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Bomber Command raid - night of 26/27 September 1943

Cologne · Germany

The story

Minor Operations
5 Mosquitoes to Aachen and 4 each to Cologne and Hamborn, 4 O.T.U. sorties. No losses.
The 5 Mosquitoes attacking Aachen were carrying out the first trials of Mark II Oboe but the equipment failed and bombs were released visually or on dead reckoning.

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HANNOVER
678 aircraft - 312 Lancasters, 231 Halifaxes, 111 Stirlings, 24 Wellingtons. 5 B-17s also took part. 38 Bomber Command aircraft - 17 Halifaxes, 10 Lancasters, 10 Stirlings, 1 Wellington - lost, 5.6 percent of the force, and 1 B-17 also lost.
The use by the Pathfinders of faulty forecast winds again saved the centre of Hannover. The bombing was very concentrated but fell on an area 5 miles north of the city centre. No details are available from Germany but R.A.F. photographic evidence showed that most of the bombs fell in open country or villages north of the city.
BRUNSWICK
21 Lancasters and 6 Mosquitoes of 8 Group carried out a diversionary raid on Brunswick which was successful in drawing off some night fighters. 218 people were killed in Brunswick - 51 Germans and 167 foreigners. 1 Lancaster lost.
Minor Operations: 9 Mosquitoes on another diversion to Emden, 5 Mosquitoes on Oboe tests to Aachen (3 were successful), 19 aircraft minelaying in the Kattegat and the Frisian Islands, 4 O.T.U. sorties. No losses.

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