (10.9 per cent) lost.
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18 Bostons - 12 to Ostend, 6 to Comines power-station; both targets were bombed. 2 Mosquitos to Pont-�-Vendin power-station, 1 Boston and 1 Mosquito lost.
5 Lancasters minelaying off Denmark without loss.
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