8 Mosquitoes carried out a nuisance raid on Berlin. 1 aircraft crashed in the sea.
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MONTBLIARD
165 Halifaxes - 134 from 4 Group and 31 from 8 Group - to attack the Peugeot motor factory in the Montbliard suburb of the French town of Sochaux, near the Swiss border. 5 Halifaxes were lost, 3.0 percent of the force.
The outcome of this raid illustrates again the difficulties of hitting relatively small targets in the occupied countries and the danger to surrounding civilians. The night was clear, the target was only lightly defended and the attack altitude was 6,000 to 10,000 ft, but the centre of the group of markers dropped by the Pathfinder crews of 35 Squadron was 700 yards beyond the factory. The local report says that approximately 30 bombs fell in the factory but 600 fell in the town. 123 civilians were killed and 336 injured. The factory was classed as 5 percent damaged; the production was normal immediately after the raid.
617 Squadron carried out its first operation since the Dams Raid in May. It had been decided to keep the squadron in being and to use it for independent precision raids on small targets. It remained in 5 Group and most of its replacement crews came from the squadrons of that group.
25 (a and b). An early night raid on a target in France, the Peugeot motor factory at Montbliard. Most of the bombs missed the factory and the French dead are taken to their funeral on new trucks from the factory.
The targets on this night were two electrical-transformer stations in Northern Italy - one near Bologna and the other near Genoa. The intention was to disrupt the supply of electricity to the railways carrying German troops and supplies to the battle front in Sicily. 12 Lancasters of 617 Squadron were joined by 12 further 5 Group Lancasters for these attacks, which were not successful. No flares or markers were carried and the targets were partially hidden by mist. After bombing, the Lancasters flew on to North Africa. 2 Lancasters of the supporting force were lost.
6 Mosquitoes flew on a nuisance raid to Munich but only 2 aircraft actually reached the target. No aircraft lost.
