Operations
1945
January 1945 – the Mosquito takes charge
New Year’s Day 1945 saw a classic example of 8 Group’s Mosquitoes in action when seventeen of them attacked railway tunnels between the Rhine and the Ardennes battle area. The object of the exercise was to prevent German forces from being reinforced. In broad daylight and with a ‘cookie’ apiece, the Mosquitoes dived to 200 ft, dropping their short-fuse delay bombs into the entrances of the tunnels. One crew, Plt D. R. Tucker and Sgt F. A. J. David, of 571 Squadron, found three tunnels and, after making a dummy run on each, in full view of the local villagers, dropped their cookie perfectly into the entrance. Tucker banked round to view his handy work and saw that the whole tunnel had erupted, causing the hillside to collapse into the path of an approaching train.
The long midwinter nights also gave the LNSF an opportunity to fly two sorties per evening with two crews and the same aircraft. On 4/5 January, several 8 Group Mosquitoes attacked Berlin after taking off in the early evening, returning, changing crews and attacking the German capital again before returning back to their home bases before the sun rose.
Sir Arthur Harris faced a great deal of criticism for not concentrating his forces on the Wehrmacht’s oil supplies during late 1944. In his defence, 23,000 tons of bombs were dropped on such targets, which was half the total of all bombs dropped on Germany during 1943. No.8 Group was mainly interested in the oil plants in the Ruhr which were capable of producing one third of all of Germany’s needs. By late November, the Ruhr plants were virtually at a standstill and the focus of attention was now the main plants outside the Ruhr at Brux, Leuna and Politz. Leuna, Germany’s largest synthetic oil plant, was singled out for a two-phase attack on 14/15 January, involving 573 Lancasters and 14 Mosquitoes from 1, 5, 6 and 8 Groups. The MB of the second phase of the raid, Sqn Ldr C. P. C. de Wesselow, found the target covered by 10/10th low stratus at 2,000 ft. There was also very little evidence that the 200-strong first phase had hit the target although a few small fires were reported by crews further north from the target.
The conditions called for Wanganui flares and as the winds were light at 15,000 ft, they only drifted slowly which contributed to a display of concentrated bombing. (It was the norm for Wanganui flares to be fused to burst at between 15,000 and 16,000ft.) As the first bombs began to fall on the oil plant, two large explosions started raging fires which belched thick black smoke that quickly rose above the dense stratus, giving the crews another unplanned target marker. The raid was an outstanding success for the PFF, the northern half of the plant being particularly heavily hit and a host of vital components were destroyed, putting Leuna out of action until the end of the war. Twelve Lancasters were lost, none of them from 8 Group although at least two bombers were hit by ‘friendly’ bombs over the target. One proved fatal for the rear gunner of Sqn Ldr D. B. Everett’s 35 Squadron Lancaster when Fg Off R. T. Salvoni’s turret was severed by a falling bomb, sending him plunging to his death. The mid-upper gunner of another 8 Group Lancaster had a very lucky escape when two bombs crashed through the fuselage just ahead of his turret. The pilot, Fg Off F. Lloyd, lost control of the damaged bomber and ordered his crew to bail out. However, the G-forces prevented only the bomb-aimer from leaving. By the time the Lancaster was down to 10,000 ft, Lloyd was back in control and rescinded his earlier order. After a struggle across the North Sea on two engines, Lloyd managed to land his aircraft safely at Manston. The remainder of 8 Group’s aircraft were all diverted to Ford and Exeter as their home airfields were closed because of poor weather.
The final piece of the 8 Group Mosquito jigsaw was in place on 25 January, 1945 when 163 Squadron was reformed at Wyton. Originally formed at Suez in July 1942 with the Hudson, by December of that year, the unit only existed as a cadre. Re-equipped with the Mosquito XXV, this mark was replaced by the XVI in May 1945, which saw very action before the war’s end. This short-lived but useful contribution to 8 Group was disbanded on 10 August, 1945. No. 163 Squadron’s arrival now meant that Bennett could easily muster 150 Mosquitoes at a moment’s notice without putting up maximum effort.
