ESSEN
348 aircraft - 225 Lancasters, 113 Halifaxes, 10 Mosquitoes; this was the first raid in which more than 200 Lancasters had taken part. 12 Halifaxes and 9 Lancasters lost - 6.0 percent of the force - and 2 further Halifaxes crashed in England.
The weather forecast was not entirely favourable for this raid and the Pathfinders prepared a plan both for sky-marking and ground-marking the target. In the event, there was no cloud over Essen and the Main Force crews were somewhat confused to find two kinds of marking taking place. The resultant bombing, however, was accurate and a higher proportion of aircraft produced good bombing photographs than on any of the earlier successful raids on Essen.
Local reports showed that there was widespread damage in the centre and in the western half of Essen. 635 buildings were destroyed and 526 seriously damaged. 118 people - 88 civilians, 10 Flak gunners, 2 railwaymen, 2 policemen and 16 French workers - were killed and 458 people were injured.
Minor Operations: 16 Wellingtons minelaying off Brittany ports, 9 O.T.U. sorties. 1 minelaying aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 377 sorties, 23 aircraft (61 percent) lost.
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60 Venturas attacked an airfield near Caen (24 aircraft), a shipyard at Rotterdam (24 aircraft) and a railway target as St-Brieuc (12 aircraft). All targets were successfully bombed but 2 aircraft from the Rotterdam raid were lost.
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KIEL
577 aircraft - 203 Lancasters, 168 Wellingtons, 116 Halifaxes, 90 Stirlings - on the largest raid so far to Kiel, more than twice as many aircraft as on any previous raid taking part. This was also the largest 'non-1,000' bombing force of the war so far. 12 aircraft - 5 Lancasters, 4 Halifaxes, 2 Stirlings, 1 Wellington - lost, 2.1 percent of the force.
The Pathfinders encountered thick cloud and strong winds over the target so that accurate marking became very difficult. It was reported that decoy fire sites may also have drawn off some of the bombing. Kiel reports only a few bombs in the town with 11 buildings destroyed, 46 damaged and 26 people being killed. No commercial premises were hit; the only building hit apart from houses was a Catholic church.
