BERLIN
458 aircraft - 425 Lancasters, 18 Mosquitoes, 15 Halifaxes. There were no major diversions and the bombers took an absolutely direct route across the North Sea and Holland and then on to Berlin. The Germans identified Berlin as the target 19 minutes before Zero Hour and many fighters were waiting there. Incorrectly forecast winds scattered the bomber stream, particularly on the return flight, and German fighters scored further victories here. A total of 40 bombers - 37 Lancasters, 2 Halifaxes, 1 Mosquito - were lost, 8.7 percent of the force. 460 (Australian) Squadron lost 5 of its 25 Lancasters on this raid, including the aircraft in which two newspaper reporters were flying. These were Captain Grieg of the Daily Mail and Norman Stockton of the Sydney Sun. The body of Mr Stockton is buried in the Berlin War Cemetery.
The inaccurate wind forecast caused great difficulties for the Pathfinders, who were not able to establish their positions correctly. The bombing photographs of the Main Force suggested that the attack was scattered over a wide area of southern Berlin and the countryside south of the city. The Berlin report confirms this but adds that some useful damage was caused in industrial areas of the eastern and western districts, with two more of the Siemens factories, a ball-bearing factory and several railway installations being badly hit. Damage elsewhere was light, only 136 buildings being destroyed. 36 people were killed and a further 105 were classed as 'missing'. (It is noticed again and again that, as the war progressed, German reports become more erratic or incomplete. The 'final report' - Schlussbericht -for this raid is missing from the Berlin archives.)
Minor Operations: 6 Mosquitoes to Bochum and 1 to Witten, 3 R.C.M. sorties, 25 O.T.U. sorties. 1 Mosquito lost from the Bochum raid.
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LEIPZIG
527 aircraft - 307 Lancasters, 220 Halifaxes. Despite the loss of two pressmen on the previous night, the well-known American broadcaster, Ed Murrow, flew on the raid with a 619 Squadron Lancaster crew. He returned safely.
The bomber force took another direct route towards Berlin before turning off to bomb Leipzig. German fighters were in the bomber stream and scoring successes before the turn was made but most of them were then directed to Berlin when the Mosquito diversion opened there. There were few fighters over Leipzig and only 3 bombers are believed to have been lost in the target area, 2 of them being shot down by Flak. A relatively successful raid, from the point of view of bomber casualties, was spoiled when many aircraft flew by mistake into the Frankfurt defended area on the long southern withdrawal route and more than half of the bombers shot down on this night were lost there. 24 aircraft - 15 Halifaxes, 9 Lancasters - were lost, 4.6 percent of the force.
The Pathfinders found and marked this distant inland target accurately and the bombing was very effective; this was the most successful raid on Leipzig during the war. A large area of housing and many industrial premises were severely damaged. One place which was hit by a large number of bombs was the former World Fair exhibition site, whose spacious buildings had been converted to become war factories, the largest buildings being taken over by the Junkers aircraft company. The British Official History (Vol. IV, p. 267) quotes the Leipzig city records as giving a figure of 1,182 people killed but a German local police report compiled a week after the raid gives a different figure, 614 people killed and 464 injured. It is not known which report is correct.
Minor Operations: 9 Mosquitoes in feint attack on Berlin, 3 R.C.M. sorties, 12 Halifaxes minelaying in the Frisians. No losses.
