http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943
1943
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Events
Below, events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
November 18 – WWII: The Royal Air Force opens its bombing campaign against Berlin, with 440 planes causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses 9 aircraft and 53 aviators
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1135180.shtml
BBC
Fact File : Berlin Air Offensive
18 November 1943 to 24 March 1944
Theatre: Western Europe
Location: Berlin, eastern Germany
Players: Britain: Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris's RAF Bomber Command.
Outcome: Widespread damage to the city of Berlin at a high cost to British aircraft.
http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/nov43.html
BOMBER COMMAND
Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary
Campaign Diary
November 1943
18/19 November 1943
The 'Battle of Berlin' begins
440 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos were dispatched. Few German fighters intercepted the force. 9 Lancasters were lost, 2.0 per cent of the force. Berlin was completely cloud-covered and both marking and bombing were carried out blindly; Bomber Command could make no assessment of the results.
Major diversionary raid on Mannheim and Ludwigshafen by 395 aircraft - 248 Halifaxes, 114 Stirlings, 33 Lancasters - of Nos 3, 4, 6 and 8 Groups. German fighters successfully engaged the bomber force and 23 aircraft - 12 Halifaxes, 9 Stirlings, 2 Lancasters - were lost, 5.8 per cent of the force.
Cloud was present over the target area and much of the bombing was scattered. 21 people were killed, 154 injured and 7,500 bombed out. Many bombs fell outside the city and the local report lists much damage and loss at farms.This was the last major raid on the much-bombed city of Mannheim for 15 months.
10 Mosquitos to Essen, 6 to Aachen and 6 to Frankfurt, 16 Wellingtons minelaying from Texel to St Nazaire, 7 OTU sorties.
Total effort for the night: 884 sorties, 32 aircraft (3.6 per cent) lost.
- posted by H.V.O.M - Kerry Wayne Burgess 6:54 PM Pacific Time USA Monday 16 April 2012
