Cologne

14 February 1943 — Cologne

Date
14 February 1943
Target
Cologne, Germany
Force dispatched
243 aircraft

Narrative

A force of 243 aircraft attacked Cologne on this February night, the Mosquitoes of No. 109 Squadron again laying Oboe target indicators for the main force to bomb on. Cologne’s position close to the German frontier kept it within the reliable range of the two Oboe ground stations in England, and that made the marking on these raids markedly more accurate than the scattered efforts of a year before. The bombing started fires across the city and added to the steady erosion of its industrial and railway districts. Attacks of this size and accuracy through the winter of 1942–43 were the immediate prelude to the Ruhr offensive that opened in March; Cologne, repeatedly struck, was being softened raid by raid in a way that the early war had never managed.

Sortie details (which aircraft from which squadron, which crew flew, the outcome) will populate this page once the TNA AIR 27 squadron-diary importer arrives.

The fallen

151 airmen in this archive died on 14 February 1943 or the day that followed. For a raid of this kind these are overwhelmingly the night's losses, though a death-date match is not by itself proof an individual flew this operation.

See all 151 who died on 14 February →

Source: Wikipedia — Bombing of Cologne in World War II →