February 1945 – Bomber Command’s last VC of the war
The ever-increasing Mosquito strength was put to good effect on 1/2 February, 1945 when 176 Mosquito sorties were flown on eight separate targets. Ludwigshafen, Mainz, Siegen, Bruckhausen, Hannover, Nuremburg and Berlin were all hit; the latter involving 122 Mosquitoes. Berlin would suffer mercilessly at the hands of the LNSF during the final months of the war and, from 20/21 February, the capital was attacked on 36 consecutive nights. Averaging 60 Mosquitoes per raid, 2,538 sorties were flown to Berlin, of which 2,409 were successful. Some 855 cookies were dropped on the city during this period alone and the LNSF continued to bomb Berlin right up to the arrival of the Russian forces in late April 1945.
Mosquito XVI ML963 of 571 Squadron, showing off her best lines to renowned aviation photographer Charles E. Brown. (C. E. Brown, via Author)
Pforzheim was almost wiped off the map on 23/24 February when it was bombed by 367 Lancasters and thirteen Mosquitoes from 1, 6 and 8 Groups for the first and last time. The raid was led by MB, Capt E. Swales DFC, SAAF (the only member of the SAAF to serve with the PFF), and a new method was used in an attempt to draw away enemy night-fighters from the main force. The attack was a Controlled Musical Parramatta at low level and a Mandrel screen was used to cover a Window spoof. The Main Force approached the target at just 5,000 ft until it reached 07°00E (over Saarbrücken) and then climbed to 8,000 ft, on track for Pforzheim. Despite the spoofing and different approach to the target, a large formation of enemy night-fighters was already congregating over Stuttgart and they would make their presence felt.
The MB, his deputy and two PVMs easily identified the A/P with the help of Blind Illuminators’ flares which were dropped accurately around TIs positioned by Oboe. The PFF then quickly dropped an excellent concentration of reds and greens. The Main Force then followed up with an excellent piece of bombing which saw 1,825 tons of bombs fall within 22 minutes, devastating over 80% of the town. It is believed that 17,600 people were killed, the majority in a firestorm which erased an area of the town measuring 3 km by 1½ km. The death toll was only surpassed by Hamburg and Dresden during the entire war.
For the attackers, ten Lancasters were shot down and two more crashed in France; one of the latter was from 8 Group. The PFF only lost one bomber this night, namely that of the MB, Capt Swales, in Lancaster III PB538 of 582 Squadron. Just eight minutes after dropping his TIs and while still controlling the raid, Swales’ Lancaster was attacked by an Me410 flown by Hptm G. Friedrich of II./NJG1. The fighter was spotted first by the rear gunner, Plt Off N. Bourne RCAF who lost sight of it before spotting it again climbing towards PB538 to attack. Bourne called for Swales to dive to starboard, but the message never got through and the Me410 opened fire at 800 yards while the rear gunner returned fire. Bourne saw his tracer hit the night-fighter but Friedrich continued his attack, raking the Lancaster with long bursts of fire. By now, the mid-upper gunner, Flt Sgt B. Leach also picked up the fighter at 400 yards but could not get a bead on it until it broke away to port. Leach also scored hits on the Me410 as the fighter rolled off the top of its turn and dived away vertically.
The attack had taken its toll on the Lancaster, with the tailplane and rudder damaged and the port inner engine in flames, although the fire came under control when the engine was feathered. The starboard inner also had to feathered and the starboard fuel was holed. Swales ordered his crew to don their parachutes but rescinded the order when he realised that PB538 continued to perform as normal and even dared to climb. The main concern was how long the electrics would last because the generator was driven off the inner engines and, without current, the crucial DR compass would fail. Approaching a cold front, the loss of blind-flying instruments put the aircraft in perilous danger and, once again, the captain ordered his crew to don parachutes and bail out. Once the last one was safely away from the Lancaster, Swales attempted to make a crash landing but, as he approached the ground, PB538 struck some H/T cables and spun into the ground at La Chappelle-aux-Bois, south of Valenciennes. For his actions that day, Capt E. Swales was awarded Bomber Command’s last and 8 Group’s third VC of the Second World War. Part of his citation, which was gazetted on 24 April 1945 read, ‘Intrepid in attack, courageous in the face of danger, he did his duty to the last, giving his life that his comrades might live.’
