MINOR OPERATIONS
60 Mosquitoes to Berlin, 4 each to Gotha, Jena and Weimar, 35 R.C.M. sorties, 10 Mosquito patrols. No aircraft lost.
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ESSEN
1,079 aircraft - 750 Lancasters, 293 Halifaxes, 36 Mosquitoes - of all bomber groups. This was the largest number of aircraft sent to a target so far in the war. 3 Lancasters lost.
4,661 tons of bombs were dropped on Oboe-directed sky-markers through complete cloud cover. The attack was accurate and this great blow virtually paralysed Essen until the American troops entered the city some time later. Essen's recording system produced no proper reports but 897 people are said to have been killed.
This was the last R.A.F. raid on Essen, which had been attacked so many times, though often in the early years of the war with such disappointing and costly results. Most of the city was now in ruins. 7,000 people had died in air raids. The pre-war population of 648,000 had fallen to 310,000 by the end of April 1945; the rest had left for quieter places in Germany.
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MINOR OPERATIONS
90 Mosquitoes to Berlin and 6 each to Brunswick, Hannover and Magdeburg, 4 Mosquito patrols, 22 Lancasters minelaying in the Kattegat and off Oslo. No aircraft lost.
