MANNHEIM
457 aircraft - 286 Lancasters and 171 Halifaxes. 9 aircraft - 6 Halifaxes and 3 Lancasters - lost, 20 percent of the force.
The target area was mainly cloud-covered and the Pathfinder plan did not work well. The resulting bombing appeared to be scattered. Mannheim, whose wartime officials must have produced some of the best air-raid reports in Germany, sent 37 typed pages of details which showed that this raid caused considerable damage in and around the city. 1,316 buildings were classed as 'totally destroyed' or 'seriously damaged'. 42 industrial concerns, some of them being quite large ones, suffered loss of production. The compensation claims for 9 of the factories totalled 43,815,000 Reichsmarks (£4,381,500). 269 people were killed and 1,210 were injured. There were 1,528 fires: 133 large, 417 medium-sized and 978 small fires. 8 railway engines, 146 passenger carriages and 40 goods wagons were damaged. 144 farm animals were killed: 96 pigs, 18 goats, 15 cows, 12 horses, 2 oxen and a calf.
It is a measure of the increased striking power of Bomber Command that all of the damage and casualties quoted above was caused by a medium-sized raid which is described in the Bomber Command Operations Record Book as 'a scattered attack'.
Minor Operations: 6 Mosquitoes to Duisburg, 10 Stirlings minelaying in the Frisians, 14 O.T.U. sorties. No aircraft lost.
