The RAF raid on Leipzig on the night of 19-20 February 1944 was Bomber Command's second most costly attack of the entire Second World War. The attack on Leipzig cost Bomber Command seventy-nine heavy bombers and the lives of 420 aircrew, more than any raid apart from the attack on Nuremburg of 30/31 March 1944. 

626 Squadron's Lancasters ME589 and 12 Squadron's JB609 and ND410 were lost with no survivors.   * see Crews page 3

From RAF Bomber Command 823 aircraft  dispatched - 561 Lancasters, 255 Halifaxes, 7 Mosquitos.  Lost were 78 aircraft - 44 Lancasters and 34 Halifaxes, 9.5 per cent of the force. The Halifax loss rate was 13.3 per cent of those dispatched and 14.9 per cent of those Halifaxes which reached the enemy coast after 'early returns' had turned back. The Halifax IIs and Vs were permanently withdrawn from operations to Germany after this raid.

This was an unhappy raid for Bomber Command. The German controllers only sent part of their force of fighters to the Kiel minelaying diversion. When the main bomber force crossed the Dutch coast, they were met by a further part of the German fighter force and those German fighters which had been sent north to Kiel hurriedly returned. The bomber stream was thus under attack all the way to the target. 

There were further difficulties at the target because winds were not as forecast and many aircraft reached the Leipzig area too early and had to orbit and await the Pathfinders. 4 aircraft were lost by collision and approximately 20 were shot down by flak. Leipzig was cloud-covered and the Pathfinders had to use skymarking. The raid appeared to be concentrated in its early stages but scattered later.    

Total effort for the night: 921 sorties, 79 aircraft (8.6 per cent) lost.

In the following pages are the notes and photographs, mainly from Willem de Jong, illustrating some of the people and places of that period. Willem has also photographed the cemeteries and graves of those aircrew tragically lost.

See Bob Baxter's site for list of total losses on this raid

Willem de Jong's research of the 19/20th February 1944 losses

Since 1965 I'm researching affairs and incidents of the WW2-aircombat history, in connection to the Mid-north of the Netherlands, in particular to the Province of Friesland and the Frisian isles (like Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog).

Results: names, records, facts and memories of hundreds of young men, airmen of the RAF, RAAF, RCAF etc. etc., killed and buried over here, MIA over the North Sea, the Wadden and the IJsselmeer, or made POW in that times, sent to Germany or Poland (Stalag Luft.....?), or who simply (!) escaped with or without the help of the Dutch resistance.

In this way recently I bought a book named " De oorlog in beeld - Schiermonnikoog 1940-1945 ", by Bauke Henstra & Eddy van der Noord (2010, june); there are many photographs in it (also from German soldiers etc. etc.) but the pictures on the pages 150 to 153 are very interesting, especially for you I think, cause this is about grave no. 108 (Vreden-hof cemetery), in which is buried maybe one of the crew of Lancaster ME589 (?). Therefore I send you some " scans " (JPG-files) of that photo's now...... and many thanks for photo's of Sgt. G.H. Bodycot, Sgt. M. Latham, Sgt. Cook etc. etc., via www.626-squadron.

Greetings,  Willem de Jong (in Britain you should name me William Young)

Strânljip 6

9035 DK Dronryp (Frl.)

The Netherlands .           email-address:  w.jong1@chello.nl   or   willem.dejong@tasta.nl       September 2011

From Dutch historian Willem de Jong - October 2011

Weather report Sunday February the 20th , 1944.       Night-temp. =  - 3.7 gr. Celsius   Day-temp. =  +1.6 gr.  Celsius clouds =   0 ? 5 % ,    ¼  moon ( long time ),  Min. windspeed  =  5.1 mtr./sec. ( 3 Beaufort ).    inland max. windspeed =  7.2 mtr./sec. ( 4.5 Beaufort ) on coast humidity  =  78%     (and later on that day - 4.3 hrs. sunshine..      Many of the airmen would never see that again)

In the days before, temperatures were sinking over Great Britain etc.; a winter storm from the Atlantic brought snow and freezing rain. Air warfare was in disorder, while the Allied forces were planning a “Big Week”.  On the 20th all over Europe the weather was severely cold (windchill factor), with snow covering the ground on both sides, at the targets and on the bases, but not on the northern coast of Holland and Germany. Although the temperature over- here was dropping too, the Frisian Chain and the edge of the mainland was clear of snow (and ice rain) as far as Wangerooge and the seaway to Bremen. Thus, almost perfect weather conditions for the alert 1st line of the German air defence during that night (19/20 - 02) : clear runways, clear skies, enough moonshine (1/4 moon) and a stiff frosty breeze - therefore no fog - straight into the west, just in front of the heavily loaded RAF bombers on their way to Leipzig (!). The ideal scenario of a nightly disaster again…… (the statistics should demonstrate that the day after).  

