6 Bomber Group March 26/27, 1944
21 Lancasters from 408 and 426 squadrons were joined by 84 Halifaxes from 420, 424, 425, 427, 429, 432, and 433 squadrons on an attack at Essen. The crews were over the target at between 17,000 and 24,000 feet, releasing 72,000 lbs of high explosives and 400,000 lbs of incendiaries. According to reports, bombing was accurate with severe damage being caused.
While part of the group went to Essen, 47 Halifaxes from 419, 428,431, and 434 squadrons were ordered on an attack of the rail yards at Courtrai. The crews were over the target at between 10,000 and 12,000 feet, releasing530,000 lbs of high explosives. According to reports, the rail yard was severely damaged but some overshot into the town damaging many buildings. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)
705 aircraft - 476 Lancasters, 207 Halifaxes, 22 Mosquitoes. The sudden switch by Bomber Command to a Ruhr target just across the German frontier caught the German fighter controllers by surprise and only 9 aircraft- 6 Lancasters, 3 Halifaxes - were lost, 1·3 per cent of the force.
Essen was covered by cloud but the Oboe Mosquitoes marked the target well and this was a successful attack. 48 industrial buildings were seriously damaged and 1,756 houses destroyed. 550 people were killed, 49 missing and 1,569 were injured. .The figures for killed and missing are broken down in the Essen report as follows:
Germans - 192 women, 155 men, 27 children, 6 soldiers, 4 policemen and 2 Hitler Youth. Foreigners - 74 forced workers and I prisoner of war. The remaining 138 victims were mixed German and foreign concentration-camp prisoners, large numbers of whom were now providing the labour forces in German factories.
source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt
