LORIENT
75 Wellingtons and 41 Halifaxes of 1, 4 and 6 Groups. 2 Halifaxes and 2 Wellingtons lost.
Crews encountered thick cloud and icing and, with no Pathfinder marking, the bombing was well scattered.
Minor Operations: 17 Wellingtons minelaying off Biscay ports and 5 O.T.U. sorties to France also encountered bad weather. 1 aircraft from each operation was lost.
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BERLIN
2 formations, each of 3 Mosquitoes, made dramatic attemps to interrupt large rallies being addressed by Nazi leaders in Berlin on this day. These raids would be the first time the German capital was bombed in daylight.
3 Mosquitoes of 105 Squadron successfully reached Berlin and bombed in mid-morning at the exact time that Goering was due to speak. The speech was postponed for an hour. These 3 Mosquitoes returned safely.
In the afternoon, 3 Mosquitoes of 139 Squadron arrived at the time Goebbels was due to speak and again bombed at the correct time but the German defences were alerted and the aircraft of Squadron Leader D. F. Darling was shot down. Darling and his navigator, Flying Officer W. Wright, were both killed and are now buried in Berlin.
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19 Wellingtons of 4 Group and 17 Bostons to many places in Germany and Holland but only 5 Wellingtons and 1 Boston found targets to bomb. 4 Wellingtons lost.
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HAMBURG
148 aircraft - 135 Lancasters, 7 Stirlings, 6 Halifaxes - or 1, 5 and 8 Groups carried out the first H2S attack of the war, with Pathfinder Stirlings and Halifaxes using the new device to mark the target. 5 Lancasters were lost, 34 percent of the force.
Although H2S would later become a more effective device, its use was not successful on this night even though Hamburg, close to a coastline and on a prominent river, was the best type of H2S target. Bombing was scattered over a wide area and the local historian, Hans Brunswig, commenting on the R.A.F. figure of 315 tons of bombs dropped in the Hamburg area, suggests that most of the bombs must have fallen in the River Elbe or in the surrounding marshes. However, 119 fires - 71 large - were started; 58 people were killed and 164 injured. The only incident mentioned by Brunswig is the destruction of a railway bridge, which blocked the entire Hamburg network for 2 days.
Minor Operations: 4 Mosquitoes to targets in the Ruhr, 17 aircraft minelaying off St-Nazaire and in the Frisians. No losses.
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Carried out more raids and flew more sorties than any other Mosquito squadron.
Victoria Cross: Wing Commander H. I. Edwards, D.F.C., Bremen,
