5 Whitleys and 1 Wellington from O.T.U.s on leaflet flights to France. 1 Whitley lost.
(The operations since the end of May are a good example of the way in which Bomber Command now curtailed its operations during the moon period.)
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DÜSSELDORF
783 aircraft - 326 Lancasters, 202 Halifaxes, 143 Wellingtons, 99 Stirlings, 13 Mosquitoes. This was the first night that more than 200 Halifaxes took part in a raid. 38 aircraft - 14 Lancasters, 12 Halifaxes, 10 Wellingtons, 2 Stirlings - lost, 4.9 percent of the force.
The Pathfinder marking plan proceeded excellently until an Oboe Mosquito inadvertently released a load of target indicators 14 miles north-east of DÜSSELDORF. This caused part of the Main Force to waste its bombs on open country. But the main bombing caused extensive damage in the centre of DÜSSELDORF, where 130 acres were claimed as destroyed, and this proved to be the most damaging raid of the war for this city.
DÜSSELDORF reports that the fire area measured 8 km by 5 km, covering the city centre - both the old and new parts, the Derendorf district and the south of the city. No less than 8,882 separate fire incidents were recorded of which 1,444 were classified as large. 1,292 people were killed. 140,000 people were bombed out of their homes. The list of destroyed and seriously damaged industrial and public buildings covers 4 typed pages in the DÜSSELDORF report! 42 industries connected with the war effort suffered complete stoppages of production and 35 more suffered a partial reduction. 20 military establishments were hit. 8 ships were sunk or damaged. The Gau (province) local government headquarters was destroyed.
MNSTER
72 aircraft - 29 Lancasters, 22 Halifaxes, 21 Stirlings - were dispatched on an interesting raid. All the aircraft were provided by 8 Group and it was really a mass H2S trial. 33 of the aircraft carried markers or flares, the remaining aircraft acting as the bombing force, although the marker aircraft also bombed. The marking and bombing were very accurate and the whole raid lasted less than 10 minutes. Photographic reconnaissance showed that much damage was done to railway installations in Mnster as well as to housing areas. Mnster's report is very brief, stating only that 132 buildings were destroyed, 317 were seriously damaged and 52 people were killed.
Unfortunately the raid was expensive for the small force involved; 5 aircraft - 2 Halifaxes, 2 Lancasters and 1 Stirling - were lost, 6.9 percent of the aircraft involved.
Minor Operations: 3 Mosquitoes to Duisburg and 2 to Cologne, 23 O.T.U. sorties to France. 1 O.T.U. Wellington was lost.
Total effort for the night: 883 sorties, 44 aircraft (5.0 percent) lost. The number of aircraft dispatched on this night represented a new record for a 'non-1,000' raid.
