MOSQUITO OPERATIONS
65 Mosquitoes to Stuttgart - in 2 waves - and 6 to Aschaffenburg. No aircraft lost.
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GELSENKIRCHEN
738 aircraft - 383 Halifaxes, 324 Lancasters, 31 Mosquitoes. 3 Lancasters and 2 Halifaxes lost.
This large daylight raid had, as its aiming point, the Nordstern synthetic-oil plant. The attack was not well concentrated but 514 aircraft were able to bomb the approximate position of the oil plant before smoke obscured the ground; 187 aircraft then bombed the general town area of Gelsenkirchen.
The Gelsenkirchen war diarist, who often recorded interesting titbits, tells of how this Protestant town had celebrated the Reformation Feast the previous day, a Sunday. The celebration had been held back from its proper date, 31 October, so as not to interfere with industrial production. The diarist wrote: 'For many pious people, this was their last church service. Catastrophe broke over Gelsenkirchen the following day.' The diary then proceeds to give several pages describing the severe damage throughout the town. The number of people killed was 518. The diarist then comments, perhaps with some pride, that Gelsenkirchen was mentioned by name in the O K W (German High Command) communiqu for the first time in the war.
1 Wellington flew an R.C.M. sortie.
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MITTELLAND CANAL
235 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitoes of 5 Group attempted to cut the Mittelland Canal at its junction with the Dortmund-Ems Canal at Gravenhorst. The marking force experienced great difficulty in finding the target. The crew of a low-flying Mosquito - pilot: Flight Lieutenant L. C. E. De Vigne; navigator: Australian Squadron Leader F. W. Boyle, 627 Squadron - found the canal and dropped their marker with such accuracy that it fell into the water and was extinguished. Only 31 aircraft bombed, before the Master Bomber ordered the raid to be abandoned. 10 Lancasters were lost.
KOBLENZ
128 Lancasters of 3 Group to this new target, making a night G-H attack. 2 Lancasters lost.
This was a successful raid with most of the damage being caused by a large area of fire in the centre of the town. The British Bombing Survey Unit later estimated that 303 acres, 58 percent of the town's built-up area, were destroyed. The local report (from Dr Helmut Schnatz) states that destruction in an area 2 miles across was almost complete, with 'nearly all of the historic courts of the ancient nobility, 3 old churches and the Castle of the Electors burnt out'. 104 people were killed - 89 civilians, 8 soldiers and 7 French and Italian prisoners of war - and 585 people were injured. Fire raids sometimes produced low casualty figures in towns with properly constructed shelters, but 25,000 people lost their homes.
Minor Operations: 48 Mosquitoes to Gelsenkirchen, 18 to Hannover, 11 to Rheine and 8 to Herford, 32 R.C.M. sorties, 82 Mosquito patrols, 12 Lancasters minelaying off Heligoland. 4 aircraft lost - 1 Mosquito from the Gelsenkirchen raid, 2 Mosquito Intruders and 1 R.C.M. Fortress.
