MINELAYING
114 aircraft - 70 Halifaxes, 30 Stirlings, 14 Lancasters - to lay mines in 5 areas of the Baltic. 4 Halifaxes and 1 Stirling lost.
MANNHEIM
25 Mosquitoes carried out a harassing raid without loss.
Brussels
12 G-H Stirlings bombed a signals depot without loss.
Minor Operations: 2 R.C.M. sorties, 4 Serrate patrols, 10 aircraft on Resistance operations, 6 O.T.U. sorties. No aircraft lost.
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KARLSRUHE
637 aircraft - 369 Lancasters, 259 Halifaxes, 9 Mosquitoes - of all groups except 5 Group. 19 aircraft - 11 Lancasters, 8 Halifaxes - lost, 3.0 percent of the force.
Cloud over the target and a strong wind which pushed the Pathfinders too far north spoiled this attack. Only the northern part of Karlsruhe was seriously damaged and most of the bombs fell outside the city. It has been difficult to obtain details from this target. One report says that 23 people were killed, 133 were injured and more than 900 houses were destroyed or badly damaged, but another report gives the number of people killed as 118. Mannheim, 30 miles to the north, recorded a raid by approximately 100 aircraft on this night and Darmstadt, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg were also hit by aircraft which failed to find the main target. It must be assumed that many bombs fell in open country between Karlsruhe and Mannheim; another German report says that bombs fell in 120 parishes.
MUNICH
234 Lancasters and 16 Mosquitoes of 5 Group and 10 Lancasters of 1 Group in another 5 Group method raid on a major German target. 9 Lancasters were lost, 3.5 percent of the force.
The marking and controlling plan worked well and accurate bombing fell in the centre of Munich. The intense Flak and searchlight defences did not prevent the low-flying Mosquito markers from carrying out their task properly and none was seriously damaged.
A German report details much property damage, mostly of a public and domestic nature rather than industrial, though much damage was caused to railway installations. 1,104 buildings were completely destroyed and 1,367 were badly damaged, including 48 public buildings, 30 schools, 24 police and air-raid posts, 18 military buildings, 13 churches and 7 hospitals. Casualties were: 88 killed, 2,945 injured and 30,000 bombed out, with 24 more people or bodies still trapped in wreckage when the report was completed. It is not known why the proportion of dead should have been so low.
DIVERSION AND SUPPORT OPERATIONS
165 O.T.U. aircraft carried out a diversionary sweep over the North Sea to a point 75 miles off the German coast. 23 Mosquitoes bombed DÜSSELDORF; 6 Lancasters of 617 Squadron dropped flares and target indicators over Milan as a diversion for the Munich raid; 100 Group flew 11 R.C.M., 21 Serrate and 8 Intruder sorties. 2 Wellingtons were lost from the O.T.U. sweep.
Minor Operations: 4 G-H Stirlings to Chambly railway depot, 18 Halifaxes minelaying off Channel ports and in the Frisians, 7 aircraft on Resistance operations. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 1,160 sorties, 30 aircraft (2.6 percent) lost.
