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Royal Air Force Bomber
Command 60th Anniversary
Campaign Diary
January 1942
2 January 1942
12 Hampdens on 'roving patrols' of Dutch and German Coasts. Only 1
aircraft bombed, at Leeuwarden airfield. No Hampdens lost.
2/3 January 1942
Brest
22 Wellingtons and 9 Stirlings. Only 7 aircraft bombed the primary
target. No aircraft lost.
St Nazaire
15 Whitleys and 12 Manchesters. Only 8 aircraft bombed the primary
target. No aircraft lost.
Minor Operations: 36 Hampdens minelaying in the Frisians and off the
French Biscay ports, 8 OTU sorties. No losses.
3/4 January 1942
Brest, The Frisians
14 Wellingtons and 4 Stirlings to Brest, 10 Hampdens minelaying. 1
Wellington and Hampden lost.
4 January 1942
12 Hampdens on roving patrols. Some minor attacks made. No aircraft
lost.
5/6 January 1942
Brest
154 aircraft - 89 Wellingtons, 65 of other types - 87 aircraft being
ordered to bomb the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the remainder being given
the naval docks generally as their target. A smoke-screen prevented
accurate bombing but large fires were claimed. No aircraft lost.
Minor Operations: 37 aircraft to Cherbourg, 5 Hampdens minelaying in
Quiberon Bay, 5 OTU sorties. No losses.
6/7 January 1942
Brest
31 Wellingtons of 1 Group attacked the German warships. 1 aircraft
lost. No special bombing results were claimed but a bomb which fell
alongside the Gneisenau holed the hull and flooded 2 compartments.
Minor Operations: 19 Hampdens on roving patrols over Northern Germany,
11 Whitleys to Stavanger airfield, 5 Wellingtons to Cherbourg, 16 OTU
sorties. No losses.
7/8 January 1942
French Ports
68 Wellingtons to Brest and 27 aircraft to St-Nazaire. No losses
8/9 January 1942
Brest
151 aircraft to Brest. 1 Manchester lost.
Minor Operations: 31 aircraft to Cherbourg, 5 Hampdens minelaying in
the Frisians, 2 OTU sorties. 1 Wellington lost on the Cherbourg raid.
9/10 January 1942
Brest
82 aircraft. No losses.
Minor Operations: 5 Hampdens minelaying off Brest, 1 Manchester on
leaflet flight to France. 1 Hampden lost.
10/11 January 1942
Wilhelmshaven
124 aircraft; good bombing claimed but Wilhelmshaven records this only
as a small raid with light damage and 6 people injured. 3 Wellingtons
and 2 Hampdens lost.
Minor Operations: 29 aircraft to Emden, 2 Wellingtons to Boulogne,
5 Hampdens minelaying off Wilhelmshaven, 6 Blenheim Intruders to Holland,
1 Hampden on a leaflet flight to France. 1 Blenheim Intruder lost.
11/12 January 1942
Brest
13 Wellingtons and 3 Stirlings. No losses.
14/15 January 1942
Hamburg
95 aircraft with shipyards and an airframe factory as targets. 2 Hampdens
and 2 Wellingtons lost. Only 48 aircraft claimed to have bombed Hamburg,
which reports Altona station hit and 12 fires - 7 large, with 6 people
killed and 22 injured - but no other major incidents.
Minor Operations: 18 aircraft to Emden, 11 aircraft to Rotterdam, 17
Blenheim Intruders to Dutch airfields, S Hampdens minelaying off Kiel
and Warnemunde. 1 Intruder lost.
15/16 January 1942
Hamburg
96 aircraft. 52 of them claimed to have bombed in difficult visibility.
Hamburg reports 36 fires - 3 large, 3 people killed and 25 injured -
but no major incidents. 3 Wellingtons and 1 Hampden were lost and 8
further aircraft crashed in England.
Emden
50 aircraft; claimed many fires. 1 Wellington and 1 Whitley lost.
Minor Operations: 5 Blenheims and 4 Wellingtons Intruding and bombing
Dutch airfields, 3 Hampdens minelaying in the Frisians. No losses.
17/18 January 1942
Bremen
83 aircraft; only 8 aircraft claimed to have bombed the primary target.
Some of the aircraft attacking alternative targets reached Hamburg,
which reports 11 fires and casualties of 5 dead and 12 injured. 3 Wellingtons
were lost and 1 Stirling crashed England after being fired at and damaged
by a British convoy.
Minor Operations: 24 aircraft to Emden, 2 aircraft to Dunkirk, 2 to
Soesterberg airfield, 8 Hampdens minelaying off Wilhelmshaven and Dunkirk.
No losses.
20/21 January 1942
Emden
20 Wellingtons and 5 Hampdens. 3 Wellingtons and 1 Hampden lost.
21/22 January 1942
Bremen
54 aircraft; only 28 claimed to have bombed the primary target. 2 Hampdens
and 1 Wellington lost.
Emden
38 aircraft. 3 Hampdens and 1 Whitley lost.
Minor Operations: 7 Wellingtons to Boulogne, 8 Wellingtons attacking airfields
in Holland, 1 Hampden minelaying in the Frisians, 9 Hampdens and 3 Manchesters
on leaflet flights to France. No losses.
22/23 January 1942
Munster
47 aircraft on the first raid to inland Germany since 27/28 December
1941. Crews reported large fires in the railway-station area but the
only report from Munster records the death of 5 people with no other
details. 1 Wellington lost.
Minor Operations: 5 aircraft to Dunkirk, 6 Blenheim Intruders to Dutch
airfields, 9 Hampdens minelaying in the Frisians and off Wi1helmshaven,
5 Hampdens on leaflets flights to France. 1 minelaying Hampden lost.
25/26 January 1942
Brest
61 aircraft dispatched but bombing results were not observed. No aircraft
lost.
3 Hampdens were minelaying off French coast without loss.
26/27 January 1942
Hannover
71 aircraft; only 32 claimed to have found the target area, though
many fires were believed to have been started. No aircraft lost.
Emden
31 aircraft. 2 Whitleys lost.
Brest
22 Wellingtons and 3 Stirlings. No losses.
Minor Operations: 6 Hampdens minelaying in the Frisians, 2 Whitleys
to Germany and 2 Hampdens to France on leaflet flights. The Whitley
leaflet flights were the first leaflet-only operations to Germany since
April 1940. 1 Whitley lost.
28/29 January 1942
Munster
55 Wellingtons and 29 Hampdens. Visibility was very poor and no aircraft
positively identified the target though many believed that they had
bombed in the target area. Local records show that no bombs fell in
Munster. 4 Hampdens and 1 Wellington lost.
Boulogne
48 aircraft. 1 Whitley was shot down into the sea by a British ship;
there were no survivors.
Minor Operations: 29 Whitleys to Rotterdam, 16 Blenheim Intruders to
French and Dutch airfields, 2 aircraft on leaflet flights to France.
1 Intruder lost.
29/30 January 1942
Tirpitz
9 Halifaxes and 7 Stirlings to bomb the battleship Tirpitz in Trondheim.
Only 2 aircraft reached the Norwegian coast and bombed ships seen there.
1 Stirling lost.
31 January/1 February 1942
Brest
72 aircraft. 3 Manchesters and 2 Hampdens lost. The 3 Manchesters lost
were all from 61 Squadron, which sent only 9 aircraft on the raid.
Minor Operations: 31 aircraft to St Nazaire, 14 aircraft to Le Havre,
13 aircraft on leaflet flights to France. No losses.
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