MNCHENGLADBACH
186 aircraft - 129 Lancasters, 46 Halifaxes, 11 Mosquitoes - of 1, 4 and 8 Groups. No aircraft lost.
The railway yards were the aiming point but little damage was caused there. Scattered bombing throughout Mnchengladbach and the neighbouring town of Rheydt destroyed 128 houses and 19 public buildings in Mnchengladbach and, in Rheydt, 45 houses, the Catholic church, a school and the office block of the local power-station. 21 (or 24, accounts differ) people were killed in Mnchengladbach and 30 in Rheydt. 200 bombs were also recorded in the village of Wickrath, 7 km south-west of Mnchengladbach; 5 people were killed there.
BONN
162 Lancasters and 16 Mosquitoes of 1 and 8 Groups. 1 Lancaster lost.
The intention again was to bomb the railway installations. Bomber Command's report states that the main weight of the attack fell on the railway yards, causing 'considerable damage'. This is not borne out by a report from Bonn to which is attached a police document (secret at that time) which is in great detail and would be unlikely to omit serious damage to railways. The only railway incident mentioned is the collapse of the Victoria road bridge across the main line from Cologne to Koblenz. A great deal of general damage, on buildings ranging from the university to a slaughterhouse, is listed. 486 people were killed; many of them were in 2 public shelters which received direct hits.
OSLO FJORD
67 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito of 5 Group attacked a 'large naval unit' and some merchant ships but no direct hits were claimed. No aircraft lost.
Minor Operations: 87 Mosquitoes to Frankfurt - 79 to the city generally and 8 to the railway yards - 35 R.C.M. sorties, 45 Mosquito patrols, 16 Halifaxes of 6 Group minelaying in the Skagerrak and 11 Lancasters of 5 Group off Oslo, 12 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 minelaying Halifax was lost and 1 Mosquito from the Frankfurt raid crashed in France.
Total effort for the night: 638 sorties, 3 aircraft (0.5 percent) lost.
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KOBLENZ
Two separate forces bombed railway yards in Koblenz, one of the main centres serving the Ardennes battlefront. 192 aircraft - 162 Halifaxes, 22 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitoes - of 4 and 8 Groups attacked the Mosel yards, near the main city, and 85 Lancasters of 3 Group attacked the Ltzel yards north of the city. No aircraft were lost from either operation.
At least part of the bombing of each raid hit the railway areas. The local report (from Dr Helmut Schnatz) says: 'The raids completed the severe damage inflicted by the American attack of the previous day. The whole railway system was blocked … The Koblenz-Ltzel railway bridge was out of action for the rest of the war and the cranes of the Mosel Harbour were also put out of action.' Only 39 people were killed: 32 civilians, 6 servicemen and 1 Italian worker; 50 people were injured.
Minor Operations: 16 Lancasters of 617 Squadron attacked the E-boat pens at Rotterdam, scoring several hits; 1 Hudson flew a Resistance operation. No aircraft lost.
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SCHOLVEN/BUER
324 Lancasters and 22 Mosquitoes of 1, 6 and 8 Groups. 4 Lancasters lost.
The raid took place in difficult conditions. There was thick cloud over the target but Oboe sky-markers were accurately placed and the oil refinery was badly hit. The local report says that 300 high-explosive bombs fell within the oil-plant area. There were two large and 10 small fires and much damage to piping and storage tanks. The local report records a further 3,198 bombs falling in other parts of Scholven and Buer, causing much property and some industrial damage; the surface buildings of the Hugo 1 and Hugo II coal mines were severely damaged. 93 people were killed, of whom 24 were prisoners of war; 41 people were injured and 1,368 people had to leave their homes, 1,178 through bomb damage and 190 because of unexploded bombs.
TROISDORF
197 aircraft - 159 Halifaxes, 24 Lancasters, 14 Mosquitoes - of 6 and 8 Groups attempted to bomb the railway yards but most of the attack missed the target. No other details are available. No aircraft lost.
Minor Operations: 28 R.C.M. sorties, 28 Mosquito patrols, 16 aircraft of 6 Group minelaying in the River Elbe, 8 Mosquitoes of 5 Group minelaying off Oslo. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 623 sorties, 4 aircraft (0.6 percent) lost.
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- Troisdorf raid. Page 639, add extra paragraphs:
As stated above, Bomber Command's records show that the raid was believed to have been a failure. A letter from Jill Rutter who visited Troisdorf six years after the initial publication of our book shows a different result. The letter is reproduced here:
The village of Troisdorf lies about 19 km South of Cologne. In 1900 Alfred Noble built a dynamite factory (DAG) on land that he had won from local farmers in a card game. The dynamite was initially used by the coal mines in the Ruhr but during World War I the factory expanded.
On the night of December 29th 1944 two waves of bombers came over from the direction of Cologne. The first wave succeeded with the bombs, as at 19.21hrs precisely, all the public clocks stopped. The railway line from Cologne divided in the village, part of it running alongside the Rhine and the other part travelling up into the hills. That night there was a munitions train in the station with many trucks. One end of it caught fire, and about every 20 minutes another truck caught fire and exploded, until the whole train was destroyed. During the raid, between 500 and 700 people lost their lives. This was about one third of the whole population. The dynamite factory was virtually destroyed but rebuilt after the war with the aid of international money and was one of the first factories to make plastic extrusions for windows.
