GERMANY, CHANNEL COAST
93 Battles, Blenheims, Hampdens and Wellingtons to 5 targets in Germany, to the Channel ports, minelaying and O.T.U. leaflet flights. There were no losses.
The 24 Blenheims and 6 Battles of the above force sent to bomb shipping in the Channel ports represent the last major raid on these targets in the invasion-threat period.
Operational Statistics, 26 June to
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(109 days/nights)
Number of days with operations: 105
Number of nights with operations: 102
Number of daylight sorties: 1,885, from which 66 aircraft (3.5 percent) were lost
Number of night sorties: 8,804, from which 180 aircraft (2.0 percent) were lost
Total sorties: 10,689, from which 246 aircraft (2.3 percent) were lost
Approximate bomb tonnage in period: 6,010 tons
Averages per 24-hour period: 98.1 sorties, 2.3 aircraft lost, 55.1 tons of bombs dropped
Henceforth, when aircraft of all three night-bombing types were dispatched in a single night, the diary refers to these only as 'aircraft' except, as noted in future entries, when other aircraft come into action with the night-bombing force. When numbers of aircraft on minelaying operations are not specified, it can be assumed that a routine force of 6 Hampdens was dispatched.
In later diary entries these are recorded as 'O.T.U. sorties' and can be assumed to be without loss unless casualties are recorded.
'Aircraft' now means Battles, Blenheims, Hampdens, Wellingtons and Whitleys.
The Ludwigshafen attacked was Ludwigshafen on Rhine, referred to later simply as 'Ludwigshafen'.
Public Record Office AIR 20/4865 gives further details and shows that 1,361.9 million leaflets were delivered after June 1941.
From Feuersturm ber Hamburg, op. cit., 58.
With the longer nights of autumn came the lifting of the immediate threat of invasion but a deterioration in flying conditions. Germany was drawing breath after defeating six countries in just over a year but she was having to face up to the fact that Britain, backed by the Empire, had failed to yield and a long war was now in prospect. In the West, Germany satisfied herself with the bombing of London and other British cities and with the continuing build-up of the U-boat campaign and raids on British shipping in the Atlantic by warships. Only Italy had the inclination for offensive military action; she invaded Greece on 28 October but failed to obtain the type of quick victory to which her partner had become accustomed. Italy was further disappointed in December when British units in the Middle East opened offensives against superior Italian forces on two fronts, in Libya and in East Africa. Both attacks exceeded all expectations and Britain gained her first land successes of the war. Germany would later have to send troops both to Greece and North Africa to rescue her Italian ally from complete humiliation.
The Middle East was too far away for Bomber Command to intervene directly but it started to lose some squadrons which were dispatched to that theatre. On the face of it, the lack of further military action in the West seemed to present Bomber Command with a unique opportunity. The bomber commanders could now pursue a pure strategic bombing policy free, for the first time in the war, of either political restraint or of the need to divert effort to tactical bombing in support of hard-pressed land forces. But, although the bomber leaders had every intention of pursuing that policy, this did not immediately happen. Their squadrons, too, needed to draw breath after the historic events of the past summer. It was a time for taking stock; the all-out strategic effort would have to wait a little. The pace of operations slowed appreciably.
The leadership of Bomber Command had changed again. Sir Charles Portal left on
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6 Blenheims on an uneventful sea sweep.
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GERMANY, FRANCE
125 Battles, Blenheims, Hampdens and Wellingtons to the Ruhr, Wilhelmshaven, Kiel and the Channel Ports. The weather was bad and only 41 aircraft reported bombing primary targets. At Wilhelmshaven, to which 35 Hampdens were sent, the only report describes how an 80-year-old woman was killed in bed by a fragment of Flak shell. 1 Wellington lost.
