Operations - 22/23 November 1943 - Berlin.
In late 1943 Bomber Command was given an almost completely free hand to undertake an all out assault against Berlin which lasted to the end of March 1944. During this period the German capital would be attacked in force by Bomber Command on no less than 16 occasions. During this period 16 other large German cities were also subjected to heavy raids, This was Bomber Commands greatest test of the war so far with the objective being to bring the complete destruction of Berlin to force the Germans to surrender and thereby bring the war to an early close without the need for a costly land invasion.
The first attack of this series took place on the night of the 18/19th November when 440 Lancasters were dispatched to Berlin in what was only moderately successful attack on a completely cloud covered target. An unsuccessful attack followed on the night of the 19/20 November, this time to Leverkusen. Operations were cancelled for the next 2 nights because of bad weather.
On the morning of the 22nd November it was reported that the weather forecast was much improved and was in fact ideal for another attack against Berlin. The weather over English airfields was forecast to be clear and much of Germany was predicted to be covered by low cloud and fog which would hamper their night fighter operations.
In addition it was reported by the Pathfinders that they would have 4 and maybe 5 new H2S Mark 3 radar equipped aircraft available that night.
Arthur Harris therefore decided to take advantage of these favourable circumstances and ordered a Maximum effort for that night. A direct route was chosen and was as near straight in and straight out as possible. To lessen potential casualties over the target a period of only 22 minutes was allowed for bombing time. The long standing system of allocating different types of aircraft different phases of the operation was dropped in favour of an even spread over the 5 waves of the attack.
The bombers started to take off late in the afternoon with 764 aircraft taking part in the raid. This total was made up of 469 Lancasters, 234 Halifaxes, 50 Stirlings and 11 Mosquitos. This was the greatest bomber force sent attack to Berlin so far. 103 Squadron dispatched 28 Lancasters with P/O R J Edie the first up at 1647. The Lancaster of W/O M J Graham and crew suffered an engine failure and had to return early.
The operation received an early setback when 3 of the 5 H2S Mark 3 Lancasters had to turn back because of problems with their radar sets. The 3 crews bombed Texel as an alternative as ordered. The weather along the route was worse than expected with cloud at all levels and some icing and the bomber steam became rather scattered.
A few experienced German night fighter crews took off and scored a couple successes off the Dutch coast and the flak was able to shoot down one or two more but otherwise the bombers arrived at the target without serious losses.
Berlin was completely cloud covered with tops reaching between 10,000ft and 16,000ft which rendered the searchlights useless and there were only a few night fighters the area.
The first markers were due to go down at 2001 and the 2 H2S Mark 3 equipped Lancasters arrived slightly late. Both aircraft had been able to obtain a succession of good fixes on their radar screens on their approach to the target and were able to drop their target indicators and skymarkers at around 2005 right over the aiming point.
The target indicators quickly became obscured by the clouds but the skymarkers were visible for longer and reinforced by the ordinary Pathfinder aircraft with the Backer-up Pathfinder aircraft dropping fresh skymarkers and target indicators as the raid progressed.
There was no gaps in the marking, which was always concentrated, and the Main Force of bombers responded well dropping 2,500 tons of bombs accurately on the falling skymarkers. During the whole operation the target was completely obscured but the red glow of the fires of Berlin was visible in the tops of the cloud as the raid progressed and could still be seen from 80 miles away. A massive explosion was noted on the ground but clearly visible through the cloud as the raid came to a conclusion. The shortening of the time over the target had greatly reduced the effects of a heavy flak barrage and no bombers were lost due to collision or falling bombs from other aircraft. The bombers flew on through the target area and turned South of the city returning to their bases using a direct route more or less the way they had come. The whole of route had been cloud covered that night and none of the returning crews had seen any part of Germany or Holland. P/O Edie and crew were the first down at Elsham Wolds at 2314. All 28 103 Squadron Lancasters returned although 2 landed away from Elsham Wolds.
F/S C C Rollins and crew reported an inconclusive combat with a Fw 190 fighter. The Lancaster of S/L J A Whittet and crew sustained flak damage over the target which caused their port engine to catch fire. This was feathered and they were able to return without further mishap.
In total 26 aircraft were lost on the operation with 6 more written off that night due to crashes and other accidents.
In his personal notes written after the operation P/O Edie records “This was rather a quiet trip with plenty of cloud cover. Navigation lights were kept on to the enemy coast to reduce the risk of collision. Some icing on the inside of the windscreen. Navigation good on the way to the target but South of track on return due to wind changes. Flares over target very good and bombed markers from 22,000ft. Flak over target moderate/heavy. A “Scarecrow” burst 200ft under the aircraft lifting it up. Wireless operator passed out due to anoxia when checking that the “Cookie” had gone but was brought round OK. A little predicted flak on return but nothing to worry about.
Took off with over 64,000lbs plus 200 extra gallons of fuel, extra ammo and a second pilot making well over 66,000lbs.”
No immediate assessment of the results of the raid could be established as, because of the cloud cover, there were no plotable bombing photographs. A photographic reconnaissance mission the following day was also unable to confirm any results. The 2 H2S Mark 3 Pathfinder crews were certain that they had marked accurately and this subsequently proved correct. They had done an outstanding job in the conditions. The raid proved the most damaging against Berlin of the entire war. At least 3000 houses and 23 industrial premises were destroyed. Amongst the premises destroyed or seriously damaged were 5 factories of the Siemens electrical group and the Alkett tank works. The Neukoln gasworks was also hit and there was a huge explosion which was probably the explosion reported by many crews in the target area. 175,000 people were bombed out and more than 50,000 soldiers were brought in from garrisons up to 100 kms away. This represented nearly 3 army divisions taken away from their normal duties. An estimated 2000 people were killed in the raid including 500 in a large shelter at Wilmersdorf.
Arthur Harris had committed his crews to a Maximum effort high risk operation with long direct route and the success of the operation was largely dependant on the accuracy of the weather forecast. It had worked extremely well and was Bomber Commands first major success against the German capital.
Compiled by David Fell mostly from 103 and 576 Squadron ORBs, 1 Group ORB, By Day and by Night: Bomber War in Europe, 1939-45. Ken Merrick, Middlebrook's Bomber Command War Diaries.Also Alan Cooper’s The Berlin Raids
....................
|
