MINOR OPERATIONS
38 Mosquitoes each to Berlin and Nuremberg, 3 Mosquitoes on 'siren tours' of Northern Germany, 1 R.C.M. sortie, 6 Mosquito patrols, 18 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 Stirling lost on a Resistance flight.
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MAINZ
458 aircraft - 311 Halifaxes, 131 Lancasters, 16 Mosquitoes - of 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 1 Halifax and 1 Mosquito lost.
Mainz was covered by cloud and the bombing was aimed at sky-markers dropped on Oboe. No results were seen by the bomber crews but the bombing caused severe destruction in the central and eastern districts of Mainz; this was the city's worst raid of the war. 1,545 tons of bombs were dropped. 5,670 buildings were destroyed, including most of the historic buildings in the Altstadt, but the industrial district was also badly hit. At least 1,122 people were killed; other accounts say 1,200. The 1,122 figure was made up of: 647 women, 437 men, 5 children, 21 servicemen and 12 foreigners; most of the city's children had probably been evacuated. Among the dead were 41 nuns in a convent which was bombed; there were only 3 survivors. This was the last heavy raid on Mainz. The city's total number of air-raid deaths in 14 major R.A.F. and U.S.A.A.F. raids and several minor raids numbered 2,482.
GELSENKIRCHEN
149 Lancasters of 3 Group carried out a G-H attack through thick cloud on the Alma Pluto benzol plant but no results were seen. 1 Lancaster lost.
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MINOR OPERATIONS
82 training aircraft on a sweep over the North Sea to draw up German fighters, 96 Mosquitoes to Berlin and 6 to Bremen, 62 R.C.M. sorties, 32 Mosquito patrols. No aircraft lost.
