Prest, William (Sergeant)

NUREMBERG

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This would normally have been the moon stand-down period for the Main Force, but a raid to the distant target of Nuremberg was planned on the basis of an early forecast that there would be protective high cloud on the outward route, when the moon would be up, but that the target area would be clear for ground-marked bombing. A Meteorological Flight Mosquito carried out a reconnaissance and reported that the protective cloud was unlikely to be present and that there could be cloud over the target, but the raid was not cancelled.

795 aircraft were dispatched - 572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitoes. The German controller ignored all the diversions and assembled his fighters at 2 radio beacons which happened to be astride the route to Nuremberg. The first fighters appeared just before the bombers reached the Belgian border and a fierce battle in the moonlight lasted for the next hour. 82 bombers were lost on the outward route and near the target. The action was much reduced on the return flight, when most of the German fighters had to land, but 95 bombers were lost in all - 64 Lancasters and 31 Halifaxes, 11.9 per cent of the force dispatched. It was the biggest Bomber Command loss of the war.

Most of the returning crews reported that they had bombed Nuremberg but subsequent research showed that approximately 120 aircraft had bombed Schweinfurt, 50 miles north-west of Nuremberg. This mistake was a result of badly forecast winds causing navigational difficulties, 2 Pathfinder aircraft dropped markers at Schweinfurt. Much of the bombing in the Schweinfurt area fell outside the town and only 2 people were killed in that area. The main raid at Nuremberg was a failure.* The city was covered by thick cloud and a fierce cross-wind which developed on the final approach to the target caused many of the Pathfinder aircraft to mark too far to the east. A o-mile-long creep back also developed into the countryside north of Nuremberg. Both Pathfinders and Main Force aircraft were under heavy fighter attack throughout the raid. Little damage was caused in Nuremberg; 69 people were killed in the city and the surrounding villages.

DIVERSION AND SUPPORT OPERATIONS

49 Halifaxes minelaying in the Heligoland area, 13 Mosquitoes to night-fighter airfields, 34 Mosquitoes on diversions to Aachen, Cologne and Kassel, 5 R.C.M. sorties, 19 Serrate patrols. No aircraft lost. Minor Operations: 3 Oboe Mosquitoes to Oberhausen (where 23 Germans waiting to go into a public shelter were killed by a bomb) and i Mosquito to Dortmund, 6 Stirlings mine Iaying off Texel and Le Havre, 17 aircraft on Resistance operations, 8 0.T.U. sorties. 1 Halifax shot down dropping Resistance agents over Belgium. Total effort for the night: 950 sorties, 96 aircraft (10.1 per cent) lost. Pilot Officer C. J. Barton, a Halifax pilot of 578 Squadron, was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for carrying on to the target in the Nuremberg operation after his bomber was badly damaged in a fighter attack and 3 members of his crew baled out through a communication misunderstanding. Although the navigator and wireless operator were among the men who had parachuted, Barton decided to attempt the return flight to England in spite of the fact that only 3 engines were running. An unexpected wind took the Halifax steadily up the North Sea and it was short of fuel when the English coast was reached near Sunderland. Barton had to make a hurried forced landing when his engines failed through lack of fuel and he died in the crash, but his 3 remaining crew members were only slightly hurt, Pilot Officer Barton's Victoria Cross was the only one awarded during the Battle of Berlin, which had now officially ended.

*Readers might like to consult Martin Middlebrook's The Nuremberg Raid, London, Allen Lane, 1973, 1980; New York, Morrow, 1974; and, as Die Naeht in der die Bomber Starben, Berlin, Ulistein, 1975. The Bomber Command War Diaries, Middlebrook and Everitt

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6 Bomber Group March 30/31, 1944

25 Lancasters from 408 and 426 Squadrons were joined by 93 Halifaxes from 420, 424, 425, 427, 429, 432, and 433 Squadrons on an attack at Nurnberg. The crews were over the target at between 18,000 and 23,000 feet, releasing 98,000 lbs of high explosives and 396,000 lbs of incendiaries. According to reports, bombing was scattered due to many fighter attacks and some bombing fell on Schweinfurt due to a wind. This was a most terrible night for bomber command, as 108 aircraft were missing or destroyed in crashes This number was never exceeded.

While most crews went to Nurnberg, 30 Halifaxes from 419,428, and 434Squadrons were ordered on a mining operation to Heligoland. The crews were over the garden at between 14,000 and 15,000 feet, sowing 58@1500 lb mines. Richard Koval (6bombergroup.ca)

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Delivered to No. 467 Squadron on 22 Aug 1943. Lancaster DV240 took off from RAF Waddington at 2203 hours on 30/31 March 1944 to bomb Nuremberg, Germany. Was shot down outbound by a night fighter, blew up, & crashed at Westum in the southern outskirts of Sinzig. DV240 had 388 flying hours.

RAF Commands