04:10 - 08:05
Photos: the attack.
43 Beaufighters (10 torbeaus with torpedo and 5 with 25 pounds rockets) from the North Coates and Langham Wings escorted by 10 Mustangs from the AEAF were sent to the Waddenzee (Frisian Islands).
A convoy of ships were traced: 7 R-boats, ten mine sweepers and a large supply ship in this convoy together with a well-armed naval auxiliary. The merchant vessel was sunk by rockets the naval auxiliary beached, one minesweeper sunk, five set on fire, and two R-boats and two minesweepers shattered by cannon.It was one of the most succesful raids in WW2 because of the anti-flack formation. All Beaufighters and Mustangs returned safely home.
W/Cdr Tony Gadd from his log:
43 airplanes took part to this raid:
14 from 254 Sqn. (RAF)
12 from 489 Sqn (New Zealand)
12 from 455 Sqn. (Australian)
5 from 236 Sqn. (RAF)
One squadron Mustangs from AEAF.
The Ship Busters from Ralph Barker:
"Some days earlier, a report had filtered through from the Dutch underground that a large convoy was preparing to leave Rotterdam for the Baltic, consisting of two new vessels which had just been completed and would be on their maiden voyage, the 8000-ton merchant vessel Amerskerke and a 4000-ton naval auxiliary, escorted by no less than eighteen smaller vessels. The disruption and chaos wrought amongst German rail and road communications prior to D-Day had forced the Germans to rely more than ever on their sea routes, so that the destruction of these two new vessels, almost as soon as they were launched, would represent an important contribution to the breaking down of the enemy's power to resist and to the shortening of the war.
The advance information given by the Dutch resistance gave us the chance to plan a large-scale operation, the biggest of its kind so far. A new wing had been formed at Langham in Norfolk to deal with enemy shipping that might attempt to interfere with our invasion convoys, and it was decided to send two squadrons of this wing together with two of the North Coates wing, the whole to be escorted by ten Mustangs of Fighter Command.
Of the four squadrons, three were to dive on the convoy and smother the defences with cannon and rockets, and the fourth was to come in at low level and aim torpedoes at the two new ships.
The two squadrons of the Langham Wing, 455 (Australian) and 489 (New Zealand), had done most of their earlier operations off the Norwegian coast, too far from base to allow escort by single-seater fighters"