OC 635 Squadron, Wg Cdr S. ‘Tubby’ Baker DSO, DFC and Bar, pictured after he had completed his 100th operation for 8 Group. (via Author)
March 1945 – The Allies push into Germany
The US 1st and 3rd Armies had been positioned on the western bank of the Rhine since late February and were poised to secure a bridgehead at Remagen, south of Bonn. The opposing German forces were concentrated in Cologne, in direct opposition to the US 1st Army and, once again, Bomber Command was called in to soften them up. In broad daylight, on 2 March, 858 bombers set out in two waves to bomb the city, the first wave being led by 8 Group’s Oboe Mosquitoes who dropped Wanganui Smoke Puffs on a target free of cloud. The result was total destruction of what remained of the city and the cratering was so severe, that several hundred armoured vehicles were trapped, only to be picked off by Tactical Air Force attacks later in the day. Four days after, the city was captured by US forces, making this the last of 31 raids on Cologne which began in May 1940.
Another city that was to be visited by the RAF for the last time was the long-suffering Essen. A total of 1,079 aircraft, the most ever sent to this target, were despatched on 11 March, once again in daylight. The target was completely cloud-covered but the Oboe Mosquito sky-markers were accurately placed and 4,661 tons of bombs paralysed Essen until the arrival of American troops. The RAF had been bombing Essen since August 1940 and it is known that at least 7,000 of the population had been killed.
In contrast, Hildesheim suffered only one major Bomber Command raid for the entire war which destroyed 70% of the town on 22 March. Some 227 Lancasters and eight Mosquitoes from 1 and 8 Groups were detailed to attack the town’s railway yards but by the time the attack was over, 263 acres of Hildesheim had been devastated. Four Lancasters were lost on this raid, none of them were from 8 Group who saw a rapid decline in ‘heavy’ losses on operations over Germany.
A 4,000 lb ‘Cookie’ is manoeuvred into position towards Mosquito VI PF432 of 128 Squadron at Wyton before an attack on Berlin on 21 March 1945. Having already served with 692 Squadron, PF432 was transferred to 180 and then 69 Squadron, before being SOC at Walm on 5 August 1947. (via Author)
Following the success of the earlier attack on Cologne by Bomber Command, Eisenhower planned on creating a second bridgehead to the north of the Ruhr. Paratroops would be used to establish the bridgehead and, unlike Arnhem, full use of Bomber Command and the 8th Air Force would be made to ensure that German troops could not enter the area. Operation Varsity began on 24 March but before the paratroops arrived, 8 Group’s first task was to attack Wesel, which was at the centre of the forthcoming attack. A force of 195 Lancasters and 25 Mosquitoes of 5 and 8 Group carried out the last attack of the war on Wesel which would have succumbed to a much smaller force. Some 97% of the town’s buildings were destroyed and, as the bombing ceased, the first Commandoes crossed the Rhine before the dust from the bombing had settled.
The Lancasters of 156 Squadron are illuminated by TIs at 12,000 ft over Hanau on 18 March 1945. (www.ww2images.com)
On 24 March, 8 Group’s first attack of the day was on the marshalling yards at Sterkrade, 60 miles behind the German lines. The attack, involving 177 aircraft, 155 of which were Halifaxes, was led by 7 Squadron’s CO Wg Cdr D. A. Cracknell, who map-read his way direct to the target which was skilfully marked by six Oboe Mosquitoes. The marshalling yard was soon obscured by smoke but under Cracknell’s directions, the target was left in complete chaos. Gladbeck was also hit on 24 March, a town located on the northern edge of the Ruhr, very close to the new battle area. Sixteen PFF Lancasters and eight PFF Mosquitoes led 153 Halifaxes to carry out a devastating attack. The following day, 8 Group continued to lead attacks against towns on the main reinforcement routes to the new second front. Hannover, Münster and Osnabrück were all extensively bombed and, by the end of the day, Bomber Command had carried out 606 sorties in support of Varsity with the loss of just four aircraft, none of which were from 8 Group.
April/May 1945 – ‘Eagles Nest’, Exodus, Manna and victory!
