RAF Wickenby – This week in history – World War 2
RAF Wickenby history week by week during World War 2
There were 2 operations this week, to the island of Heligoland and the port of Bremen. Both raids were carried out in daylight due to the decimation of the Luftwaffe by long range fighter escorts. The attack on Bremen was in preparation for the ground assault by the British XXX Corps, which successfully captured the city a few days later – the first major German port to be captured.
Just 2 missions this week; minelaying in Kiel bay and the last attack by Bomber Command on a German town, Potsdam. The aiming point was the centre of Potsdam with the intention of destroying the local barracks which were the old depot of the German Guards regiments. It was also the first time, since March 1944, that 4-engined RAF bombers had entered the Berlin defense zone. It is thought that up to 5000 people were killed.
Wickenby squadrons were involved in 3 operations this week, to Lutzkendorf, Kiel and Plauen. The Lutzkendorf raid, on oil refineries, resulted in the loss of 3 aircraft and 21 aircrew – the last aircrew losses from Wickenby during the war.
Just 2 missions were flown from Wickenby this week, to Hamburg and Nordhausen, both of which sustained extensive damage. One aircraft and all 7 crew were lost during the latter attack, the only loss for Bomber Command that day. It is worthy of note that most missions were now during daylight hours and heavily escorted by long-range USAAF and RAF fighters, who were encountering a number of Luftwaffe jets.
There were 3 operations this week, to Bremen, Hannover and Paderborn – there were no losses. On the 26th March there was a fire in the bomb dump, where 4 men were injured by incendiaries (I’ve included an article written many years later that gives further details).
This week saw one of the worst nights, for casualties, of the war for RAF Wickenby, with 5 aircraft being lost during the attack on Nuremburg – 25 aircrew were killed and 10 became POW’s – there are some detailed accounts from survivors in the Station Diary section below. Attacks were also made to benzol plants and minelaying in the Baltic and Oslo Fjord.
Raids were made to targets in the Ruhr valley as well as benzol plants near Hannover – there were no Wickenby casualties. The attacks on Essen and Dortmund were the largest of the war, with about 1100 bombers each time dropping nearly 10,000 tons of bombs on the combined targets. Both cities were captured not long afterwards by American forces.
A busy and costly week for RAF Wickenby, attacks were made on Cologne, Chemnitz, Dessau and Kassel as well as minelaying in the Baltic Sea. There was also a big attack by German night fighters over eastern England on the 3 March, which resulted in 2 Wickenby aircraft being shot down. The total losses for the week were 4 aircraft lost, 23 aircrew killed and 5 becoming POW’s.
The mission to Cologne was the last one the RAF carried out to that city as it was captured by American forces 4 days later.
The German night fighter attack was called Operation Gisela, and lasted two and a half hours – during that time 13 Halifaxes, 9 Lancasters, one Fortress and one Mosquito were shot down. The Germans also straffed anything that moved on the ground, killing 17 civilians and wounding 12 seriously. Five German aircraft were lost over England and 3 more crashed returning to their home bases. One crew of four (with a ground engineer who hitched a lift) were killed shooting up a civilian car, near Welton, driven by a member of the Royal Observer Corps, hitting overhead wires and crashing onto the car, killing the driver Mr J.P. Kelway and all the crew. The crew are buried in Scampton village church cemetery.
There were 3 operations this week, all to targets in Germany- minelaying in the Heligoland Bight, and bombing attacks on Duisburg and Dortmund – 4 aircraft were lost, 27 aircrew were killed and one was believed to have evaded capture, all these casualties were from 626 Sqn.
There were 3 operations this week, including Operation Thunderclap, the famous, or infamous (depending on your viewpoint) attack on Dresden, that killed upwards of 40,000 people. The attack came out of the Yalta Conference, where the Russians requested attacks on targets of German army and communication concentrations, however, the city was also packed with refugees from the Russian offensive and a fire storm, similar to Hamburg, did the rest.
The other missions were minelaying in the Kadet Channel, in the Baltic Sea north of Rostock and a bombing attack on Chemnitz, which was a follow up to the Dresden operation.
There were no casualties or aircraft losses this week.
RAF Wickenby - This week in history - World War 2 