The Berlin Raids by Martin Middlebrook

Author:Martin Middlebrook [Middlebrook, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, World War II
ISBN: 9781848842243
Google: GDPAAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2010-07-12T00:35:22+00:00

It was a mid-evening take-off, and there were no incidents until the Dutch coast was reached. The German night-fighter airfields were covered by low cloud and rain, and only the experienced crews from the twin-engined units were sent into action – sixty-six crews. The coastal units attempted to engage the bomber stream over Holland. Oberleutnant Schnaufer added two more to his growing list of successes, shooting down a Halifax over Holland and a Lancaster just over the German border. He was awarded the first of his four grades of Knight’s Cross two days later, with a score so far of forty-two R.A.F. bombers shot down.1 The route was then quiet until the bomber stream reached the area of the two Mosquito diversions, when there were a few more fighter attacks. Sergeant John Barnes-Moss of 61 Squadron was the close witness of one aircraft lost here. ‘I was in the astrodome on fighter look-out when I saw, to my horror, over the top of us, only just over the top, passing from starboard to port, a complete Lancaster wing, the props still turning, probably just windmilling.’ But the bomber force reached Berlin in good order, having lost no more than seven or eight aircraft. It is not known whether any of the single-engined German fighters were in action, but none was seen by the bombers. The Germans were definitely confused by the two Mosquito raids, the controllers falling for the first of the two bluffs and ordering the fighters to Magdeburg. The fighters were later switched to Berlin but they did not arrive until the twenty-minute raid was almost over. Only one bomber was observed to be shot down by Flak over Berlin, but German records show two aircraft crashing in the Berlin area. Bomber Command would never pass through the Berlin target area with such ease as on that night. About 660 aircraft, carrying over 2,200 tons of bombs, would never have a better chance of success than this.

But the raid was again a failure, although the British did not realize this at the time because of the cloud which prevented any successful bombing photographs being taken. Conditions were almost perfect for skymarking, and the Pathfinders should have been able to mark without difficulty. There seems to be no clear reason why a successful attack should not have taken place.

The German records confirmed the raid’s failure. Scattered bombing occurred over a huge triangular area, the sides of which each measured about twelve miles. More than half of the districts in Berlin reported some bombs, but none reported any serious damage, although more bombs were dropped in the south of the city than elsewhere. Bomber Command’s records show that 385 4,000-pounders were dropped on the raid; the Germans counted only ninety in the city area. It is probable that most of the bomb loads were dropped outside the city limits on the run-up to the target. The number of people killed was 182, but the relatively high figure of 10,600 people were bombed out of their homes for various periods.

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