6 Group Unavailable
327 aircraft- 197 Lancasters and 130 Halifaxes. 18 Lancasters and 18 Halifaxes lost, 11 per cent of the force. The Canadian 408 Squadron lost 4 of its 12 Halifaxes idispatched.
This raid, on the Skoda armaments factory, took place by the light of a full moon but was not a success, In a complicated plan, the Main Force was ordered to confirm the position of' the Skoda factory visually; the Pathfinder markers were only intended as a general gulde,As it turned out a large asylum building 7 miles away was mistaken for the factory and only 6 crews brought back bombing photographs which were within 3 miles of the real target. The Skoda factory was not hit. One report says that 200 German soldiers were killed when their barracks near the asylum were bombed. The Bomber Command War Diaries, by Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
408 Goose Squadron (For Freedom). Halifax aircraft BB 343 was lost during operations over Pilzen, Czechoslovakia. Warrant Officer J.A. Guay, Sergeant H.W. Fill, Flight Sergeants F R Pilon. L.G. Haines, I. MacDonald, Sergeants A.P. Gielty (RAF), and R.H. Winter (RAF) were all killed
There were four 408 Sqdn aircraft lost on this date. Please see FS G.C. Heming, Flying Officer J.R. Sergent, and FS A.A. Tschantre for information regarding the other crew and aircraft.
