MINELAYING
30 Lancasters and 9 Halifaxes minelaying in the Kattegat without loss.
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SIEGEN
138 Lancasters of 3 Group set out on this raid but were recalled because bad weather prevented their fighter escorts from taking off.
Ijmuiden
17 Lancasters of 617 Squadron attacked the E-boat pens with Tallboys but a smoke-screen hindered the bombing and no results were seen. No aircraft lost.
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LUDWIGSHAFEN
327 Lancasters and 14 Mosquitoes of 1, 6 and 8 Groups. 1 Lancaster lost.
The target area for this raid was the northern part of Ludwigshafen and the small town of Oppau in which two important I.G. Farben chemical factories were situated. The local report shows that the raid was very successful, with 450 high-explosive bombs and many incendiaries falling in the premises of I.G. Farben. Severe damage was caused and fierce fires were started. The report states that no other attack since the start of the war had caused such a setback to I.G. Farben production, which included synthetic oil at this factory. The Oppau factory ceased production completely 'until further notice'. 5 other industrial firms were also badly hit. Some damage was also caused to housing areas around the various factories but this was not serious and the fatal casualty figure was only 57 people; 50 of these may have been foreign workers who were killed in one of the factories (the records are not clear on this point). Damage was also caused to installations and ships at the nearby Rhine quays.
It would be difficult to find a Bomber Command night raid which caused so much industrial damage but so little in civilian housing areas.
Minor Operations: 62 Mosquitoes to Hannover, 11 to Osnabrck and 3 to Duisburg, 31 R.C.M. sorties, 38 Mosquito patrols, 15 Lancasters and 8 Halifaxes minelaying off northeastern Denmark. 1 Lancaster minelayer lost.
Total effort for the night: 509 sorties, 2 aircraft (0.4 percent) lost.
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- Siegen raid. Page 631, add the following extra paragraph:
It has been suggested that the bomb loads jettisoned over the sea by the Siegen force after being recalled may have been responsible for the death of the famous band-leader, Glenn Miller, who disappeared on this day while a passenger in a light aircraft flying from England to Paris. The 3 Group force jettisoned its bombs in mid-Channel due south of Beachy Head. This location was on a likely route taken by Miller's aircraft, which took off from Twinwood Farm airfield near Bedford at 1.55 pm. 3 Group's squadron records do not all show the recall and jettison times. Those that do mostly show that jettisons took place before Glenn Miller's aircraft could have reached that area. But 115 Squadron's aircraft appear not to have received the recall signal until well into their flight, at 1.45 pm, 70 minutes after other squadrons. The time then taken to fly back to the jettison point over the Channel might have coincided with the passage of Glenn Miller's UC-64 Norseman aircraft, well below and probably hidden in the 'very poor visibility' noted in 115 Squadron's records.
