Minor Operations
9 Wellingtons to Le Havre, 6 Hampdens on patrols off the German coast and over the mainland, 15 Hampdens minelaying near Oslo, 3 O.T.U. sorties. 1 minelaying Hampden lost.
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The operations of this night proved to be of great significance. No doubt frustrated by the recent long run of bad weather and poor bombing results, Sir Richard Peirse decided to mount a major effort on this night, with Berlin as the main target. He persisted in this decision despite a late weather forecast which showed that there would be a large area of bad weather with storms, thick cloud, icing and hail over the North Sea routes by which the bombers would need to fly to Berlin and back. Air Vice-Marshal Slessor of 5 Group objected to the plan and was allowed to withdraw his part of the Berlin force and send it to Cologne instead.
392 aircraft were sent out on the night's operations. This was a new record effort for Bomber Command and probably represents the maximum number of serviceable aircraft with crews available at that time.
BERLIN
169 aircraft - 101 Wellingtons, 42 Whitleys, 17 Stirlings, 9 Halifaxes - of 1, 3 and 4 Groups. 21 aircraft - 10 Wellingtons, 9 Whitleys, 2 Stirlings - were lost, 124 percent of those dispatched.
12. A big fuss being made of an unexploded bomb which has been disarmed in a still intact street near the centre of Berlin. The men in striped clothes are political prisoners or criminals who could earn partial remission of their sentences if they volunteered to dig up unexploded bombs.
73 aircraft reached the general area of Berlin but could only claim fires on the outskirts of the city, with other results being 'unobserved'. Berlin reports scattered bombing in many areas. Premises hit by the bombing were: 1 industrial, 2 railway, 2 public utility (a gasometer at Staaken was burnt out), 2 official buildings, 30 houses, 16 wooden garden houses, and 1 farm building. The only buildings classed as 'destroyed' were 14 of the houses. Casualties were: 11 people killed, 44 injured, 637 people bombed out and receiving official help, with a further number going to the homes of relatives and friends.
This was the last major raid on Berlin until January 1943.
COLOGNE
61 Hampdens and 14 Manchesters of 5 Group. No aircraft lost.
Crews reported many fires but Cologne recorded only 8 high-explosive and 60 incendiary bombs, with 5 people killed and 5 injured, 2 houses destroyed and 14 damaged; there was no industrial damage.
MANNHEIM
53 Wellingtons and 2 Stirlings of 1 and 3 Groups. 7 Wellingtons lost.
43 crews bombed in this area and reported a large fire. A specific request to Mannheim for a report for this particularly important night brought the reply that there was no record of any bombs falling in the city. It is not known where the bombs of this force fell.
Minor Operations: 30 Halifaxes, Hampdens, Wellingtons and Whitleys were sent on 'rover patrols' in the Essen and other areas; 6 aircraft - 2 Hampdens, 2 Wellingtons, 1 Halifax, 1 Whitley - were lost from these flights. 28 aircraft sent to Ostend and 22 to Boulogne operated without loss. 13 Halifaxes went minelaying near Oslo and 3 were lost.
Total effort for the night: 392 sorties, 37 aircraft (94 percent) lost. This loss was more than double the previous highest for night operations. It is probable that many of the casualties crashed in the North Sea, suffering from icing or fuel exhaustion in the bad weather conditions there.
