Eighty years ago, on the night of 30th/31st March 1944, RAF Bomber Command suffered its heaviest losses of the entire war on a single raid against the symbolic Nazi rally city of Nuremberg.
That period would normally have been a bright-moon stand-down interval for the Main Force bomber squadrons, but an early weather forecast suggested that there would be protective high cloud on the outward route, when the moon would be up, whilst the target area would be clear. A Meteorological Flight Mosquito weather reconnaissance flight carried out before the raid reported that the protective cloud was unlikely to be present on the route, whilst the target might be covered. Surprisingly though, the raid was not cancelled and went ahead anyway with 795 aircraft dispatched - 572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and nine Mosquitos - in cloudless conditions with bright moonlight that very much favoured the German night-fighter force.
The night-fighters began to intercept the bombers before they reached the Belgian border and a fierce running battle ensued in the moonlight for the next hour. 82 RAF bombers were shot down on the outbound route and near the target, almost all by night-fighters. The bombing was ineffective and the target was only lightly damaged. The action was much reduced on the return flight, when most of the German fighters had to land to refuel and re-arm, but in all 95 bombers were lost, 11.9 percent of the force dispatched. A further 10 aircraft were written off with battle damage or crashed on return.
Негізгі бет A DARK NIGHT - Junkers Ju-88 G6
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