STUTTGART
598 aircraft - 460 Lancasters, 126 Halifaxes, 12 Mosquitoes. The North Sea sweep and the Munich diversion successfully drew the German fighters up 2 hours before the main bomber force flew inland and only 9 aircraft - 7 Lancasters and 2 Halifaxes - were lost, 1.5 percent of the force. 4 further Lancasters and 1 Halifax crashed in England.
Stuttgart was cloud-covered and the bombing became scattered. The local report states that considerable damage was caused in the centre of the city and in the north-eastern and north-western suburbs of Bad Canstatt and Feuerbach. Several important cultural buildings in the centre of the city were badly damaged - the Neues Schloss, the Landtag (regional parliament building), the state picture gallery, the state archives, the state theatre and two old churches. In the Feuerbach suburb, however, the Bosch factory, which produced dynamos, injection pumps and magnetos and was considered to be one of the most important factories in Germany, was heavily damaged. 125 people were killed and 510 injured.
DIVERSION AND SUPPORT OPERATIONS
156 aircraft - 132 from training units and 24 from squadrons - flew a large training exercise across the North Sea as a preliminary feint; 24 Mosquitoes attacked airfields in Holland; 7 Mosquitoes made a diversionary raid on Munich and there were 7 Serrate patrols. No aircraft lost.
28 Stirlings and 6 Wellingtons laid mines off French ports. 1 Wellington lost.
Total effort for the night: 826 sorties, 10 aircraft (1.2 percent) lost.
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MINOR OPERATIONS
17 Mosquitoes to Duisburg, Stuttgart and 2 flying-bomb sites, 1 Serrate patrol, 41 aircraft minelaying in the Frisians and off French ports, 10 O.T.U. sorties. 1 Stirling minelayer lost.
