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Royal Air Force Bomber
Command 60th Anniversary
Campaign Diary
1941
May
The daylight Channel Stop sorties claimed their first success when
2 vessels were claimed as sunk by Blenheims operating between France
and Norway. Night-time raids were increasing in size and intensity
with raids on Cologne, Hamburg, Mannheim and Bremen receiving repeated
visits throughout the month. Over 100 aircraft were now regularly
used against a single target in contrast to earlier months but the
success of these raids was still limited and frequently suffered at
the hands of the weather and, ironically, lack of moonlight. The most
intensive night was that of 11th/12th May when 92 aircraft (91 Wellingtons
and a solitary Stirling) went to Hamburg while 81 aircraft (48 Whitleys,
31 Hampdens and 2 Manchesters) raided Bremen. Although very little
damage as done to industrial targets in either city, the new objective
of area bombing in order to dampen enemy morale saw many houses hit.
German Navy warships also figured in the planners' minds. Further
attempts were made to dispose of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in
Brest and, on the 27th, 52 Wellingtons and 12 Stirlings were despatched
to locate the Prinz Eugen, sister ship to the Bismarck (which had
just been sunk in the Atlantic), but nothing was found. At the end
of the month, 14 Whitleys were sent to bomb the Tirpitz at Kiel, but
only three found the target in storms and thick cloud. The vessel
survived unscathed.
June
On the 2nd, Blenheims attempting to block the Kiel Canal bombed several
ships and succeeded in cutting off the page of vessels through the
waterway for about 10 days. Towards the middle of the month, the night
raids had increased again as the moon period worked in Bomber Command's
favour. During 11th/12th June, 241 sorties were flown against Dusseldorf,
Duisburg and Boulogne and on Gardening sorties. Unfortunately, a thick
haze over Dusseldorf affected the accuracy of the attack, whilst the
80 aircraft sent to Duisburg managed to find a target of sorts. The
following night saw a total of 339 sorties, mainly against railway
yards; 91 Hampdens to Soest; 80 Whitleys and 4 Wellingtons to Schwerte;
82 Wellingtons to Hamm; 61 Wellingtons to Osnabrück and 11 Halifaxes
and 7 Stirlings to a chemical works at Hüls with the balance of sorties
being flown to Rotterdam and Emden. The first two targets were obscured
by cloud and haze but the crews sent to Hamm and Osnabrück reported
good bombing. The 4 Wellingtons despatched to Schwerte were from No
405 (Vancouver) Squadron and were the first operational flights by
a Canadian squadron during the offensive. The first reports of intensive
night-fighter activity were made during a raid on Bremen on the night
of 27th/28th June. Almost a third (11 out of 35) of the Whitleys involved
were shot down along with 3 Wellingtons. Many of the bombers however,
appear to have found Hamburg by mistake (a 50-mile error). During
the second half of June, the Blenheims resumed their Circus operations
with airfields, factories and power stations in France coming under
repeated attack.
July
After repeated attempts, the Prinz Eugen was finally hit during a
raid by 52 Wellingtons on Brest during the first night of the month.
Two bombers were hit, one crashing next to the warship. One bomb,
possibly from this aircraft, hit the Prinz Eugen and exploded causing
the loss of over 60 sailors. For his outstanding leadership during
a daylight low-level raid on Bremen by 12 Blenheims on the 4th, the
leader, Wing Commander Hughie Edwards of No 105 Squadron, was awarded
the Victoria Cross - the first Australian to receive the honour. Three
days later 109 Hampdens and Wellingtons made yet another attempt to
dispose of German capital ships berthed at Brest. Again, they were
foiled by a thick smoke-screen laid down to cover the vessels.
