6 Group Unavailable
823 aircraft- 56 I Lancasters, 255 Halifaxes, 7 Mosquitoes. 78 aircraft- 44 Lancasters nnd 34 Halifaxes - lost, 9?5 per cent of the force. The Halifax loss rate was 13?3 per cent of those dispatched and 14?9 per cent of those Halifaxes which reached the enemy coast after 'early returns' had turned back. The Halifax IIs and Vs were permanently withdrawn from operations to Germany after this raid.
This was an unhappy raid for Bomber Command. The German controllers only sent part of their force of fighters to the Kiel minelaying diversion. When the main bomber force crossed the Dutch coast, they were met by a further part of the German Ilghter force and those German fighters which had been sent north to Kiel hurriedly returned. The bomber stream was thus under attack all the way to the target. There were further difficulties at the target because winds were not as forecast and many uircraft reached the Leipzig area too early and had to orbit and await the Pathfinders. ,j aircraft were lost by collision and approximately 20 were shot down by Flak.
Leipzig was cloud-covered and the Pathfinders had to use sky-marking. The raid appeared to be concentrated in its early stages but scattered later. There are few details of the effects of the bombing. No report is available from Germany and there was no immediate post-raid reconnaissance flight. When photographs were eventually tnken, they included the results of an American raid which took place on the following day. source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
156 Squadron (We Light The Way), Pathfinder Force. Lancaster aircraft JA 921 lost during operations against Leipzig, Germany. Six of the crew, not Canadians, missing believed killed. Lancaster aircraft JA 921(GT-Q) crashed SE of Utrecht, Holland during night operations against Leipzig, Germany. WO. R. Stanners (RAF), Sgt,s R. Prankett (RAF), E. Hoperaft (RAF), A.C.G. Merces (RAF), H.W. Hughes (RAF), Pilot Officer T.J. Brewer were killed. F/O. E.J.C Kryskow (RCAF) was taken Prisoner Of War. (RAF Commands lists him as an Evader)
