6 Bomber Group November 25/26, 1943
88 Halifaxes from 419, 427, 428, 429, 431, and 434 squadrons were ordered on an attack at Frankfurt. The crews were over the target at between 18,000 and 22,000 feet, releasing 160,000 lbs of high explosives and 352,000 lbs of incendiaries. According to reports, the target was cloud covered and the attack was scattered with some damage. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)
262 aircraft - 236 Halifaxes and 26 Lancasters - of 4, 6 and 8 Groups. As on the previous night, there were no major diversions and the bomber force took a relatively direct route to the target. The German controller did not, at first, know whether Mannheim or Frankfurt was the real objective but he eventually chose Frankfurt, where the Flak was restricted to 15,000 ft. 12 bombers- 1 I Halifaxes and I Lancaster - lost, 4·6 per cent of the force.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Cloud covered the target area and the bombing appeared to be scattered. Frankfurt's report confirms this, the number of bombs recorded suggesting that fewer than 100 aircraft managed to hit the city. A moderate amount of housing was destroyed, 80 people were killed and 3,500 were bombed out. The report states that some fires in granaries and cattle sheds in outlying farms were blamed, not on the bombing but on sabotage, presumably by foreign workers,
