Magdeburg
16 January 1945 — Magdeburg
- Date
- 16 January 1945
- Target
- Magdeburg, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 371 aircraft
Narrative
By January 1945 Bomber Command could destroy a major German city almost at will, and on this night 371 aircraft — 320 Halifaxes, 44 Lancasters and seven marker Mosquitoes of Nos 4, 6 and 8 Groups — were sent against Magdeburg on the Elbe, an important centre of engineering and synthetic-oil production. The attack raised a firestorm that destroyed much of the city centre: the Domplatz around the great cathedral, the Alter Markt at the heart of the old burgher town, and the Breiter Weg with its baroque frontages were almost completely burned out. Between 2,000 and 2,500 people were killed, and the destruction of the built-up area reached around sixty per cent. The raid set Magdeburg alongside the other German cities consumed by fire in the war’s last winter, its medieval core — which had survived even the sack of the Thirty Years’ War — finally obliterated from the air.
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
94 airmen in this archive died on 16 January 1945 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.
- Flying Officer Jack Karl Armour
- Flight Sergeant Bruce Albert Atkinson (24)
- Flying Officer Douglas James Bailey (23)
- Flying Officer Lindon Frederick Beves Barrett (22)
- Squadron Leader Hedley Beattie
- Flying Officer William Robert Binning (24)
- Flight Lieutenant Terence Douglas Blewett (26)
- Warrant Officer Class I Hugh Conway Blizard (21)
- Flight Lieutenant William Fleming Borrett
- Sergeant Peter Charles Brown (21)
- Pilot Officer Joseph Aloysius Bruggeman (21)
- Flight Lieutenant Ernest Patrick Burke (33)
- Flight Sergeant Graeme Ernest Charles Burton (19)
- Corporal Alan Buxton (25)
- Flying Officer Clyde Willis Byers (21)
- Pilot Officer Arthur Grattan Carolan (22)
- Pilot Officer James Marshall Carter (32)
- Flying Officer William Merton Chapman (23)
- Warrant Officer Laurence Collins (20)
- Flying Officer John Henry Crone (21)
- Warrant Officer Class I Robert King Crow
- Pilot Officer Benjamin Robert Cunliffe (25)
- Lieutenant Currie (21)
- Pilot Officer John McIntosh Davidson (19)
See all 94 who died on 16 January →
Source: Wikipedia — Magdeburg →