Mönchengladbach
30 August 1943 — Mönchengladbach
- Date
- 30 August 1943
- Target
- Mönchengladbach, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 660 aircraft
Narrative
On the night of 30/31 August 1943 around 660 aircraft attacked the neighbouring Rhineland towns of Mönchengladbach and Rheydt in a single operation. The marking was accurate and the attack concentrated, destroying much of both town centres. It was one of the last big set-piece attacks of the Ruhr period before Bomber Command turned its main effort towards Berlin.
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
289 airmen in this archive died on 30 August 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.
- Flight Sergeant John Amos Albert (22)
- Pilot Officer Clarence Howard Anderson (28)
- Sergeant James Williamson Stuart Anderson (22)
- Squadron Leader Cyril Anekstein (27)
- Squadron Leader Edward Robert Myddleton Appleton (23)
- Sergeant Percy Arch
- Sergeant Maurice Atkinson (23)
- Sergeant Stanley Ernest Baber (21)
- Warrant Officer Class I Carl George Baker (21)
- Flight Sergeant Cyril Harold Baldwin (23)
- Flight Lieutenant John Michael Barkla (27)
- Sergeant Thomas Barnett (20)
- Sergeant Edward Bartlett (19)
- Sergeant Frank Arthur Bartlett (20)
- Sergeant Eric Nigel Nicholson Beldon
- Sergeant Stanley George Bennett
- Flight Sergeant Edwin Henry Berry (26)
- Sergeant Thomas Ivan Betts (22)
- Sergeant Ronald Douglas Binks (21)
- Warrant Officer Paul Birch (21)
- Sergeant Arthur Reginald Bish
- Flight Sergeant Josef Bittner (26)
- Sergeant Ronald Geoffrey Blood (21)
- Flight Lieutenant Arnold Booth (26)
See all 289 who died on 30 August →
Source: Wikipedia — Battle of the Ruhr →