6 Group Unavailable
569 aircraft - 322 Lancasters, 247 Halifaxes. The German controller was again successful in assessing the target and 43 aircraft- 25 Halifaxes, 18 Lancasters - were lost, 7·6 per cent of the force.
The initial 'blind' H2S marking overshot the target but 8 out of the 9 'visual' markers correctly identified the centre of Kassel and placed their markers accurately. Although German decoy markers may have drawn off part of the bomber force, the main raid was exceptionally accurate and concentrated. The result was the most devastating attack on a German city since the firestorm raid on Hamburg in July and the results at Kassel would not be exceeded again until well into 1944. The fires were so concentrated that there was a firestorm, although not as extensive as the Hamburg one.
It is impossible to list all the damage. 4,349 separate dwelling blocks containing 26,782 family living units (flats/apartments) were destroyed and 6,743 more blocks with 26,463 'units' were damaged. 63 per cent of all Kassel's living accommodation became unusable and 100,000-120,000 people had to leave their homes. The fire · services dealt with 3,600 separate fires. The intensity of the destruction is illustrated by the fact that more buildings were completely destroyed than those classed as 'lightly damaged' and there were more 'large' fires (1,600}than small ones (1,000); in most raids the lightly damaged buildings and small fires outnumbered serious incidents several times over. In addition to dwelling-houses, the following properties were destroyed or badly damaged: 155 industrial buildings, 78 public buildings, 38 schools, 25 churches, 16 police and military buildings (including the local Gestapo), 11 hospitals. The Kassel records do not provide any further detail about the industrial damage caused but R.A.F. photographic reconnaissance showed that the Kassel railway system and its installations were severely hit and all 3 Henschel aircraft factories seriously damaged; as these were making V-1 flying bombs at the time, this was a most useful result of the raid and had a major effect upon the eventual opening and scale of the V-1 campaign, comparable to the recent raid on Peenemimde which set back the V-2 rocket programme. The Kassel records give the number of dead recovered up to the end of November as 5,599, of which 1,817 bodies were unidentifiable and the records go on to add that the 'Missing Department' (the Vermisstensuchstelle) was still trying to trace 3,300 people. 459 survivors, however, had been recovered from ruined houses 'after many days of heavy work'. 3,587 people were injured - 800 seriously - and a further 8,084 people were treated for smoke and heat injury to their eyes.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
419 Moose Squadron (Moose Aswayita) RAF Middleton St George. Halifax BII aircraft JD 382 VR-A was caught in the searchlights over the target and attacked by three enemy night fighter aircraft during a raid against Kassel, Germany. The Halifax was shot down, abandoned and crashed at Lauenforde, Germany
Squadron Leader GA McMurdy (RCAF), Warrant Officer Class 2 FJ Yackison (RCAF), Warrant Officer Class 2 AB Willson (RCAF), FS FW Peterkin (RCAF)(USA), and Sergeant T Rawlings (RAFVR) were all killed in action
Flight Lieutenant RK Shields (RCAF), Flying Officer WC Coleman (RCAF), and Sergeant RJ Woods (RAF) survived and were taken as Prisoners of War
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