Operations of Bomber Command on the night of June 7 to 8, 1944
D-Day aerial operations
337 bombers (195 Halifax, 122 Lancaster and 20 Mosquito) attacked railway targets at Achères, Juvisy, Massy Palaiseau and Versailles.
Weather conditions are better than previous nights and there are fewer civilian casualties during the bombings. Indeed, all targets are bombarded with good precision.
However, as the latter are farther away than the days before, German night fighters have more time to intercept waves of bombers. For example, 17 Lancaster and 11 Halifax are lost, representing 8.3% of the forces involved.
112 Lancaster and 10 Mosquito groups 1, 5 and 8 attack an important road junction, consisting of six axes, between Bayeux and Saint-Lô near the forest of Cerisy.
The nearby woods are sucked to hide gasoline reserves and German tanks preparing for a counterattack. 2 Lancaster are lost.
In addition to these missions, the following raids were conducted:
– 32 Mosquitos on Cologne;
– 10 RCM (Radio Counter Measure) missions;
– 18 Serrate patrols;
– 18 Intruder patrols;
– 22 Halifax and 3 Stirling dropped underwater mines between Lorient and Brest;
– 24 aircraft are engaged for resistance operations.
No losses in connection with these missions.
Balance of the operations
586 aircraft are deployed during the night of 7-8 June 1944 and 30 aircraft were lost (5.1% of the total).
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