Operation - Maintenon - 30 April/1 May 1944
With D Day approaching much of Bomber Command’s effort was directed at pre-invasion targets in France and Belgium and from early April raids commenced against new objectives in those countries. The plan was to attack and destroy railway and communication targets in France and Belgium and so isolate German forces in Normandy from reinforcement. This was known as the Transport Plan. In addition numerous attacks were flown against German army bases, airfields and ammunition dumps in Northern France to weaken the German forces in this area. Explosives and armament factories in France were also subjected to attack. The Bomber Command chief, Sir Arthur Harris, had reservations about this new role preferring to continue attacks directly against targets in Germany. He also expressed the view that the long list of relatively small targets in France and Belgium would result in many friendly civilian casualties. This aspect also concerned Winston Churchill. The Americans insisted that the Transport Plan was essential if the D Day invasion was to be a success and eventually Churchill bowed to this view and Harris was ordered to commit his bombers against the new list of targets.
The Bomber Command crews were, of course, unaware of the details of the invasion plans but must have been conscious that this significant change of emphasis had some bearing on the expected invasion during the summer.
Both 103 Sqn and 576 Sqn took part in raids on French railway yards during April, these being Villeneuve-St-Georges on the 9/10th April, Aulnoye on the 10/11th April and Rouen on the 18/19th April. All attacks caused varying degrees of damage and disruption to these railway centres but there were casualties amongst French civilians. This was due to the fact that most of these railway centres were relatively small targets situated in or adjacent to large centres of population. Bombing was undertaken from about 10,000ft, much lower than normal, and every care was taken by the Pathfinders and Master Bomber but it was inevitable that some civilian areas would be hit.
On the night of the 30th April/1st May both 103 Sqn and 576 Sqn took part in a small but interesting attack on the largest Luftwaffe bomb and ammunition dump in Northern France situated at Maintenon. A total of 116 Lancasters were tasked for this raid, all from No 1 Group. 103 Sqn detailed 6 aircraft and 576 Sqn 12 aircraft. In addition 143 Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mosquitos of 6 and 8 Groups were tasked to attack the railway yards at Somain and 128 Halifaxes, Lancasters and Mosquitos were tasked to attack the railway yards at Acheres.
The first crews to take off from Elsham Wolds were those of F/L W H Way RCAF of 103 Sqn and S/L B A Davison of 576 Sqn, both at 2125, in perfect weather conditions. The aircraft of both Squadrons carried a 13,000lb all high explosive bomb load. The 576 Sqn Lancaster LM527 flown by P/O J S Griffiths and crew struck the perimeter fence on take off and damaged the undercarriage and under surfaces of the aircraft. It proved impossible to lock down one wheel of the undercarriage. The hydraulics failed and the bomb doors would not open therefore the crew were ordered to head the aircraft out to sea and bale out over land. All landed safely.
The weather was clear all the way to the target. The marking of the target appears to have been carried out by the No 1 Group Marking Flight at Binbrook. The records of both Squadrons comment that the marking was prompt, well concentrated and accurate with the target clearly identified visually by the attacking bombers. The 576 Sqn records do state that the commentary by the Master Bomber was indistinct but this does not seem to affect the success of the attack. Bombing took place from between 6,500 ft and 8,000ft at around midnight and was very accurate with the target obliterated in a sea of explosions that were still visible as the bombers returned over the Channel. The raid was entirely successful with the ammunition dump completely destroyed. During the attack no flak, searchlights or fighters were seen. S/L Davison was the first to land at Elsham Wolds at 0155. All aircraft returned to base.
A French report of the raid is given below -
“Night of April 30 to May 1, 1944: Bombing of the station of Maintenon by 116 Lancasters This bombardment was made possible by the information provided by the network of resistance "Sector North"who were based in the Clévilliers area.The objective was the ammunition dump of Maintenon.
The bombs hit a train of ammunition and all the wooded area adjacent to the station which was used as an ammunition park.The explosions lasted all the night until 07H00 then resumed towards 16H00 in the wood of the park until 18H00
The operation was successful but with damage to the buildings in and around the town and especially in the nearby hamlet of Mingournois. The bombing caused the deaths of 16 civilians and 7 Germans.”
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The attack on Somain was not a success with the initial Oboe marking inaccurate. Some damage was caused to the railway yards and some bombing appears to have fallen on nearby railway housing. It is noted three railwaymen were killed inside the railway yards. Most of the bombing appears to have fallen in open country. One Halifax was lost on this raid.
The attack on Acheres was, however, extremely accurate completely destroying the target with no civilian casualties.
Local sources attribute this to the low level at which the attack was carried out.
For the most part Bomber Command’s attacks against targets in France and Belgium during this period proved very accurate and civilian casualties were much less than originally forecast by the planners.
The usual minor operations were also flown by Bomber Command aircraft that night. 28 Mosquitos attacked Saarbrucken and 5 attacked Duren. 14 Radio Counter Measure, 9 Serrate and 5 Intruder sorties were flown. 48 Halifaxes laid mines off the French coast and 36 aircraft flew on Resistance operations.
In total 532 sorties were flown that night for the loss of only 1 aircraft which overall was a most productive nights work.
Compiled by David Fell with reference to Middlebrook’s Bomber Command War Diaries and the 103 and 576 Sqn ORBs
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