The story
DÜSSELDORF
162 aircraft - 124 Lancasters, 33 Halifaxes, 5 Mosquitoes. 3 Halifaxes and 3 Lancasters lost, 3.7 percent of the force.
This was the first occasion when Oboe Mosquitoes carried out 'ground marking' for the Pathfinders. ('Ground markers' were the now standard target indicators set to burst and cascade just above the ground. They were far more accurate than the 'sky-marker' parachute flares previously used by Mosquitoes when marking targets.) Pathfinder Lancasters 'backed-up' the Oboe-aimed markers. There was a thin sheet of cloud over the target and, without Oboe and the new target indicators, this raid would have almost certainly been another typical Ruhr area failure. Bombing was well concentrated on the southern part of DÜSSELDORF. The local report lists damage at a wide variety of property: 10 industrial firms destroyed or seriously damaged, 21 lightly damaged; 9 public buildings or amenities destroyed or seriously damaged, 7 lightly damaged; 456 houses destroyed or seriously damaged, 2,400 lightly damaged. The opera house was destroyed. 66 people were killed and 225 injured; 23 of the dead and 169 of the injured were members of the Wehrmacht who were in a train at the main railway station when it was hit by high-explosive bombs.
MINELAYING
54 aircraft to Texel and the Frisians; 1 Stirling lost.
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