Wuppertal

24 June 1943 — Wuppertal

Date
24 June 1943
Target
Wuppertal, Germany
Force dispatched
630 aircraft
Aircraft lost
34

Narrative

This was the second of the two great Wuppertal raids of the Battle of the Ruhr, falling on the Elberfeld half of the town a month after the Barmen district had been gutted by firestorm on 29 May. A force of 630 aircraft — 251 Lancasters, 171 Halifaxes, 101 Wellingtons, 98 Stirlings and nine Mosquitoes — was sent, with the Oboe Mosquitoes of No. 109 Squadron marking the aiming point. The Pathfinders marked accurately and the main force bombed on target, though the familiar creep-back drew some thirty aircraft to bomb short in the western Ruhr. What followed in Elberfeld was a second firestorm: around 1,800 people were killed, 2,400 injured, some 3,000 houses and 171 industrial concerns destroyed. Thirty-four bombers failed to return, 3.4 per cent. In two raids a month apart, Bomber Command had burned out both halves of Wuppertal — among the most complete destructions of any town in the Ruhr campaign.

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

258 airmen in this archive died on 24 June 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 258 who died on 24 June →

Source: Wikipedia — Battle of the Ruhr →