24 Venturas bombed railway targets at Abbeville and Caen but most of the bombs missed their targets. No Venturas lost.
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LA SPEZIA
208 Lancasters and 3 Halifaxes bombed the dock area of La Spezia and caused heavy damage. 4 Lancasters were lost and 3 more, either damaged or in mechanical difficulty, flew on to land at Allied airfields in North Africa. It is believed that this was the first occasion that the recently captured North African airfields were used for Bomber Command aircraft in distress. The 3 Lancasters flew back to England later.
MOSQUITO NUISANCE RAID
6 Mosquitoes of 105 Squadron, 2 Group, carried out nuisance raids to Bremen, Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven, 2 aircraft being sent to each target. These were the first non-Oboe Mosquito night raids and were the forerunners of Light Night Striking Force operations; the Germans hated the nuisance and harassing effect of the Mosquito raids and could rarely shoot down any of these fast, high-flying aircraft. The Mosquito was later modified to carry a 4,000-lb bomb as far as Berlin - a favourite Mosquito target - and, in winter, individual Mosquitoes were sometimes able to make 2 flights to Berlin under the cover of darkness in the same night, changing crews after the first landing.
Minor Operations: 10 Lancasters minelaying off Germany, 18 O.T.U. sorties. 1 O.T.U. Wellington was lost in the sea.
