Lancaster Mk.I W4272

Bombing Berlin Germany 1944-February-15 to 1944-February-15

After a rest of more than 2 weeks for the regular bomber squadrons, 891 aircraft - 561 Lancasters, 314 Halifaxes, 16 Mosquitoes -were dispatched. This was the largest force sent to Berlin and the largest non-1,000 bomber force sent to any target, exceeding the previous record of 826 aircraft (which included Stirlings and Wellings tons) sent to Dortmund on the night of 23/24 May 1943. It was also the first time that more than 500 Lancasters and more than 300 Halifaxes were dispatched. The quantity of bombs dropped, 2,642 tons, was also a record.

The German controllers were able to plot the bomber stream soon after it left the English coast but the swing north over Denmark for the approach flight proved too far distant for many of the German fighters. The German controller ordered the fighters not to fly over Berlin, leaving the target area free for the Flak, but mapy fighters ignored him and attacked bombers over the city. The diversion to Frankfurt¬on-Oder failed to draw any fighters: 43 aircraft - 26 Lancasters, 17 Halifaxes - were lost, 4·8 per cent of the force.

Berlin was covered by cloud for most of the raid. Heavy bombing fell on the centre and south-western districts but many places out in the country again re-corded bombs, with 59 people being killed there. Damage in Berlin was extensive with 599 large and 572 medium fires and nearly 1,000 houses and 526 temporary wooden barracks, of which there were now a large number in Berlin, destroyed. Some of Berlin's most important war industries were hit, including the large Sie-mensstadt area. 320 people were killed - 196 civilians, 34 service personnel, 9 air-raid workers, 80 foreign workers and 1 prisoner of war. The diminishing proportion of civilian casualties reflects the large-scale evacuation which had now taken place but a further 260 civilians were recorded as being 'buried alive' and it is not known how many of these survived,

This was really the end of the true 'Battle of Berlin'; only one more raid tool pince on the city in this period and that was not for more than a month.

source: The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt