SOMAIN
143 aircraft - 114 Halifaxes, 20 Lancasters, 9 Mosquitoes - of 6 and 8 Groups. 1 Halifax lost.
The initial Oboe marking was inaccurate and the Master Bomber ordered the bombing force to wait. Most of the Halifaxes making up the Main Force either did not hear or ignored his orders and their bombs missed the target. Some damage was caused to the railway yards by the remainder of the force. A report from the French Railways (S.N.C.F., Rgion de Lille) says that some of the bombing fell into the local Cit de Cheminots (railwaymen's housing), although no casualties there are mentioned in the report. 3 railwaymen were killed inside the railway yards. It is probable that much of the bombing fell in open country.
ACHéRES
128 aircraft - 107 Halifaxes, 13 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitoes - of 4 and 8 Groups attacked the railway yards without loss.
The Mayor of the small town of Achres reports that the bombing completely destroyed the railway yards and that there were no civilian victims, the Mayor attributing this to the fact that the bombers flew at comparatively low level.
MAINTENON
116 Lancasters of 1 Group attacked the largest Luftwaffe bomb and ammunition dump in Northern France. The marking for this raid appears to have been provided by the 1 Group Marking Flight, based at Binbrook; the Bomber Command records do not mention any other group taking part. The raid was entirely successful and a spectacular series of explosions were seen on the ground. French houses near by were not hit.
Minor Operations: 28 Mosquitoes to Saarbrcken and 5 to Dren, 14 R.C.M. sorties, 9 Serrate and 5 Intruder patrols, 48 Halifaxes minelaying off the French coast, 36 aircraft on Resistance operations. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 532 sorties, 1 aircraft (0.2 percent) lost.
Day Operations, 1-
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TOULOUSE
131 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitoes of 5 Group attacked the aircraft assembly factory and an explosives factory. Both targets were hit and no aircraft were lost.
ST-GHISLAIN
137 aircraft - 89 Halifaxes, 40 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitoes - of 6 and 8 Groups attacked the railway yards with great accuracy. 1 Halifax and 1 Lancaster lost.
MALINES
132 aircraft - 110 Halifaxes, 14 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitoes - of 4 and 8 Groups. 1 Halifax lost.
The bombing was scattered, although the locomotive sheds were damaged. A report from Malines shows that extensive damage was caused to civilian areas; 1,355 buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged and 2,365 were slightly damaged and there were many Belgian casualties - 171 killed, 123 injured.
CHAMBLY
120 aircraft - 96 Lancasters, 16 Stirlings, 8 Mosquitoes - of 3 and 8 Groups. 3 Lancasters and 2 Stirlings lost.
Chambly was the main railway stores and repair depot for the Northern French system which the Allied bombers were trying to put out of action. The local report (provided by the office of the present Chief Engineer at Chambly) shows that the raid was extremely successful. Approximately 500 high-explosive bombs fell inside the railway depot area and serious damage was caused to all departments. The depot was completely out of action for 10 days. There were no casualties in the depot, nor in Chambly, but the wind took some of the markers eastwards towards the village of Persan and 5 people were killed there.
36 (a and b). The results of a successful raid on a French railway stores and repair depot at Chambly during the communications campaign before D-Day. Most of this damage was caused by aircraft of 3 Group.
LYONS
75 Lancasters of 1 Group attacked the Berliet motor works. The factory was badly damaged and nearby railways and factories were also hit. There is no local report to say whether civilian casualties were caused. No aircraft were lost.
TOURS
46 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitoes of 5 Group carried out an accurate attack on aircraft-repair workshops. The main buildings were completely destroyed. No aircraft lost.
Minor Operations: 28 Mosquitoes to Ludwigshafen and 2 to Achres, 9 R.C.M. sorties, 16 Serrate and 18 Intruder patrols, 32 Halifaxes and 3 Stirlings minelaying off the French coast and in the Frisians, 40 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 Serrate Mosquito lost.
Total effort for the night: 801 sorties in 14 separate operations, 9 aircraft (1.1 percent) lost.
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for 'bomber support' work with 100 Group as a Mosquito Intruder squadron. Based at Swannington until the end of the war, except when detached to West Mailing in the summer of 1944 for anti-flying bomb operations.
OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Carried out 170 bomber support, 48 anti-flying bomb and 2 anti-Intruder operations. Flew 1,190 sorties - 864 bomber support, 326 anti-flying bomb, etc. Lost 7 aircraft, all on bomber-support work. Claimed 71 German aircraft destroyed - 30 Me 110s, 27 Ju 88s, 8 Ju 188s, 4 He 219s, 2 FW 190s and 6 others damaged. This total of claims is greater than that of any other Mosquito squadron in 100 Group. Also claimed 30 flying bombs destroyed and many attacks on railways.
88 (HONG KONG) SQUADRON
SERVICE
Came to 2 Group in July 1941 after service with the Advanced Air Striking Force in France and with Coastal Command in Northern Ireland. Flew Blenheims and Bostons from Swanton Morley (twice), Attlebridge and Oulton until 2 Group left Bomber Command in May 1943.
OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Raids Flown
Blenheims - 15 bombing
Bostons - 47 bombing
Total - 62 bombing
Sorties and Losses
Blenheims - 96 sorties, 5 aircraft lost (5.2 percent)
Bostons - 559 sorties, 6 aircraft lost (1.1 percent)
Total - 655 sorties, 11 aircraft lost (1.7 percent)
POINTS OF INTEREST
Introduced the Boston to Bomber Command operations and flew more Boston sorties than any other squadron.
90 SQUADRON
SERVICE
A training squadron on the outbreak of war and later absorbed into an O.T.U. Reformed in 2 Group on
