ROVING COMMISSIONS
22 Wellingtons and 20 Hampdens to many areas of Germany. 2 Hampdens and 1 Wellington lost.
Norwegian Airfields
15 aircraft - 6 Halifaxes, 5 Manchesters, 4 Stirlings - attacked 4 airfields to provide a diversion for a proposed Fleet Air Arm strike from the aircraft carrier Victorious on the Prinz Eugen, which had taken shelter in a Norwegian fjord near Trondheim after being torpedoed and damaged by the submarine Trident. The Fleet Air Arm strike was not successful, because of poor weather conditions. 1 Manchester was lost in the Bomber Command diversion.
6 Manchesters minelaying off Wilhelmshaven without loss.
Operational Statistics,
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(104 days/nights)
Number of days with operations: 20
Number of nights with operations: 54
Number of daylight sorties: 543, from which 40 aircraft (7.4 percent) were lost
Number of night sorties: 5,001, from which 125 aircraft (2.5 percent) were lost
Total sorties: 5,544, from which 165 aircraft (3.0 percent) were lost
Approximate bomb tonnage in period: 5,322 tons
Averages per 24-hour period: 53.3 sorties, 1.6 aircraft lost, 51.2 tons of bombs dropped
Air Marshal Sir Richard Peirse, the commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command since October 1940, was removed from that position on
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, eight days after the arrival of the new directive. Harris would lead Bomber Command for the remainder of the war and his name would be linked irrevocably with its campaign during that period. However enthusiastically Harris prosecuted that new policy, it should be stated that he was not responsible for the formulation of it. Area bombing was the creation of Sir Charles Portal and the staff officers of the Air Ministry, with enthusiastic support being given by people such as Churchill and Trenchard, the veteran R.A.F. leader of the old school. There is no evidence that there had been any canvassing of the area-bombing policy by the staff of Bomber Command Headquarters.
As we are following all changes in command down to group level, it should be mentioned here that 2 Group had again changed its commander in December 1941 when Air Vice-Marshal A. Lees replaced Air Vice-Marshal Stevenson and 5 Group would lose Air Vice-Marshal Slessor in April 1942 (Slessor would soon become the successful commander of Coastal Command). The new 5 Group commander would be Air Vice-Marshal W. A. Coryton. A more significant event at this time was the arrival in England of the first officers of what would become the American Eighth Air Force; by coincidence, they arrived in England on the same day that Harris took over at Bomber Command.
Sir Arthur Harris inherited a force of aircraft no stronger in numbers than had been present a year earlier. The figures recorded in the Air Ministry War Room on
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WILHELMSHAVEN
31 Wellingtons and 19 Hampdens to bomb the floating dock which the Germans might be using to repair the Scharnhorst or Gneisenau. The area was cloud-covered and bombs were mostly released on the estimated position of Wilhelmshaven. The local diary has no entry for this night.
Minor Operations: 7 aircraft to Emden, 5 to Ostend, 5 Manchesters minelaying off Wilhelmshaven, 2 Hampdens on leaflet flights to France.
There were no aircraft losses from the operations of this night.
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(the winter-restraint period): 2.5 percent
22/23 February to