By 1 April, the US 1st and 9th Armies joined up in the Soest region, completely surrounding the Ruhr armies. Both armies then made a parallel push across Germany towards Leipzig and Magdeburg, as the 2nd British Army headed for Bremen and Hamburg. While the US 1st Army was pushing forward, 8 Group led the first of two attacks on what was thought to be a large military barracks at Nordhausen. The first attack, by 247 Lancasters and eight Mosquitoes, in daylight on 3 April was very accurate but this did not stop another 243 Lancasters and nine Mosquitoes from attacking it again the following day as well. The ‘barracks’ was actually occupied by a large number of concentration-camp prisoners and foreign workers. These people were housed in a complex of underground tunnels for secret projects which had moved to Nordhausen after Bomber Command’s attacks on Peenemünde.
Oil targets were hit hard on the night of 4/5 April, with raids on Leuna, Harburg and Lützkendorf by a total of 940 aircraft. The railway centres at Englesdorf and Mockau were attacked ahead of US troops on 10 April and the next day Oboe Mosquitoes pin-pointed their TIs on the marshalling yards at Bayreuth. The same day, fourteen PFF Lancasters marked the marshalling yards at Nuremberg accurately and without loss on either raid.
The last major raid of the Second World War by a major Bomber Command force against a German city took place on 14/15 April. The target was Potsdam and it was also the first time since March 1944 that a four-engined bomber had entered the Berlin defensive zone. The exact target within the city was the local barracks and railway yards but it is known that some bombs fell in the northern and eastern districts of Berlin as well. The raid was reasonably successful but up to 5,000 civilians were killed because they were so used to seeing Berlin being bombed heavily that they never thought it would happen to Potsdam. The route to the target was now virtually in Allied hands and, as a result, out of the force of 500 Lancasters and twelve Mosquitoes only two ‘heavies’ were shot down. One of these was 35 Squadron Lancaster III PB377, being flown by Fg Off V. B. Bowen-Norris. Whilst near the target, an engine caught fire and Bowen-Norris ordered his crew to bail out. After six of them had left and as he prepared to take to his own parachute, Bowen-Norris regained control and managed to reach Holland before he was finally forced to bail out safely. Of the six who bailed out near Potsdam, one was killed, one evaded capture and four spent the final days of the war behind wire.
On 16/17 April, the railway yards at Schwandorf were the target, with 167 Lancasters and eight Mosquitoes of 6 and 8 Groups taking part. Very accurate Oboe red TIs were skilfully backed up by tightly-packed greens and the resulting bombing matched the marking. The operation was marred by the loss of 8 Group’s last Lancaster of the war after it collided with a 171 Squadron Halifax on a Bomber Support operation. Lancaster III PB403 of 156 Squadron, flown by Fg Off J. Jamieson and crew, struck the Halifax near Mürlenbach and both aircraft crashed into a wood called Kahle Köpfchen. Neither crew survived.
The naval base, airfield and town on the fortified island of Heligoland were attacked by 969 aircraft from all groups on 18 April. The PFF marked three A/Ps and from the Oboe TIs through to the final backers-up, the standard was high. Post-attack photography shows the island to be like a moonscape because of the amount of craters but this did not stop 9 and 617 Squadron from 5 Group dropping 36 Tallboys the following day.
Kiel was attacked by 107 Mosquitoes on 21/22 April, a raid that was described by the local diarist as ‘… it is no longer possible to spot which damage is new.’ For 8 Group, the night saw its last losses of the Second World War with two Mosquitoes failing to return. Both were presumed to have crashed in the target area but how this came about is not known. First was 163 Squadron Mosquito XXV KB529 flown by Flt Lt W. G. Baker and Fg Off A. A. Hawthorne RCAF and secondly, 608 Squadron Mosquito XVI RV359 flown by Sqn Ldr E. S. Few DFC, AFC and Plt Off S. S. Campbell. Only Flt Lt Baker survived.
Harping back to the days of Nickel drops, 8 Group were asked to carry out a leaflet raid with a difference on 24/25 April, when 30 Mosquitoes and seven Lancasters dropped leaflets on eight POW camps where the British inmates were close to being liberated. The leaflets warned the Germans of the consequences for them if any harm came to the POWs. Medical supplies were also dropped at the Neubrandenburg camp north of Berlin.
