GIVORS
179 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitoes of 1 and 8 Groups carried out an exceptionally accurate attack on the railway yards. No aircraft lost.
Minor Operations: 33 Mosquitoes to Berlin and 2 to Trossy-St-Maxim, 9 R.C.M. sorties, 28 Mosquito patrols, 8 Stirlings and 6 Lancasters minelaying off Biscay ports, 14 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 Mosquito lost from the Berlin raid.
---
FORT DE MONTRICHARD
117 aircraft - 95 Halifaxes, 16 Lancasters, 6 Mosquitoes - of 6 and 8 Groups attacked a fuel dump, which was soon covered by a thick pall of smoke. No aircraft lost.
U-BOAT PENS
68 Lancasters of 1 Group and 2 Mosquitoes of 5 Group attacked pens at Brest, La Pallice and Bordeaux without loss. A U-boat was believed to have been hit at La Pallice. 8 Mosquitoes of 100 Group provided a fighter escort.
1 Wellington flew an R.C.M. sortie.
---
BRUNSWICK
242 Lancasters and 137 Halifaxes. 17 Lancasters and 10 Halifaxes lost, 7.1 percent of the force.
This was an experimental raid. No Pathfinder aircraft took part and there was no marking. The intention was to discover how successfully a force of aircraft could carry out a raid with each crew bombing on the indications of its own H2S set. The raid was not successful and there was no concentration of bombing. The Brunswick report calls it a 'heavy raid' but only states that bombs fell in the central and Stadtpark areas and that 99 people were killed. Other towns, up to 20 miles distant, were mistaken for Brunswick and were also bombed.
RSSELSHEIM
297 aircraft - 191 Lancasters, 96 Halifaxes, 10 Mosquitoes. 13 Lancasters and 7 Halifaxes lost, 6.7 percent of the force. The target for this raid was the Opel motor factory and normal Pathfinder marking methods were used. The motor factory was only slightly damaged; the local report states that the tyre and dispatch departments and the powerhouse were hit but most of the bombs fell in open countryside south of the target. 9 people were killed and 31 injured.
FALAISE
144 aircraft - 91 Lancasters, 36 Halifaxes, 12 Stirlings, 5 Mosquitoes - bombed a German troop concentration and a road junction north of Falaise. The bombing was believed to have been very effective. No aircraft lost.
FLYING-BOMB SITES
40 Halifaxes and 12 Mosquitoes bombed 2 launching sites and a storage depot. No aircraft lost.
SUPPORT AND MINOR OPERATIONS
143 training aircraft on a diversionary sweep over the English Channel, 21 Mosquitoes to Kiel, 10 to Frankfurt and 3 each to Coulommiers and Juvincourt airfields, 33 R.C.M. sorties, 47 Mosquito patrols, 10 Lancasters and 4 Halifaxes minelaying off Biscay ports, 21 O.T.U. sorties. 2 Mosquitoes lost - 1 from the Frankfurt raid and 1 Mosquito of 100 Group, probably a Serrate aircraft.
Total effort for the night: 1,167 sorties, 49 aircraft (4.2 percent) lost. The bombs dropped during this night brought Bomber Command's total for the war so far to approximately 500,000 tons.
---
and flew Halifaxes from Driffield until December 1944, when the squadron was moved to Foulsham for radio-countermeasures duties in 100 Group for the remainder of the war.
OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Raids Flown
4
Group Halifaxes - 45 bombing
100 Group Halifaxes - 63 R.C.M.
Total - 108 raids (bombs were sometimes dropped during the R.C.M. operations)
Sorties and Losses
4
Group Halifaxes - 544 sorties, 6 aircraft lost (1.1 percent)
100 Group Halifaxes - 621 sorties, 7 aircraft lost (1.1 percent)
Total - 1,165 sorties, 13 aircraft lost (1.1 percent)
463 (AUSTRALIAN) SQUADRON
SERVICE
Formed in 5 Group on
