MINOR OPERATIONS
34 aircraft minelaying in the Frisians, off Brittany ports and in the River Gironde, 5 O.T.U. sorties. No aircraft lost.
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12 Venturas bombed Caen airfield without loss.
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WUPPERTAL
719 aircraft - 292 Lancasters, 185 Halifaxes, 118 Stirlings, 113 Wellingtons, 11 Mosquitoes. 33 aircraft - 10 Halifaxes, 8 Stirlings, 8 Wellingtons, 7 Lancasters - lost, 4.6 percent of the force.
This attack was aimed at the Barmen half of the long and narrow town of Wuppertal and was the outstanding success of the Battle of the Ruhr. Both Pathfinder marking and Main Force bombing was particularly accurate and a large fire area developed in the narrow streets of the old centre of the town. It is probable that this fire was so severe that the first, small form of what would later become known as a 'firestorm' developed. Because it was a Saturday night, many of the town's fire and air-raid officials were not present, having gone to their country homes for the weekend, and the fire services of the town - in their first raid - were not able to control the fires.
Approximately 1,000 acres - possibly 80 percent of Barmen's built-up area - was destroyed by fire. 5 out of the town's 6 largest factories, 211 other industrial premises and nearly 4,000 houses were completely destroyed. The number of buildings classed as seriously damaged - 71 industrial and 1,800 domestic - indicates the high proportion of complete destruction. Various figures were given for the number of people killed but our expert on Ruhr raids, Norbert Krger, advises that the figure of 'approximately 3,400' is the nearest reasonable estimate.
The above figures indicate that the property damage in this raid was about twice as severe as any previous raid on a German city, while the number of people killed in this comparatively unprepared backwater of the Ruhr was about 5 times greater than any previous city raid.
3 O.T.U. aircraft on leaflet flights to France were recalled.
