The story
DÜSSELDORF
630 aircraft - 308 Wellingtons, 113 Lancasters, 70 Halifaxes, 61 Stirlings, 54 Hampdens, 24 Whitleys. This was another raid in which Bomber Command's training units provided aircraft, though it was not an attempt to reach the 1,000-aircraft figure. It was the first occasion when more than 100 Lancasters took part in a raid. 484 aircraft claimed successful bombing although their photographs showed that part of the force bombed open country. More than 900 tons of bombs were dropped.
DÜSSELDORFs records are very detailed (page 16 of the report gives details of a cow with an injured udder caused by a bomb splinter!). Most parts of the city and of Neuss, the suburb town over the Rhine, were hit. 453 buildings in DÜSSELDORF and Neuss were destroyed and more than 15,000 damaged (12,192 only 'lightly'). 954 fires were started, of which 67 were classed as large. (It is probable that different cities had different standards when classing fires as 'Marge'.) 279 people were killed - 245 in DÜSSELDORF and 34 in Neuss; 1,018 people were injured and 12,053 were bombed out. (The British Official History, p. 487, gives 379 deaths but this is believed to be an error.)
The casualties of the bomber force were again heavy. 29 aircraft -16 Wellingtons, 5 Hampdens, 4 Halifaxes, 2 Lancasters, 2 Whitleys - were lost; this was 4.6 percent of those dispatched. 92 (O.T.U.) Group lost 11 of its 105 aircraft on the raid, a casualty rate of 10.5 percent.
6 Blenheim Intruder sorties were flown; 1 Blenheim lost.
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6 Bostons to Flushing docks; 2 aircraft lost. 5 Mosquitoes to widely separated German targets; 1 Mosquito lost.
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