SCHOLVEN/BUER
324 Lancasters and 22 Mosquitoes of 1, 6 and 8 Groups. 4 Lancasters lost.
The raid took place in difficult conditions. There was thick cloud over the target but Oboe sky-markers were accurately placed and the oil refinery was badly hit. The local report says that 300 high-explosive bombs fell within the oil-plant area. There were two large and 10 small fires and much damage to piping and storage tanks. The local report records a further 3,198 bombs falling in other parts of Scholven and Buer, causing much property and some industrial damage; the surface buildings of the Hugo 1 and Hugo II coal mines were severely damaged. 93 people were killed, of whom 24 were prisoners of war; 41 people were injured and 1,368 people had to leave their homes, 1,178 through bomb damage and 190 because of unexploded bombs.
TROISDORF
197 aircraft - 159 Halifaxes, 24 Lancasters, 14 Mosquitoes - of 6 and 8 Groups attempted to bomb the railway yards but most of the attack missed the target. No other details are available. No aircraft lost.
Minor Operations: 28 R.C.M. sorties, 28 Mosquito patrols, 16 aircraft of 6 Group minelaying in the River Elbe, 8 Mosquitoes of 5 Group minelaying off Oslo. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 623 sorties, 4 aircraft (0.6 percent) lost.
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13 Lancasters of 617 Squadron set out to bomb the U-boat pens at Ijmuiden but the raid was abandoned because of bad weather.
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COLOGNE/KALK
470 aircraft - 356 Halifaxes, 93 Lancasters, 21 Mosquitoes - of 4, 6 and 8 Groups to attack the area in which the Kalk-Nord railway yards were situated. 1 Halifax and 1 Lancaster lost.
The presence of cloud caused difficulties for the Pathfinders and the outcome of the raid could not be observed. But the local report shows that the Kalk-Nord yards, as well as the 2 passenger stations near by, were severely damaged. At least 2 ammunition trains blew up. Nearby Autobahnen were also badly damaged, all adding to the effect upon the German transportation system. Bombing which fell around the railway targets destroyed 116 houses, 3 industrial premises, 5 police or postal buildings, 2 schools and 2 churches. 24 people were killed.
HOUFFALIZE
154 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitoes of 5 Group attacked a German supply bottleneck in a narrow valley at Houffalize. The results of the raid are not known. 1 Lancaster crashed in France.
Minor Operations: 68 Mosquitoes to Hannover, 9 to Bochum and 8 to Duisburg, 32 R.C.M. sorties, 36 Mosquito patrols, 11 Lancasters minelaying off Heligoland, 21 aircraft on Resistance operations. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 821 sorties, 3 aircraft (0.4 percent) lost.
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- Troisdorf raid. Page 639, add extra paragraphs:
As stated above, Bomber Command's records show that the raid was believed to have been a failure. A letter from Jill Rutter who visited Troisdorf six years after the initial publication of our book shows a different result. The letter is reproduced here:
The village of Troisdorf lies about 19 km South of Cologne. In 1900 Alfred Noble built a dynamite factory (DAG) on land that he had won from local farmers in a card game. The dynamite was initially used by the coal mines in the Ruhr but during World War I the factory expanded.
On the night of December 29th 1944 two waves of bombers came over from the direction of Cologne. The first wave succeeded with the bombs, as at 19.21hrs precisely, all the public clocks stopped. The railway line from Cologne divided in the village, part of it running alongside the Rhine and the other part travelling up into the hills. That night there was a munitions train in the station with many trucks. One end of it caught fire, and about every 20 minutes another truck caught fire and exploded, until the whole train was destroyed. During the raid, between 500 and 700 people lost their lives. This was about one third of the whole population. The dynamite factory was virtually destroyed but rebuilt after the war with the aid of international money and was one of the first factories to make plastic extrusions for windows.
