Leipzig
19 February 1944 — Leipzig
- Date
- 19 February 1944
- Target
- Leipzig, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 823 aircraft
- Aircraft lost
- 78
Narrative
The raid on Leipzig opened the period of intense Anglo-American operations known as ‘Big Week’. On the night of 19/20 February 1944 Bomber Command sent 823 aircraft — 561 Lancasters, 255 Halifaxes and seven Mosquitoes — deep into eastern Germany. The bomber stream met the German night-fighters early and suffered grievously: 78 aircraft failed to return, nearly one in ten, the heaviest loss Bomber Command had yet sustained in a single night. A few were lost to collision over the crowded target and some to flak, but most fell to the fighters. The cost foreshadowed the catastrophe at Nuremberg five weeks later.
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
494 airmen in this archive died on 19 February 1944 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.
- Sergeant Arthur Ronald Albone (21)
- Flight Lieutenant Orlin Ronald Alexander
- Pilot Officer Francis Frederick George Allan
- Pilot Officer John Francis Allen (29)
- Pilot Officer Foster Richard Alleyn (22)
- Sergeant Kenneth Arthur Archer (19)
- Flight Lieutenant Clifford Harold Armour
- Sergeant Vincent Joseph Ashmore (21)
- Pilot Officer James Desmond Aspin (21)
- Sergeant David Beaumont Asquith (22)
- Pilot Officer John James Astles
- Sergeant Albert Ronald Bailey (26)
- Warrant Officer Frederick John Bailey (21)
- Flight Sergeant George Bailey (21)
- Sergeant Christopher Thomas Baker (20)
- Sergeant Bernard Henry John Baldwin (21)
- Pilot Officer William Sidney Ball (30)
- Sergeant Ronald Frederick Banks (21)
- Flying Officer Arnold Smedley Barclay
- Sergeant Albert Kenneth Barlow (21)
- Pilot Officer John Donald Bates (19)
- Sergeant William Alexander Bates (23)
- Flying Officer Harold Knowles Battye (26)
- Aircraftman 2nd Class John Samuel Baxter (21)
See all 494 who died on 19 February →
Source: IBCC — Remembering the Leipzig raid, 19/20 February 1944 →