SOEST
497 aircraft - 385 Halifaxes, 100 Lancasters, 12 Mosquitoes - of 1, 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 2 Halifaxes lost.
This was a successful raid, with the local report confirming that most of the bombing was in the northern part of the town where the railway installations were situated. Approximately 1,000 houses and 53 other buildings were completely destroyed and 198 Germans and 88 foreign workers were killed.
Minor Operations: 53 Mosquitoes to Ludwigshafen, 32 to Nuremberg and 4 to Duisburg, 36 R.C.M. sorties, 40 Mosquito patrols, 1 Stirling on a Resistance operation. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 663 sorties, 2 aircraft (0.3 percent) lost.
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1 Hudson flew a Resistance operation.
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LEUNA
475 Lancasters and 12 Mosquitoes of 1, 3 and 8 Groups. 5 Lancasters lost.
This was the first major attack on an oil target in Eastern Germany; Leuna, near the town of Merseburg, just west of Leipzig, was 250 miles from the German frontier and 500 miles from the bombers' bases in England. There was considerable cloud in the target area but post-raid photographs showed that considerable damage had been caused to the synthetic-oil plant.
OSNABRCK
453 aircraft - 363 Halifaxes, 72 Lancasters, 18 Mosquitoes - of 1, 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 7 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster lost.
This was the first major raid on Osnabrck since August 1942. The raid was only a partial success. The railway yards were only slightly damaged but 4 factories were hit, including the Teuto-Metallwerke munitions factory, and 203 houses were destroyed. 39 people were killed.
GIESSEN
255 Lancasters and 10 Mosquitoes of 5 Group. 8 Lancasters lost.
There were two aiming points for this raid. 168 aircraft were allocated to the town centre and 87 to the railway yards. Severe damage was caused at both places but the town of Giessen was unable to provide a local report.
Minor Operations: 42 Mosquitoes to Berlin, 10 to Schwerte and 2 to Hanau, 37 R.C.M. sorties, 47 Mosquito patrols. 2 Mosquitoes lost - 1 from the Berlin raid and an Intruder aircraft which crashed in France.
Total effort for the night: 1,343 sorties, 23 aircraft (1.7 percent) lost.
