Chemnitz
5 March 1945 — Chemnitz
- Date
- 5 March 1945
- Target
- Chemnitz, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 760 aircraft
Narrative
Chemnitz was attacked as a continuation of Operation Thunderclap, the late-war series of heavy blows against eastern German cities crowded with refugees, of which the Dresden raid had been the most notorious. On the night of 5/6 March 1945 Bomber Command sent 760 aircraft — 498 Lancasters, 256 Halifaxes and six Mosquitoes. The operation began badly when several aircraft crashed near their bases in severe icing soon after take-off, and thick cloud over the target forced the Pathfinders to mark by parachute flare, scattering much of the bombing. It was one of several attacks on Chemnitz in the war’s closing months.
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
157 airmen in this archive died on 5 March 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.
- Pilot Officer Robert William Abrams (20)
- Flying Officer Reginald George David Adlam (23)
- Pilot Officer Mark Sylvester Harold Anderson (23)
- Flying Officer Walter Ross Ashdown (31)
- Pilot Officer John Melford Atchison
- Flying Officer John Leslie Atkinson (32)
- Flight Sergeant Ross Frederick Barnett (22)
- Flight Lieutenant Donald James Bassett (26)
- Pilot Officer Ralph Oscar Battler (20)
- Flying Officer Ivan Sydney Baudinette (23)
- Flying Officer Herbert John Beaton
- Pilot Officer Joseph Emile Roland Beaudry (21)
- Flight Lieutenant Vanegmond Robert Bell (26)
- Pilot Officer Richard Alan Biggerstaff (18)
- Flight Lieutenant Lindsay Stuart Black (30)
- Flying Officer Wilbert Alexander Brydon (28)
- Flight Sergeant Andrew Glen Caldwell (20)
- Flying Officer Thomas Marnoch Campbell (21)
- Flying Officer Alfred Valentine Cash
- Flying Officer Ronald Edward Oscar Charron (22)
- Flying Officer Earl William Clark
- Flight Sergeant Trevor Turner Clarke (20)
- Flight Lieutenant John George Clothier (25)
- Warrant Officer Class II Arthur George Cole (29)