12 Bostons bombed Abbeville airfield, 4 Mosquitoes to Holland and Germany. Bremen reports one Mosquito dropping 3 bombs and scoring a direct hit on the foundry of the Vulkan shipyard, which stopped production for several days. 1 Boston and 1 Mosquito lost.
---
KASSEL
306 aircraft of 5 types. 31 aircraft - 21 Wellingtons, 5 Stirlings, 3 Lancasters, 1 Halifax, 1 Hampden - lost, 10.1 percent of the force. 142 Squadron, based at Grimsby, lost 5 of its 15 Wellingtons taking part in the raid. Many of the casualties were attributed to night-fighter action.
There was only a little cloud over Kassel and the Pathfinders were able to illuminate the area well. Widespread damage was caused, particularly in the southwestern parts of the city. Kassel reports that 144 buildings were destroyed and 317 seriously damaged. Several military establishments were hit and the number of dead soldiers, 28, exceeded the number of civilians killed, 15. 187 civilians and 64 soldiers were injured. Among the buildings severely damaged were all three of the factories of the Henschel aircraft company and the private wing of the city hospital. There were 73 large fires. The report also states that many bombs fell outside the town in fields and woods.
GDYNIA
9 Lancasters of 106 Squadron, 5 Group, were dispatched on a special operation. Each aircraft was loaded with a special 'Capital Ship' bomb which had been developed for attacks on large warships. It was believed that one direct hit could sink such a ship. The target on this night was the new German aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, which was reputed to be almost ready for sailing. 7 of the Lancasters reached Gdynia, 950 miles from their base, but could not locate the Graf Zeppelin because of haze and bombed the harbour area instead. If these aircraft had managed to sink the Graf Zeppelin, this raid would have ranked as one of the bombing war's epics. No Lancasters were lost. The Germans never did use the Graf Zeppelin as an aircraft carrier.
4 aircraft made leaflet flights to France without loss.
