Cologne

26 February 1943 — Cologne

Date
26 February 1943
Target
Cologne, Germany
Force dispatched
427 aircraft

Narrative

This was the heaviest blow yet aimed at Cologne in 1943, with 427 aircraft dispatched behind the Oboe markers of the Mosquitoes of No. 109 Squadron. The growing weight of the attacks — more than double the force of three weeks before — reflected both the rising strength of Bomber Command and the confidence the planners now placed in Oboe marking against a city so well inside its range. Fires were started across the central and industrial districts, and the raid pushed Cologne further down the road of cumulative destruction. Coming days before the formal opening of the Battle of the Ruhr at Essen, it belonged to the same surge of accurately marked, heavily loaded attacks that made the spring of 1943 the moment the bomber offensive came of age over western Germany.

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

200 airmen in this archive died on 26 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 200 who died on 26 February →

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