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55. Large and medium-sized fires resulted from the attack on Düsseldorf, where 68 tons of H.E. bombs (including ten of 4,000 lb.) and 8,000 incendiaries were released. At Emden, a similar weight of bombs caused many fires in the Old Town and near the railway station and docks. Two smaller-scale raids were made on Ostend. During the week's operations 18 of our bomber aircraft were lost.

United Kingdom.

56. Fighter Command flew 1,025 sorties by day and 188 sorties by night.

57. No outstanding feature of interest characterised enemy operations during the past week, which were on a small scale. Three enemy bombers were shot down at night by Beaufighters.

58. From the character of German Air Force operations during the past few weeks, it appears that the policy of conserving the long-range bomber force on the Western Front is still being rigorously pursued, possibly because of increasing difficulty in maintaining units at operational strength in other theatres of war.

Coastal Operations.

59.

Coastal Command flew 169 patrols (313 sorties) and provided 31 convoy escorts (48 additional sorties). Shipping protection patrols by Fighter Command totalled 299 (695 sorties) and, in addition, fighters escorted our bombers in their attacks on shipping off the Coast of France.

60. In spite of unfavourable flying weather, aircraft of Coastal and Fighter Commands continued to harass enemy shipping both in daylight and by night.

61. Eight Hurricane bombers, with fighter protection, destroyed a 2,500-ton merchant vessel and a flak ship off the French coast; a second flak ship was set on fire and the fighter escort shot down two Me. 109's which approached. On the same day, a further eight Hurricanes (of which three are missing) bombed shipping in Boulogne Harbour, where they encountered intense and accurate A.A. fire. The results of the attack, which was carried out from a low level, could not be observed. Eleven fighter squadron sorties were flown as escort and cover for these Hurricane bombers.

62. Hudsons sank a 5,000-ton vessel off Borkum and a 1,000-ton tanker in Hardanger Fjord, and reported hits on hostile shipping in Norwegian waters totalling over 17,000 tons. Beauforts, operating off The Hague, left a 1,500-ton ship listing, and off Borkum, hit another of 4,000 tons, causing large explosions amidships; they claimed hits on other ships totalling 5,500 tons.

63. Nineteen aircraft were despatched to lay sea-mines off the Frisian Islands, in the Jade and Weser rivers and off Kiel and Brest.

64. Offensive activity by the German Air Force continued to be directed almost entirely against shipping, but this policy was attended by little success. Shortly after dusk on the 1st December attacks took place off Aberdeen, in the Bristol Channel, Cardigan Bay and Dublin Bay, but only slight damage was caused.

65. Enemy minelaying aircraft operated on five nights of the week in the Humber, the Thames Estuary, off the Cornish Coast and in the Bristol Channel.

Central Mediterranean.

66. On the night the 27th/28th November a very successful attack was made on Naples by 21 Wellingtons. One 4,000-lb. bomb hit the Royal Arsenal and another fell on the railway junction. Other hits were made on the torpedo factory, the Imam aircraft works and on two other factories; three oil cisterns were set on fire and several other large fires were started.

67. Naval aircraft, operating under the A.O.C., Malta, made a night attack on Castel Benito aerodrome, Tripoli (L), where one enemy bomber was blown up and others probably damaged; on another night they dropped bombs on the railway lines at Noto (40 miles S. of Catania).

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