CAB80-20 — Page 277

Page 277

Page 277

Page 277

LAM.

re

CC

0:

General Review.

AIR SITUATION.

29. Night operations by our bombers against targets in Germany were con- siderably intensified in spite of unsuitable weather, but most of the daylight attacks by our medium bombers were abandoned. The enemy was able to increase his scale of attack slightly by day and considerably by night and London continued to sustain the heaviest weight of bombing.

30. In the Mediterranean and Middle East, activity by the enemy was singularly light and, with one exception, ineffective. Operations by the Royal Air Force were intensively maintained against Libyan ports, shipping, aerodromes, barracks and concentrations of transport. Operational aircraft casualties are recorded in Appendix V, and Appendix VI contains further extracts from Raid Assessment Reports.

Enemy Territory in Europe.

31. In spite of the fact that adverse weather again considerably hampered operations, Bomber Command flew 764 night sorties during the week. Daylight operations were restricted to a total of twenty-two Blenheims, despatched to attack Channel ports and targets in Germany, and of these all but two abandoned their tasks owing to lack of cloud cover.

32. On the nights of the 11th-12th and the 13th-14th, severe icing con- ditions and heavy cloud hampered our heavy bombers. Results of attacks on primary objectives were unobserved, except on the second night, when twenty-nine aircraft effectively bombed Boulogne, Havre, Calais, Dunkirk, Ostend and Flushing, causing large explosions in the dock areas. Coastal Command medium bombers also successfully attacked Havre, the Helder and Lorient on two nights, in addition to operations against other invasion ports.

33. Under comparatively favourable conditions, successful attacks were launched against military targets in Berlin on two nights and on oil targets at Hamburg, Reisholz, Leuna, Cologne, Magdeburg, Stettin, Bohlen Rotha and Gelsenkirchen, the resultant damage at the last four being particularly severe. The railway line near Antwerp Docks was hit with a 1,000-lb. bomb. Krupps Works at Essen were attacked on three nights and those at Kiel on one night. On the 10th-11th our aircraft started fires at Cherbourg preparatory to the Naval bombardment reported earlier in this Résumé.

34. Heavy bombers were despatched on two nights to attack Tirpitz at Wilhelmshaven but no definite results were reported, intense opposition from ground defences making observation difficult. During attacks on shipbuilding yards at Kiel, Hamburg and Bremen on two nights, by considerable forces of heavy bombers, many bursts were seen near the reported positions of A number of enemy Gneisenau, Scharnhorst, Lützow, and Bismarck. aerodromes were bombed by single aircraft and attacks were continued against marshalling yards and industry in Germany.

35. As a result of operations on the night of the 16th-17th October, three of our heavy bombers are missing and fourteen others crashed on landing owing to the exceptionally bad weather conditions.

Great Britain.

36. Daylight attacks consisted mainly of sweeps over South-Eastern England, for which bomb-carrying fighters were increasingly employed; on the 13th, each of the four raids plotted was entirely composed of fighters.

37. Night attacks increased considerably in intensity and relays of aircraft, singly or in groups, were active over the country from dusk to dawn, the scale of On the 15th October the enemy, attack usually diminishing after midnight.

b

C

2000+ 0∞

t

S

a

I

C

f

f

t

1

(

Page 277

Page 277