Of course, these weather conditions were not similar to the circumstances in which the pilots and other crewmembers had to operate, flying high in the sky; on that altitudes the situation was even more extreme / more dangerous, like as for mountaineers. But they show us clear which “second enemy” these airmen had to face that night, all the way to Leipzig and returning to the U.K., and also downwards to sea level: the temperature, the cold ! And even when they were surviving a sudden and horrible attack of the Luftwaffe nightfighters - most already offshore - when they were “lucky”, bailing out by parachute and not wounded, death was still waiting: the cold waters of the North Sea, the Wadden and the Ijsselmeer. They didn’t drown in the water; the water was simply “cooling away” their lives, in about 15 - 20 minutes.

Such brave men they were…..     

How successful some "Nachtjagd Experte" of the Luftwaffe realy were, in that particular night too, is showing us next "Abschussliste" of Oberfeldwebel Heinz Vinke (11/NJG.1)

He and his companion, flying a radar-equipped Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-4 nightfighter, shot down 5 RAF bombers in a couple of hours, most over Holland (as far as I know, Lancaster ME589 was not among them):  

1.Lancaster - location BM-77 5900 m. - 01.46 hrs. 20-02-1944

2.Lancaster - location BM-78 6100 m. - 01.57 hrs. 20-02-1944

3.Halifax - location CK-62 5000 m. - 02.13 hrs. 20-02-1944

4.Lancaster - location HK 3-1 6000 m. - 05.08 hrs. 20-02-1944

5.Lancaster - 15 km. NW of 4800 m. - 05.34 hrs. 20-02-1944

Apeldoorn (Nl.)

Only one important question about this list: who can tell me something more about these locations, as there are BM-77, BM-78, CK-62 etc. ? (Is it the same system as usual on the "Kwadrat-Karte" of the Kriegsmarine ?  Their pilots, of the "Küstenfliegergruppen", let’s say of the German Coastal Command, used that system too).

At least 12 RAF Bombers were shot down over the Netherlands in that night; 5 of them by Heinz Vinke 

1.) Noordzee - Halifax LL184,  2.) Kallenkote - Halifax LW367,  3.) IJsselmeer - Halifax JD271,  4.) Waddenzee / Harlingen - Halifax LV781, 

5.) Elspeet - Lancaster JB609,  6.)Grevelingenmeer / Drieschor - Lancaster ND410,  7.) Kats / Zeedijk - Lancaster ND505,  8.) Tolbert - Lancaster DV267,   9.) Eemnes / Zuidpolder - Lancaster JA921,  10.) Krops-wolde - Lancaster DS788,  11.) Valkenswaard - Lancaster DS776 and, of course  12.) Noordzee / S’-oog - Lancaster ME589 (and thus, we are talking about 12 x 7 = 84 airmen, MIA or KIA or POW or…..! )

Addendum  October 15th 2011. 

Two important things now:  1.) his claims 4 + 5 (Harlingen + Apeldoorn), that's for sure, cannot be in connection with Lancaster ME589. 

2.) Heinz Vinke and his flying companion were indeed operating over Friesland  that night (location HK 3-1 is similar to "Raum Harlingen", so we are learning now). 

Maybe he was flying also in "Raum Schlei" / sector "Schiermonnikoog" ? His second claim, location BM-78  -01.57 hrs., was only 11 minutes before the crash of Lancaster ME589.....(?).

Why are we calling this night, 19 / 20 February 1944, "the night of the falling stars"?

When an aircraft was hit, and did not explode in one "simple flash", it was falling out of the sky most of the time in flames. And even when the pilot was controlling such a "burner", it was going down as a comet with a fire tail. And not only other pilots / crews could see such horrible infernos. Over the wide open landscapes of the Netherlands, and over the seas of Hollands coastline, everyone on the ground could see such fire tails in the dark war nights, easy and often, even miles and miles further on. 

