Page 72 - John Francis Ryan
P. 72
Second Operation
th
March 12 1945 Take off: 13.10pm. Return: 18.40pm.
Dortmund – Area bombing Lancaster RA 563 Q-Queen2
1,108 aircraft - 748 Lancasters, 292 Halifaxes, 68 Mosquitos attacked Dortmund
from all Group’s. This was another new record to a single target, a record which
would stand to the end of the war. 2 Lancasters lost. Another record tonnage of
bombs - 4,851 - was dropped through cloud on to this unfortunate city. The only
details available from Dortmund state that the attack fell mainly in the centre and
south of the city. A British team which investigated the effects of bombing in
Dortmund after the war says that, 'The final raid stopped production so effectively
that it would have been many months before any substantial recovery
could have occurred'.
