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36. Aircraft despatched to Emden and Kiel met with severe icing conditions and found their targets obscured by heavy cloud. At the former port 24 tons of H.E. bombs, including five of 4,000 lbs., were dropped, but, apart from a large fire, no results could be seen. At the latter, where 11 tons of H.E. bombs were released, visibility was equally bad and only bursts were observed. ⚫

37. Heavy cloud also prevented the observation of results at Brest, where 10 tons of bombs were dropped.

United Kingdom.

38. Fighter Command flew 883 sorties by day and 186 sorties by night; these totals are substantially lower than those of the previous week and reflect the unfavourable weather conditions prevailing.

39. The scale of enemy effort was the lowest recorded since the beginning of operations on the Russian front and there were few features of interest.

40. No concentrated attacks were made on land targets. In daylight more aircraft crossed the coast than for many weeks, advantage being taken of low cloud to make brief sorties in coastal areas. At night few aircraft penetrated inland.

Coastal Operations.

41. Coastal Command flew 181 patrols (267 sorties) and provided 19 convoy escorts (50 additional sorties). Shipping protection patrols by Fighter Command totalled 324 (728 sorties).

42. Owing to the unfavourable weather, attacks on enemy shipping were considerably reduced. A Hudson bombed an 8,000-ton merchant vessel off Lister Light; two hits amidships were seen and the ship was left listing. Spitfires sank a 500-ton vessel off Fécamp, and numerous hits with machine gun and cannon fire were made by Beaufighters of Coastal Command on a 600-ton vessel off Ijmuiden. Other ships were bombed and machine-gunned off the Norwegian coast without the effects being observed.

43. Eleven aircraft were despatched to lay sea-mines off Lorient, St. Nazaire and the Frisian Islands.

44. Enemy offensive activity was still directed mainly against shipping. Six attacks were made by day off the Humber, Cromer, the Needles and the Faroes, and six at dusk or in the early hours of darkness off Waterford, Dundee, and the East Coast. Minelaying is suspected in the Thames Estuary and in the Bristol Channel area.

45. Aircraft from the Condor unit were identified west of Ireland on two occasions but failed to locate the convoy for which they were apparently searching. In recent weeks this unit has operated west of Spain and Portugal and the move northwards represents a return to its former area of operations.

46. Routine shipping and weather reconnaissances were carried out by the enemy over the North Sea (as far North as the Faroes and Jan Mayen Island), the Channel, and the Atlantic.

Central Mediterranean.

47. A night attack by 19 Wellingtons lasting five and a half hours was made on the railway centre of Catania; over 30 tons of bombs were dropped and many

hits were observed in the target area. Nuisance raids were also carried out at night by small forces of Wellingtons on enemy bases at Brindisi, Naples, Tripoli (L), Benghazi and Messina, and bombs were dropped on the railway centres and on other objectives; at Brindisi two factories were set on fire, and hits on the barracks and on oil tanks resulted in a number of explosions and a large fire.

48. Six Blenheims attacked a small convoy West of Zante, making a direct hit on a merchant vessel of 4,000 tons. Petrol stored on deck was ignited by

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