On the night of 30–31 March 1944 (70 years ago tonight) British RAF Bomber Command attacked the German city of Nuremberg. It was a clear, cloudless night and bright moonlight illuminated the landscape as the 68 mile long stream of aircraft forged a track deep into Germany, perfect targets for German anti-aircraft fire and night fighters. Some navigators turned on their new H2S Radar, not realizing that instantly gave away their position to German Fighter Squadrons. But, what began as a normal bombing operation would soon turn into the bloodiest night in the RAF’s history. During the raid the British lost 96 bombers shot down and a further 10 crashed on return or where written-off after landing, making it a total of 106 aircraft lost. In addition, Nuremberg suffered comparatively light damage and the raid has since come to be seen by historians as a comparative failure. Of 795 aircraft (Lancaster, Halifax, & Intruder Mosquito) that took off from British bases to the target of Nuremberg that night, the 96 did not return, made the raid significant for being the costliest in terms of aircraft losses, that the Royal Air Force Bomber Command suffered in one night attack during WW2. Thus, more RAF men died in aircraft that night (545 total), than the total killed during the entire 15 weeks of the Battle of Britain. It was a brutal illustration of the dangers faced by the young men of Bomber Command. Of its 125,000 men, all volunteers, 55,753 would not survive the war.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 18:36:18 +0000
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