MINOR OPERATIONS
8 Mosquitoes to Berlin, 2 to Aachen, 2 to Hamborn, 54 Stirlings and Wellingtons minelaying in the Frisians and off Biscay ports, 16 O.T.U. sorties. No aircraft lost.
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HANNOVER
360 Lancasters. 18 Lancasters lost, 5.0 percent of the force.
The target area was covered by cloud and the Pathfinders were not successful in marking the position of Hannover. The raid was scattered, with most bombs falling in open country north and north-west of the city.
This raid concluded the current series of raids on Hannover. Bomber Command had dispatched 2,253 sorties in 4 raids and 10 American B-17 sorties had also been flown. 1,976 aircraft claimed to have bombed in the target area. Only 1 raid had been completely successful but that had caused severe damage. 110 bombers were lost on the raids, 49 percent of those dispatched.
Minor Operations: 30 Mosquitoes to Duisburg (11 aircraft), Berlin (8 aircraft) and to 4 other targets, 6 Wellingtons minelaying off Texel, 12 O.T.U. sorties. No aircraft lost.
One of the Lancasters lost on the Hannover raid was the 5,000th Bomber Command aircraft lost on operations since the start of the war. By the end of this night, the bombers had flown approximately 144,500 sorties - 90 percent of them by night - and lost 5,004 aircraft - 4,365 by night and 639 by day - over enemy territory, crashed in the sea or shot down over England by German Intruders or 'friendly' defences. The average number of sorties flown in each 24-hour period since the outbreak of war was 96 - 87 in each night, only 9 in each day - and the average operational loss rate was 3.5 percent of all sorties dispatched. (The reader may like to compare these statistics with those presented after the last diary entry of the war, on.)
