Mosquito Operations
8 Mosquitoes to the Hansa benzol plant at Dortmund and 6 Mosquitoes to Duisburg. 1 aircraft from the Dortmund raid crashed in Holland.
The weather started to improve at the beginning of February and Bomber Command commenced an almost unbroken period of operations of the most intense and concentrated nature which would continue until a halt was called to the strategic-bombing offensive in April. The first round of raids, however, was not very effective because of poor weather at the targets.
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MNCHENGLADBACH
160 Lancasters of 3 Group attacked the general town area through 8-10/10ths cloud, using G-H. The results of the raid are not known. 1 Lancaster crashed in France.
1 Halifax flew an R.C.M. sortie.
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LUDWIGSHAFEN
382 Lancasters and 14 Mosquitoes of 1, 6 and 8 Groups. 6 Lancasters lost.
Most of the force aimed their loads at sky-markers and the local report shows that bombs fell in many parts of Ludwigshafen, with much property damage of a mixed nature. The 900 houses destroyed or seriously damaged were the main item in the report but it also states that the railway yards were seriously damaged and one of the Rhine road bridges was hit by 2 bombs and temporarily closed to traffic. 25 people were killed and 6 injured, figures which might indicate that the population either had been evacuated or were extremely well provided with shelters.
MAINZ
340 aircraft - 293 Halifaxes, 40 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitoes - of 4, 6 and 8 Groups. No aircraft lost.
A few early crews were able to bomb target indicators seen through a gap in the clouds, but the gap soon closed and most of the raid was on sky-markers. The local report states that a few buildings were destroyed, including the Christuskirche, which burnt out, and the town hospital was damaged, but most of the bombing fell outside Mainz. 33 people were killed.
SIEGEN
271 Lancasters and 11 Mosquitoes of 5 Group. 3 Lancasters and 1 Mosquito lost.
This raid also experienced difficult marking and bombing conditions. Some damage was caused to the railway station but the local report says that the markers were either carried away from Siegen by a strong wind or that dummy markers and a decoy fire site attracted much of the bombing. Most of the raid fell in country areas outside Siegen. 128 people died.
Minor Operations: 122 Mosquitoes to Berlin, 8 to Bruckhausen benzol plant, 6 to Hannover, 4 to Nuremberg and 4 dropping dummy target indicators at both Mannheim and Stuttgart, 64 R.C.M. sorties, 47 Mosquito patrols. No aircraft lost.
Total effort for the night: 1,273 sorties, 10 aircraft (0.8 percent) lost.
