ST-NAZAIRE/LORIENT
55 mixed aircraft to St-Nazaire and 47 to Lorient in the last raids on these French ports. Bomber Command was released from the obligation to bomb these targets 3 days later. 1 Lancaster was lost from the St-Nazaire raid.
The only report available from France says that the local fire-brigade headquarters at St-Nazaire was hit and 1 person was wounded. Both towns were now largely deserted by their former civilian populations.
33 aircraft laid mines off the southern part of the Biscay coast. 1 Lancaster lost.
---
12 Venturas bombed shipping at Brest and 8 Mosquitoes attacked railway targets in Belgium and France. 1 Mosquito lost.
---
ESSEN
348 aircraft - 225 Lancasters, 113 Halifaxes, 10 Mosquitoes; this was the first raid in which more than 200 Lancasters had taken part. 12 Halifaxes and 9 Lancasters lost - 6.0 percent of the force - and 2 further Halifaxes crashed in England.
The weather forecast was not entirely favourable for this raid and the Pathfinders prepared a plan both for sky-marking and ground-marking the target. In the event, there was no cloud over Essen and the Main Force crews were somewhat confused to find two kinds of marking taking place. The resultant bombing, however, was accurate and a higher proportion of aircraft produced good bombing photographs than on any of the earlier successful raids on Essen.
Local reports showed that there was widespread damage in the centre and in the western half of Essen. 635 buildings were destroyed and 526 seriously damaged. 118 people - 88 civilians, 10 Flak gunners, 2 railwaymen, 2 policemen and 16 French workers - were killed and 458 people were injured.
Minor Operations: 16 Wellingtons minelaying off Brittany ports, 9 O.T.U. sorties. 1 minelaying aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 377 sorties, 23 aircraft (61 percent) lost.
