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AIR SITUATION.

Royal Air Force Operations.

Bomber Command.

Night reconnaissance and leaflet dropping operations.

23. Reconnaissances were sent out on the nights of the 6th-7th, 7th-8th and 9th-10th and reached as far as Poland, Austria and Czecho-Slovakia. 720,000 leaflets were scattered in the Posen area on the night of the 7th-8th by two Whitleys, which operated from an English aerodrome and landed in France. The black-out in Germany was good in the west, and deteriorated progressively towards the east; Posen itself was brilliantly lit. No serious ground opposition was encoun- tered, and two enemy aircraft which were seen made no attempt to attack. Three aircraft operating on the night of the 9th-10th March scattered 180,000 leaflets in the Vienna area and 360,000 in Czecho-Slovakia. There was on this occasion some ineffective anti-aircraft fire near Vienna, and the Munich district appeared to be well defended with searchlights and guns. The searchlights were apparently linked with some sound-ranging device, and could be evaded without difficulty by our aircraft desynchronising their engines. The raid of the 6th-7th March, in which ten aircraft were engaged, was directed to north-western Germany and distributed some 3,150,000 leaflets over Hamburg, Bremen, Hanover and Wilhelmshaven. No opposition was encountered. 168,700 leaflets were scattered by balloons on the night of the 11th March, and are estimated to have fallen in the Nuremberg area. The total number of leaflets distributed by all means is

now more than 50,000,000.

24. Leaflets were scattered also during an operation over the Ruhr and Rhine areas by three aircraft on the night of the 7th-8th March. The primary object of this reconnaissance was to study activity on German waterways and the extent of the black-out in the industrial areas. Little river traffic was visible except near Dusseldorf, but furnaces in blast were very conspicuous and the black-out was not effective in disguising the outlines of the area. Considerable anti-aircraft fire was met everywhere, with intensively defended areas near Emden and between Hamm and Dusseldorf.

Reconnaissance of Enemy Naval Bases.

25. A reconnaissance of the Heligoland Bight area has been maintained almost daily. Reconnaissance by two aircraft on the 7th March was hampered by lack of cloud cover, and an aircraft of the Photographic Development Unit which was over the Bight on the 8th March saw no enemy warships. On the 9th March two Blenheims were again over the Bight, and a Spitfire of the Photographic Development Unit went as far as Kiel but found the cloud too thick for photography. On the 11th March a submarine was seen about midday by one of two Blenheims, some twelve miles south-east of Heligoland, and was attacked from about 1,000 feet with a salvo of four 250-lb. bombs, one (perhaps two) of which struck just ahead of the conning-town. The vessel was seen to disappear, and photographs were taken of the oil patch which remained. The same aircraft observed a barrage of three or four balloons flying at about 4,000 feet over Borkum, and five more balloons on the ground at Wilhelmshaven. Twelve small enemy surface vessels in all were seen by both Blenheims, and at 1400 hours six of these vessels were in the position at which the submarine was attacked. The same two aircraft in the course of this reconnaissance made a search of the position in the Schillig Roads, where a submarine was bombed on the 4th March. No salvage operations were observed but four buoys were seen disposed in a square. The reconnaissance of the 12th March again encountered a considerable number of small vessels (fifteen in all), which were probably Flak ships or mine-sweepers. The reconnaissance of the 13th March was carried out in conditions of bad visibility, and nothing of interest was seen.

Offensive Patrols over Enemy Seaplane Bases.

26. Patrols over the enemy seaplane bases were sent out on the nights of the 6th-7th, 7th-8th and 12th-13th March, without special incident

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