6 Group Unavailable
622 aircraft - 33 I Lancasters, I 76 Halifaxes, I 06 Stirlings, 9 Mosquitoes. 47 aircraft·- 2 Halifaxes, 17 Stirlings, IO Lancasters - lost, 7·6 per cent of the force. The Stirling c sualties were 16·0 per cent! Approximately two thirds of the bombers lost were shot down by German fighters operating over or near Berlin. The use of 'fighter flares', dropped by German aircraft to 'mark' the bomber routes into and away from tho target, was noted for the first time in Bomber Command records.
This raid was not successful. There was some cloud in the target area; this, together with difficulties with H2S equipment and probably the ferocity of the German defences, all combined to cause the Pathfinder markers to be dropped well south of the centre of the target area and the Main Force bombing to be even further away. The main bombing area eventually extended 30 miles back along the bombers' approach route. 85 dwelling-houses were destroyed in Berlin but the only industrial buildings hit were classed as damaged - 4 severely and 3 lightly. The only important public buildings hit were the headquarters of the Berlin inland canal and harbour system, the state police hospital and some market halls. 66 civilians and 2 soldiers were killed, 109 people were injured and 2,784 bombed out.
After this raid, Gauleiter Goebbels ordered the evacuation from Berlin of all children and all adults not engaged in war work to country areas or to towns in Eastern Germany where air raids were not expected.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Served with No. 419 Squadron, RCAF, coded "VR*N". May have been coded "VR*T" when lost. Failed to return from attack on Berlin on 31 August / 1 September 1943, shot down by a night fighter. 3 were killed and 4 POW. Sgt. A. Embly and Flight Sergeant D.H.A. Garland (tail gunner) jumped together, sharing Emblys parachute, after Garland was wounded and his parachute destroyed. Garland slipped from Embly during the descent and was never seen again. Embly was taken POW after landing in Black Forest near Weisenburg.
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