The story
ESSEN
316 aircraft - 270 Halifaxes, 32 Lancasters, 14 Mosquitoes - of 1, 4 and 8 Groups. No aircraft lost.
Bomber Command documents claim further damage to industrial areas, including the Krupps works. Essen reports 405 houses destroyed and 673 seriously damaged, with 135 people killed and 207 injured. An interesting little item in the local fire-brigade report congratulates the team working in the burning headquarters of the local Gestapo for saving valuable documents.
NEUSS
145 Lancasters of 3 Group and 8 Lancasters of 1 Group carried out a mainly G-H attack. No aircraft lost.
The brief local report gives details of modest property damage, mainly in residential areas, and states that 65 people were killed and 43 injured.
Minor Operations: 75 Mosquitoes to Nuremberg and 9 to Hallendorf, 35 R.C.M. sorties, 35 Mosquito patrols. 1 Mosquito lost from the Nuremberg raid.
Total effort for the night: 623 sorties, 1 aircraft (0.2 percent) lost.
---
DORTMUND
294 Lancasters and 17 Mosquitoes of 1 and 8 Groups. 6 Lancasters lost.
Bad weather caused the marking and resultant bombing to be scattered but fresh damage was caused in Dortmund.
DUISBURG
30 Mosquitoes of 8 Group attempted to bomb a tar and benzol plant in the Meiderich district, using the Oboe-leader method for the first time on a German target, but 2 of the 3 formations of Mosquitoes failed to link up with their Oboe leaders and bombed on timed runs from the docks south of Duisburg. Most of the bombs were believed to have fallen beyond the target. No Mosquitoes lost.
1 Hudson flew a Resistance operation.
---
MINOR OPERATIONS
67 Mosquitoes to Hannover and 4 to Bielefeld, 27 R.C.M. sorties, 38 Mosquito patrols, 19 aircraft on Resistance operations. 6 Mosquitoes of 5 Group to lay mines in the River Weser were unable to carry out the operation because of 10/10ths cloud over the target area. No aircraft lost.
There's more to discover
You have arrived at just one small part of Back to Normandy — a personal project dedicated to preserving stories, images, music and memories of the Second World War.
Every record is a doorway to a larger story. Explore Back to Normandy to discover more, or visit Fred Vogels' personal website to learn about the person and the projects behind it.