TOURS
180 Lancasters of 5 Group. 1 aircraft lost. The railway yards were seriously damaged.
TERGNIER
157 Halifaxes of 4 Group and 10 Pathfinder Mosquitoes. 10 Halifaxes lost. The railway yards were seriously damaged.
LAON
148 Lancasters and 15 Mosquitoes of 3, 6 and 8 Groups. 1 Lancaster lost. The marking was not completely accurate and only a corner of the railway yards was hit.
AULNOYE
132 Lancasters of 1 Group and 15 Pathfinder Mosquitoes. 7 Lancasters lost. The attack was successful; a later examination showed that 287 bombs hit the railway yards. The local report says that many bombs fell in fields near the railway but the engine-shed was hit and 30 locomotives were put out of action. 340 houses were destroyed or damaged and 14 civilians were killed.
GHENT
122 Halifaxes of 6 Group and 10 Pathfinder Mosquitoes. No aircraft lost.
Ghent was the only target of this night to provide a report. The raid caused much damage at the Merelbeke-Melle railway yards, on the main line to Brussels, but surrounding housing areas were also hit. 428 Belgians were killed and 300 injured. 584 buildings were destroyed - including 7 schools, 2 convents and an orphanage - and 1,009 other buildings were damaged.
Minor Operations: 36 Mosquitoes to Hannover and 2 to Duisburg, 17 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito of 617 Squadron to St-Cyr signals depot, 8 R.C.M. sorties, 9 Serrate patrols, 8 Stirlings minelaying off La Pallice, 46 aircraft on Resistance operations, 17 O.T.U. sorties. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 908 sorties, 19 aircraft (2.1 percent) lost. (25 Mosquitoes each marked two targets; only 25 sorties have been counted for these aircraft.)
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AACHEN
341 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitoes of 1, 3, 5 and 8 Groups. 9 Lancasters lost, 2.6 percent of the force.
This raid was accurate and caused widespread damage and fires in the centre of Aachen and in the southern part of the town, particularly in the suburb of Burtscheid. This was Aachen's most serious raid of the war.
Control of the air-raid services was quickly lost when one of the first salvoes of bombs cut communications between the main operations centre and outlying posts. The 5th and 6th Air Raid posts were both destroyed. In the 5th, in the Burtscheid district, the local leader, 15 of his men and several Hitler Youth messengers were all killed. The police headquarters was also hit. The local officials did not make a count of buildings destroyed and no details of industrial damage are given but 6 hospitals were listed as being hit. 80 patients and 11 staff were killed in the town hospital. Much damage was caused to railway and road communications and to power supplies. 1,525 people were killed, this number being broken down as follows: 758 women, 454 male civilians, 212 children, 49 service personnel, 21 police and air-raid workers, 13 prisoners of war, 10 foreign workers and 8 unidentified.
SUPPORT AND MINOR OPERATIONS
7 Mosquitoes to bomb night-fighter airfields, 36 Mosquitoes on diversion raid to Hannover and 3 each to Duisburg and Osnabrck, 7 R.C.M. sorties, 7 Serrate patrols, 35 Halifaxes and 8 Stirlings minelaying off Brest and in the Kattegat, 26 aircraft on Resistance operations, 8 O.T.U. sorties. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 492 sorties, 9 aircraft (1.8 percent) lost.
