WANNE-EICKEL
100 Lancasters of 3 Group to attack the oil plant. Only 75 aircraft were able to bomb in wintry conditions which scattered the force. The results of the raid are not known. 1 Lancaster lost.
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GOCH
464 aircraft - 292 Halifaxes, 156 Lancasters, 16 Mosquitoes - of 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 2 Halifaxes lost.
This raid was preparing the way for the attack of the British XXX Corps across the German frontier near the Reichswald. The Germans had included the towns of Goch and Kleve in their strong defences here. The Master Bomber ordered the Main Force to come below the cloud, the estimated base of which was only 5,000 ft, and the attack opened very accurately. The raid was stopped after 155 aircraft had bombed, because smoke was causing control of the raid to become impossible.
Considerable damage was caused in Goch but most of the inhabitants had probably left the town. Approximately 30 local people died. There were heavy casualties among Russians, Italians and Dutchmen who had been brought in as forced workers to dig the local defences; they were quartered in 2 schools, which were bombed, and more than 150 of them died. The number of German soldiers killed is not known.
KLEVE
295 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitoes of 1 and 8 Groups. 1 Lancaster lost.
285 aircraft bombed at Kleve, which was battered even more than Goch. Few details are available from local reports and casualties may not have been heavy (most of the civilian population were absent), but, after the war, Kleve claimed to be the most completely destroyed town in Germany of its size.
The British attack, led by the 15th (Scottish) Division, made a successful start a few hours later but quickly ground to a halt because of a thaw, which caused flooding on the few roads available for the advance, and also because of the ruins which blocked the way through Kleve. Lieutenant-General B. G. Horrocks, the corps commander in charge of the attack, later claimed that he had requested that Kleve should only be subjected to an incendiary raid but Bomber Command dropped 1,384 tons of high explosive on the town and no incendiaries.
DORTMUND-EMS CANAL
177 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitoes of 5 Group attacked the canal section near Ladbergen with delayed-action bombs. Later photographs showed that the banks had not been damaged; the bombs had fallen into nearby fields. 3 Lancasters were lost.
Minor Operations: 38 Mosquitoes to Magdeburg, 16 to Mainz and 41 in small numbers to 5 other targets, 63 R.C.M. sorties, 45 Mosquito patrols, 30 Lancasters and 15 Halifaxes minelaying in Kiel Bay. 4 Mosquitoes lost - 3 from 100 Group and 1 from the raid on Mainz.
Total effort for the night: 1,205 sorties, 10 aircraft (0.8 percent) lost.
