7 Stirlings and 7 Wellingtons were dispatched to lay mines off Denmark and in the Frisians but the Wellingtons were recalled. 1 Stirling lost.
---
22 Wellingtons on cloud-cover raids to Essen, the Ruhr and the Dortmund-Ems Canal at Lingen. 13 aircraft bombed estimated positions through cloud. One of the Wellingtons came down low and machine-gunned a train near Lingen, setting some of the carriages alight. No aircraft were lost.
---
GENOA
112 Lancasters of 5 Group and the Pathfinders were dispatched to recommence the campaign against Italy to coincide with the opening of the Eighth Army offensive at El Alamein. It was a perfectly clear moonlight night and the Pathfinder marking was described as 'prompt and accurate'. The bombing by this comparatively small force of aircraft, carrying only 180 tons of bombs, could hardly have been carried out under more ideal conditions. No Lancasters were lost.
Details from Genoa are not precise but very heavy damage was caused in the city centre and in the eastern districts. Many old buildings, including the Palazzo Ducale and several museums and churches, were destroyed. Provisional estimates of casualties were 39 dead and 200 injured but the actual figures may have been higher. Local reports mention the severe effect on the morale of the people of Genoa.
12 Stirlings laid mines off the southern Biscay coast without loss.
