FRANKFURT
816 aircraft - 620 Lancasters, 184 Halifaxes, 12 Mosquitoes. Again, an indirect route was employed, this time crossing the Dutch coast north of the Zuider Zee and then flying almost due south to Frankfurt. This, and the Kiel minelaying diversion, confused the Germans for some time; Hannover was forecast as the main target. Only a few fighters eventually found the bomber stream. 33 aircraft - 26 Lancasters, 7 Halifaxes - were lost, 4.0 percent of the force.
The marking and bombing were accurate and Frankfurt suffered another heavy blow; the city's records show that the damage was even more severe than in the raid carried out 4 nights earlier. Half of the city was without gas, water and electricity 'for a long period'. All parts of the city were hit but the greatest weight of the attack fell in the western districts. The report particularly mentions severe damage to the industrial areas along the main road to Mainz. The report also has long lists of historic buildings, churches and hospitals destroyed and statistics for the destruction of property. Mention is made of 5 important and 26 lesser Nazi Party buildings hit. 948 people were killed, 346 seriously injured and 120,000 bombed out.
162 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force used Frankfurt as a secondary target when they could not reach Schweinfurt 36 hours after this R.A.F. raid and caused further damage. The Frankfurt diary has this entry:
The three air raids of 18th, 22nd and 24th March were carried out by a combined plan of the British and American air forces and their combined effect was to deal the worst and most fateful blow of the war to Frankfurt, a blow which simply ended the existence of the Frankfurt which had been built up since the Middle Ages.
One result of these heavy raids was that recently captured R.A.F. men often had to be protected by their guards from the assaults of angry civilians when they passed through Frankfurt to reach the nearby Oberursel interrogation and transit camp.
DIVERSION AND SUPPORT OPERATIONS
20 Mosquitoes bombing night-fighter airfields, 128 Halifaxes and 18 Stirlings mine-laying in Kiel Bay and off Denmark, 22 Mosquitoes on diversion and harassing raids to Berlin, Dortmund, Hannover and Oberhausen, 16 R.C.M. sorties and 16 Serrate patrols, 1 Halifax minelayer lost.
20 O.T.U. Wellingtons carried out leaflet flights to France without loss.
Total effort for the night: 1,056 sorties, 34 aircraft (3.2 percent) lost.
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LAON
143 aircraft - 83 Halifaxes, 48 Stirlings, 12 Mosquitoes - of 3, 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 2 Halifaxes lost.
The weather in the target area was clear but the Master Bomber ordered the attack to be stopped after 72 aircraft had bombed. The local report states that about half of the bombs hit the railway yards but the remainder were scattered in an area up to 3 km from the target. The bombing did cut the through lines but these were repaired the following day. 83 houses around the station were hit but only 7 civilians were killed and 9 injured because most of the people who lived near the station moved to other parts of Laon at night.
Lyons
20 Lancasters of 5 Group, including 617 Squadron, bombed an aero-engine factory near Lyons without loss.
Minor Operations: 13 Mosquitoes to Dortmund and 2 to Oberhausen, 5 R.C.M. sorties, 4 Serrate patrols, 2 Stirlings minelaying off Brittany, 6 O.T.U. sorties. No losses.
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WESEL
195 Lancasters and 23 Mosquitoes of 5 and 8 Groups carried out the last raid on the unfortunate town of Wesel. No aircraft lost.
Wesel claims to have been the most intensively bombed town, for its size, in Germany. 97 percent of the buildings in the main town area were destroyed. The population, which had numbered nearly 25,000 on the outbreak of war, was only 1,900 in May 1945. No casualty figures or any other details of the raids are available.
SUPPORT AND MINOR OPERATIONS
78 training aircraft on a sweep across France and as far as Mannheim, 65 Mosquitoes to Berlin and 23 to Aschaffenburg, 41 R.C.M. sorties, 39 Mosquito patrols. 2 Mosquitoes lost from the Berlin raid.
