The story
Minor Operations
23 aircraft minelaying from Brest to Lorient, 5 O.T.U. sorties. No aircraft lost.
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25 Venturas bombed a chemical factory at Ostend and railway yards at Haarlem without loss.
The bombing at Ostend was accurate but the Haarlem raid hit housing near the railway causing many casualties. 85 Dutch people were killed and 160 injured and the old Town Hall was damaged by fire.
18. The bombing results of thirteen Venturas which were attempting to hit a large merchant ship recently spotted at Cherbourg.
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PILSEN
327 aircraft - 197 Lancasters and 130 Halifaxes. 18 Lancasters and 18 Halifaxes lost, 11.0 percent of the force. The Canadian 408 Squadron lost 4 of its 12 Halifaxes dispatched.
This raid, on the _koda armaments factory, took place by the light of a full moon but was not a success. In a complicated plan, the Main Force was ordered to confirm the position of the _koda factory visually; the Pathfinder markers were only intended as a general guide. In the event, a large asylum building 7 miles away was mistaken for the factory and only 6 crews brought back bombing photographs which were within 3 miles of the real target. The _koda factory was not hit. One report says that 200 German soldiers were killed when their barracks near the asylum was bombed.
MANNHEIM
271 aircraft - 159 Wellingtons, 95 Stirlings, 17 Halifaxes. 18 aircraft - 9 Wellingtons, 7 Stirlings, 2 Halifaxes - lost, 6.6 percent of the force.
The Pathfinders marked this target accurately and an effective attack followed. 130 buildings were totally destroyed and nearly 3,000 damaged. Production was stopped or reduced at 41 industrial premises. 130 people were killed, 269 injured and 6,954 bombed out of their homes.
11 O.T.U. aircraft dropped leaflets over France without loss.
Total effort for the night: 609 sorties, 54 aircraft (8.9 percent) lost. The aircraft losses on this night were the highest so far in the war, exceeding the 50 lost on the 1,000-bomber-type raid on Bremen on
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