Duisburg

8 April 1943 — Duisburg

Date
8 April 1943
Target
Duisburg, Germany
Force dispatched
392 aircraft
Aircraft lost
19

Narrative

The second attempt on Duisburg fared little better than the first. A force of 392 aircraft — Lancasters, Halifaxes and Stirlings with a small marking element — set out, but thick cloud again spoiled the work of the marker crews — the Oboe Mosquitoes of No. 109 Squadron among them — and the bombing spread across the Ruhr rather than concentrating on the city; as many as fifteen other towns reported bombs that night. The damage to Duisburg itself was slight, some forty buildings destroyed and about thirty-six people killed. The defenders, however, were not hampered as the bombers were: nineteen aircraft failed to return, 4.8 per cent of the force, the night-fighters finding the stream as it groped through the overcast. It was the frustration of the Ruhr battle in miniature — a major effort largely wasted on the ground while the cost in the air ran on regardless.

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 8 April 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 8 April →

Source: Wikipedia — Battle of the Ruhr →