There were no bomber operations on New Year's Eve; 2 Stirlings laid mines off the Dutch coast and returned safely.
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BERLIN
421 Lancasters. German fighters were directed on to the bomber stream at an early stage and were particularly active between 2 route-markers on the way to Berlin. The German controller was not deceived by the Mosquito feint at Hamburg but his fighters were not very effective over Berlin, only 2 bombers being shot down by fighters there, and the local Flak was probably restricted to the height at which it could fire and the guns only shot down 2 bombers over the target. 28 Lancasters were lost, 6.7 percent of the force.
The target area was covered in cloud and the accuracy of the sky-marking soon deteriorated. The Berlin report says that there was scattered bombing, mainly in the southern parts of the city. A large number of bombs fell in the Grunewald, an extensive wooded area in the south-west of Berlin. Only 21 houses and 1 industrial building were destroyed, with 79 people being killed. A high-explosive bomb hit a lock on an important canal and stopped shipping at that area for several days.
Minor Operations: 15 Mosquitoes to Hamburg, 11 to Witten, 7 to Duisburg, 4 to Bristillerie and 1 to Cologne, 6 R.C.M. sorties, 14 O.T.U. sorties. No losses.
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as a Mosquito squadron for the Light Night Striking Force and flew from Graveley until the end of the war.
OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
692 Squadron flew 3,237 Mosquito sorties and lost 17 aircraft (0.5 percent) in 308 bombing and 2 minelaying raids.
POINTS OF INTEREST
The 'Fellowship of the Bellows' was a patriotic organization of Anglo-Argentine businessmen and families in Buenos Aires who raised money for the purchase of aircraft for the R.A.F. The 'Bellows' were to help 'raise the wind'.
Dropped the first 4,000-lb bombs by Mosquitoes, on DÜSSELDORF,
