6 Bomber Group March 8/9, 1945
93 Halifaxes from 408, 420, 425, 426, 429, and 432 squadrons were ordered on an attack of the shipyards at Hamburg. The crews were over the target at between 15,000 and 20,000 feet, releasing 655,000 lbs of high explosives.According to reports the target was cloud covered and bombing was scattered.
19 Lancasters from 424, 429, and 433 squadrons were ordered on a mining operation to Heligoland. The crews were over the garden at 15,000 feet, releasing 48@1500 and 50@1850 lb mines. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)
The purpose of this raid was to hit the shipyards which were now assembling the new Type XXI U-boats, whose parts were prefabricated in many parts of inland Germany. Thanks to the Schnorkel breathing tube and a new type of battery-driven electric engine, the Type XXI could cruise under water for long periods and was capable of bursts of high speed. Its development in numbers would have posed great problems for Allied convoy defence if the war had lasted longer
The Hamburg area was found to be cloud-covered and the bombing was not expected to be accurate enough to cause much damage to the shipyards. Brunswig (pp. 362-3 and 456) mentions only a serious fire which almost destroyed the liner Robert Ley, built in Hamburg before the war as a cruise liner for the Strength Through Joy movement, and gives statistics of II8 people killed, 172 wounded, 54 fires (38 of them large ones)
312 aircraft - 241 Halifaxes, 12 Lancasters, 9 Mosquitoes - of 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 1 Halifax lost.
415 Swordfish Squadron (Ad Metam) RAF East Moor. Halifax BIII aircraft NA 186 6U-U was lost during an operation to bomb the U-Boat assembly yards at Hamburg, Germany, likely hit by flak on starboard wing and in the rear fuselage while over the target. The bomber was abandoned and crashed at Fischbek, Germany. The entire crew survived
Flying Officer AF McDairmid (RCAF), Flight Sergeant FE Adams (RCAF), Flight Sergeant AR Hibben (RCAF), Flight Sergeant WL Mracek (RCAF), Flight Sergeant GM Roberts (RCAF), Flight Sergeant N Tonello (RCAF) and Flight Sergeant WJR Gale (RAF) all survived and were taken as Prisoners of War
Very little POW information is known for these air crew to date
The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
In Enemy Hands - Canadian Prisoners of War 1939-45 page 169
[Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...
Bomber Command Museum Monthly ORB