No. 8 Group’s final blow of the war came on 25 April with two large operations, one against the coastal batteries on Wangerooge and the other to Hitler’s ‘Eagle’s Nest’ at Berchtesgaden. The latter was led by MB Wg Cdr J. W. Fordham and his Deputy Flt Lt C. G. Hitchcock. Once the force of 359 Lancasters and sixteen Mosquitoes of 1, 5 and 8 Groups arrived over the target, they found the A/P easily in the clear mountain air. However, at least one of the mountains blocked the Oboe ground station’s signal despite at least one Mosquito circling high above at 39,000 ft. The situation was overcome by Flt Lt Hitchcock who marked the target with his TIs, giving the Main Force the opportunity to make every bomb count on this morale-boosting target. All were hoping that Hitler was at home but, alas, unknown to the crews, he was already holed up in his bunker in Berlin, destined to take his own life eight days later.
This was the last PFF ‘heavy’ raid of the war, although the Mosquitoes would carry out one more raid on Kiel on 2/3 May. The PFF ‘heavies’ now found themselves employed in a completely different role, beginning with Operation Exodus on 26 April. Up to 7 May, 469 flights were made by Lancasters from 1, 5, 6 and 8 Groups to collect British POWs recently liberated from their camps. By the end of the operation, 75,000 men were flown back to England without incident. The PFF alone ferried 2,858 of them, the first being flown back by 8 Group’s C-in-C, AVM D. Bennett.
Another non-combatant role that 8 Group took part in was Operation Manna, which began on 29 April. A large area of western Holland, which was still under German occupation, was approaching starvation and many had already died. The local German commander agreed a truce and Lancasters from 1, 3 and 8 Groups began dropping food supplies to the civilian population. PFF Mosquitoes marked each dropping zone and despite the stand of The Hague racecourse being burnt down by an Oboe TI, the operation went well. Before 7 May, 2,835 Lancaster and 124 Mosquito flights were made during Operation Manna which delivered 6,672 tons of food parcels.
Approximately 10,000 cookies were dropped on the enemy by 8 Group’s LNSF. This is the crew and ground crew of a 608 Squadron Mosquito at Downham Market, preparing to drop their last bombs on Kiel on 2/3 May 1945. Note the 635 Squadron codes ‘F2-D’ on the bomb trolley; this Lancaster’s war is already over. (via Author)
On VE Day, 8 Group still had fifteen operational squadrons on strength, 109 Squadron having disbanded at Little Staughton on 30 April. As with the other Bomber Command groups, peace-time brought rapid changes as Commonwealth servicemen were given priority to return home and general strength began to shrink. Those crews remaining found themselves flying Cook’s tours over bomb-damaged Germany and later the group was heavily involved in Operation Dodge, the repatriation of soldiers from the 8th Army and further afield.
On 21 May, 1945, AVM Don Bennett, the only Group Commander to serve a full term resigned his commission in order to stand for Parliament. He was replaced by AVM J. R. Whitley, who was transferred from his role as AOC 4 Group.
From June 1945 onwards, 8 Group began to reduce in size with 405 Squadron being the first post-war departure when it returned to Canada on 16 June. The same month saw 162 Squadron transferred to Transport Command asked with operating an Air Delivery Letter Service to Germany, Denmark, Norway and Italy. August saw the disbandment of 163 and 608 Squadrons and in September, 142, 156, 571, 582, 635 and 692 Squadrons were all dissolved. No.128 Squadron followed in October when it was transferred to 2 Group and moved to Moelsbroek in Belgium, to serve with 139 Wing and 1409 Flight was transferred to 47 Group.
When the hammer finally fell on 8 Group on 15 December 1945, only four squadrons were left to disperse amongst an air force that was only a shadow of its former self. Both 7 and 35 Squadrons went on to convert to the Lincoln; 105 Squadron was disbanded in February 1946; while 139 Squadron continued to fly the Mosquito until 1953, when it converted to Canberra.
‘A’ Flight NTU (Night Training Unit) (PFF) line up for their first ‘peace-time’ photograph at Warboys on 5 June 1945. (www.ww2images.com)
They also served. This is the Instrument Section of both 35 and 692 Squadrons enjoying the more relaxed atmosphere of peacetime operations at Graveley in July 1945. (www.ww2images.com)