SAARBRCKEN
231 aircraft of 5 types. 4 aircraft - 1 Halifax, 1 Lancaster, 1 Stirling, 1 Wellington - lost, 1.7 percent of the force.
The Pathfinders illuminated and marked a town which they believed to be Saarbrcken and the Main Force bombed that place vigorously. A total of 205 aircraft claimed good bombing results. But the town bombed was Saarlouis, 13 miles to the north-west and situated in a similar bend of the River Saar. The small, non-industrial town of Saarlouis and the villages immediately surrounding were heavily damaged. The exact extent of this damage was not recorded but 52 civilians were killed. The report from Saarlouis adds that the number of deaths would have been much higher if many people had not been able to take shelter in the unoccupied concrete positions of the Westwall (the Siegfried Line) which ran round Saarlouis. The report also says that this community was 'enraged' to be bombed so heavily. No bombs fell in Saarbrcken.
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8 Bostons in low-level pairs to Holland and Belgium and 6 Mosquitoes individually to Germany. Targets at Ghent, Ijmuiden, Sluiskil, Cologne, Essen and Osnabrck all attacked. No aircraft lost.
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KARLSRUHE
200 aircraft of 5 types with 4 Group Halifaxes now back on major operations. 8 aircraft - 4 Wellingtons, 2 Lancasters, 1 Halifax, 1 Stirling - lost, 4.0 percent of the force.
The Pathfinders were accurate and this was a successful raid. An estimated 200 fires were seen burning at the same time. Reconnaissance photographs showed much residential and some industrial damage. A very short report from Karlsruhe says only that 73 people were killed and that 3 public buildings in the city centre were hit.
3 aircraft minelaying in the Frisians without loss.
