Minor Operations
8 Lancasters of 617 Squadron set out with the new 12,000-lb bomb (not the 12,000-lb Tallboy 'earthquake' bomb developed later) to attack the banks of the Dortmund-Ems Canal near Ladbergen. While the force was over the North Sea, however, a weather reconnaissance Mosquito reported that there was fog in the target area and the Lancasters were recalled. The aircraft of Flight Lieutenant D. J. H. Maltby, one of the original members of the squadron that had attacked the Ruhr dams, crashed into the sea and the crew were all killed. Maltby's body was washed ashore and is buried at Wickhambreux, near Canterbury in Kent; the names of the other 6 crew members are on the Runnymede Memorial for the Missing.
8 Mosquitoes made a nuisance raid on Berlin. 1 aircraft lost.
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MONTLUON
369 aircraft of 3, 4, 6 and 8 Groups - 209 Halifaxes, 120 Stirlings, 40 Lancasters. 5 American B-17s also took part. 2 Halifaxes and 1 Stirling lost.
This was a moonlit raid on the Dunlop rubber factory at Montluon in Central France. The Pathfinders marked the target accurately and the Master Bomber, Wing Commander D. F. E. C. Deane, brought the Main Force in well to carry out some accurate bombing. Every building in the factory was hit and a large fire was started. This appears to be the last occasion on which the Pathfinders used the Master Bomber technique until the spring of 1944.
No report of the raid is available from France.
Dortmund-Ems Canal
8 Lancasters of 617 Squadron took off to carry out the postponed raid on the banks of the canal but the area was misty and 5 aircraft were lost, including those of Pilot Officer L. G. Knight, another of the Dams Raid survivors, and the new squadron commander, Squadron Leader G. Holden. These heavy losses, and the losses of the Dams Raid, confirmed that low-level attacks on German targets, even when away from major defended areas, were not viable with heavy bombers and this type of operation was not repeated. 617 Squadron now started retraining as a specialist high-altitude-bombing unit.