A new directive was issued to the Command during the month. Absent
was any mention of oil as it was realised that Bomber Command did
not have the accuracy to pursue the destruction of these targets and
a resumption of attacks against Germany was called for as much of
the Luftwaffe's attention was pointed to the East and in particular,
Russia. The directive went on to say: "'..there are many sighs
that our recent attacks on industrial towns are having a great effect
on the morale of the civilian population."' It continued: "I
am to request that you will direct the main effort of the bomber force…towards
dislocating the German transportation system and to destroying the
morale of the civilian population as a whole and of the industrial
workers in particular." Specific targets were listed in the document,
many of them in and around the huge industrial centre of the Ruhr.
Support to the Battle of the Atlantic was also reduced, with occasional
visits to occupied ports and U-boat bases being required.
There was little change in the number of aircraft available for operations
to Bomber Command. The formation of new squadrons was offset by the
continuing need to provide aircraft for operations in other theatres
such as the Middle and Far East, and new aircraft such as the Manchester
and Halifax were suffering a number of technical problems which limited
their availability.
This new directive coincided with a restructuring of German night
defences - especially the tactics of the night-fighters.
Almost immediately Bomber Command implemented the new plan. During
the night of 7th/8th July, 275 aircraft were involved in raids on
Cologne, Osnabrück, Munster and Monchengladbach, with Cologne suffering
a particularly sharp attack in good bombing conditions. Sgt JA Ward,
a New Zealander with No 75 (New Zealand) Squadron was awarded the
Victoria Cross for his bravery in attempting to fight a fire on the
starboard wing of his Wellington which had been hit by a defending
fighter during the Munster raid. Upwards of 75 aircraft were ordered
against individual targets in night operations, and on many occasions,
more than one target was attacked in a night, although the damage
caused by these raids was often negligible. The attacks against the
Scharnhorst resumed on the 23rd after she had been moved to La Pallice
some 200 south of Brest in preparation for her next Atlantic voyage.
The following day, 15 Halifaxes were despatched without escort to
La Pallice and met with fierce opposition. Five aircraft were lost,
and all of the others were damaged in some way. Five direct hits were
recorded on the battleship, but three armour-piercing bombs passed
straight through the Scharnhorst without exploding, but causing a
large amount of water to flood some areas. The ship was later moved
back to Brest where it could be afforded better protection. Meanwhile
at Brest, 79 Wellingtons, also operating without fighter escort, as
well as 18 Hampdens and 3 Fortresses with an escort attacked the port
and 6 hits were claimed on the Gneisenau. 10 Wellingtons and 2 Hampdens
were lost to enemy fighters which had been drawn up by the escorted
bombers. This was also the first operational use of the new American-built
Fortress.
August
The month was marked by poor weather hampering Bomber Command's operations
over Germany. In the early days of August, only on two nights did
200 or more aircraft operate (289 was the highest during 5th/6th August)
and crews frequently returned bemoaning the cloud which frequently
interfered with their work. A special daylight raid was made on the
12th by 54 Blenheims on power stations at Knapsack and Quadreth near
Cologne. Ten Blenheims were lost to flak during the low-level attacks
which were designed to help the Russians by drawing fighters back
from the Eastern Front. Many diversionary attacks were made by bombers
and fighters to support the Blenheims, resulting in the loss of two
further aircraft. That night, a Wellington carrying out one of the
initial trials of 'GEE', a new navigation aid for the bomber crews,
was lost over Hannover, but the new equipment was not discovered by
the Germans. Seventy aircraft were also sent to Berlin during the
night. Two nights later, over 300 aircraft were involved in operations,
with Hannover (152 aircraft), Brunswick (81) and Magdeburg (52) the
main targets. In a daylight mission over France on the 18th, a Blenheim
of No 18 Squadron dropped a spare artificial leg to Wing Commander
Douglas Bader, the famous fighter pilot, who had crashed and been
taken prisoner. At the end of the month, the first Bomber Command
operations in support of Resistance groups in occupied countries were
flown by the newly-formed 138 Squadron from its base at Newmarket.
These operations often involved parachuting supplies or agents in
to pre-determined locations or picking up packages and people and
used a number of different aircraft types.
August also saw the publication of the infamous Butt report into
the success (or failure) of Bomber Command's raids on Germany.
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