FRANKFURT
378 Lancasters and 9 Mosquitoes of 1, 3 and 8 Groups on the last major R.A.F. raid of the war against Frankfurt. 17 Lancasters lost, 4.5 percent of the Lancaster force.
The local report says that the raid occurred when many of the city's firemen and rescue workers were away working in Darmstadt. The bombing caused severe destruction in the western districts of the city, which contained many industrial premises. Property damage was extensive. A troop train was hit at the West Station. 469 people were killed, including 172 inside a public shelter in the Bockenheim district, the 2-metre-thick concrete side wall of which was blown in by a high-explosive bomb. The last fires were not extinguished until the evening of the 15th.
The next entry in the Frankfurt diary, for mid-September, says that members of the Hitler Youth, the Reichsarbeitsdienst (a labour service) and the Organisation Todt were being sent to work on the strengthening of the Westwall (Siegfried Line) fortifications, a sign that Allied troops were approaching the German homeland.
STUTTGART
204 Lancasters and 13 Mosquitoes of 1 and 5 Groups. 4 Lancasters lost.
Our local Stuttgart expert, Heinz Bardua, writes that 'the northern and western parts of the centre were erased' in this concentrated attack and that a firestorm occurred. Several valuable cultural buildings were destroyed, including the Schloss Rosenstein and the Prinzenbau. Other property damage was extensive, though no industrial buildings are mentioned. 1,171 people were killed, Stuttgart's highest fatal casualty figure of the war.
SUPPORT AND MINOR OPERATIONS
138 training aircraft on a diversionary sweep over the North Sea, 29 Mosquitoes to Berlin and 6 to Steenwijk, 31 R.C.M. sorties, 81 Mosquito patrols, 12 Halifaxes minelaying in Oslo harbour. 2 Halifaxes were lost, 1 from the diversionary sweep and 1 from the minelaying operation.
Total effort for the night: 901 sorties, 23 aircraft (2.6 percent) lost.
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GELSENKIRCHEN
140 aircraft - 102 Halifaxes of 4 Group and 28 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitoes of 8 Group - attacked the Nordstern oil plant. Large explosions were seen through the smoke-screen. 2 Halifaxes lost.
OSNABRCK
98 Halifaxes and 20 Lancasters of 6 and 8 Groups attacked the town, with the cutting of railway communications being one of the raid's objectives. The marking and bombing were accurate but no details are available. No aircraft lost.
13 aircraft flew R.C.M. sorties without loss.
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MINOR OPERATIONS
36 Mosquitoes to Berlin and 3 to Karlsruhe, 29 R.C.M. sorties, 41 Mosquito patrols. 2 Mosquitoes lost from the Berlin raid.
