6 Group Unavailable
288 aircraft - roo Wellingtons, 82 Lancasters, 78 Halifaxes, 28 Stirlings. 8 aircraft- 5 Wellingtons, 1 each of other types - lost, 2·8 per cent of the force.
A decoy fire site was operating and at least half of the bombing was drawn away into open countryside, but the rest of the attack fell on Kiel and its immediate surroundings. The Kiel diarist records a now familiar list of area-bombing damage, the only items of particular interest being that 17 omnibuses were destroyed in their garage or parking area and that much of the bombing fell on the south-eastern suburbs of Elmschenhagen. He also refers to a constantly recurring theme in recent raids, the vast amount of roof damage and glass breakage with the increasing use by Bomber Command of high-capacity blast bombs. 250,000 square metres of roof tiling and 150,000 square metres of glass were blown away in Kiel on this night. Casualties were 41 killed and 101 injured. Finally, Herr Boelck writes: 'Amazingly, the Flak hardly opened fire for some time although the bombers were over the town.* This withholding of fire was a ploy which the German defences developed to hinder the identification of a target by the bombers, particularly when a nearby decoy site was being used. There were often disagreements between local party officials who wanted their people to see the Flak banging away vigorously, and the local Luftwaffe Flak commanders who were attempting this tactical deception.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
Bomber Command Museum Monthly ORB