Besides, in these years no lighthouse was burning, no streetlights as well, even the lights in the houses could not be seen (total black out by order of the Germans). Therefore, like as a nightly thunderstorm over the horizon, you didn’t hear anything, but you saw that lightnings far away. 

Only the German searchlights could "hide" sometimes such a crash fire.

But the more experienced people, like the German "Besatzungen" of the Flak-batteries or the pilots or other "Beobachter" of the Luftwaffe, but also the members of the local / Dutch "Luchtwachtdiensten" (men of the Dutch Home Guard, such as on the rooftop of the town hall in Harlingen city) they could "read" these fire tails (!). 

By the color of the flames the insiders could see if it was a RAF or a Luftwaffe - airplane falling down ! The a/c. with the more orange and red colored fire tail behind, was the unlucky Bomber Command "bird", while the machine with the more yellow and green or blue colored flames behind the rear was the Luftwaffe - fighter "im Absturz" (the chemical reaction of the burning air fuel and the, in the heath melting metal, most aluminium, wasn’t the same on both sides). 

In some books about the war in the air during WW II you can read such things, but I heard it for the first time from the late Mr. Zijlstra of Harlingen / Midlum (one of the insiders). And that’s also why we are calling this night "the night of the falling stars", because there were so many fire tails / comets / falling stars that night…..

Leipzig Concert Hall in 1940

Leipzig after the bombing

Victims of the bombing

Leipzig's Flak and searchlights

Target Leipzig.      By Willem

At the outbreak of WWII, in September 1939, the city of Leipzig in Eastern Germany, with many industries, its well-known "Leipziger Messe" and an extensive railway junction, was the greatest city of Sachsen; more than 707.500 inhabitants, and therefore the no. 6 largest city of the "Deutschen Reich". RAF Bomber Command was giving this city, like as other German cities, a code name: "Haddock" (other secret fish names were for example "Chevin"= Dresden, "Pickerel" = Halle, "Blackfin" = Chemnitz, etc. etc; 43 names in total !).

Already in Summer and Autumn of 1940 Bomber Command was trying to reach the very important "Rüstungsbetriebe" in Leipzig, on locations in suburbs as Heiterblick, Mockau and Abtnaundorf; the "Erla Flugzeugwerke" over there was producing fighterplanes (!), new and even better replacements for the Luftwaffe losses in the Battle of Britain. 

However, main problem for a long period was - let’s say to October 1943 - the long flight route between the airfields in the U.K. and the target, plus the way home of course: more than 1810 km’s. The ugly but robust Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, as heavy and long-range bomber the right work-horse for these special duties, could reach the Leipzig area, but the amount of fuel aboard was more important to the plane’s start weight than the numbers of the bomb load. And correct navigation in such ranges over Europa’s dark mainland was still a hell in these days ! However, the first "Fliegeralarm" (= air-raid-alarm) in the region was already given in the night of 16 - 17 Aug. 1940, when a single RAF-plane was attacking the "Leuna-Hydrierwerke" (= hydro-electric-power plant) nearby Merseburg. But the storm was growing…..

Thus, Leipzig was relatively safe from potential aerial bombing. Therefore many people and factories too were coming from Western Germany, from Bremen, Achen, Köln, Duisburg etc., to this city; therefore it was expanding and expanding, but also growing as important target.

Bomber Command’s answer, in the night of 27 March 1943, was clear: the new British air craft were coming further and further, and their effects / results were better and better. Suburp Gohlis was set on fire. And in the night of 31 August to 1 September, the RAF carried out a minor attacks on the towns of Schönefeld and Eutritzsch (four casualties and a lot of fire too).

And after the great attack on Kassel, 22 - 23 October 1943, it became clear for Leipzig‘s inhabitants: they were "standing in the row". NEXT !!!

During the night of 2 / 3 December 1943, the RAF attacked Berlin once again, and then the following night, Bomber Command had chosen for Leipzig (!). But the air route of this raid had been planned in such a way, the German air defence should be believing "die Reichshaupt-stadt Berlin" is the target again. The mainstream of the bombers was crossing the Dutch coast line and than they were flying over the IJsselmeer / former Zuiderzee, and than continued into the East, over Northern Germany, in the direction of Brandenburg / Berlin. 

Then they were flying Southwards, suddenly, and already near Leipzig. Besides, this air attack was launched in the early morning hours, cause the Germans did not expect an assault at that (late) time.

Between 3.50 and 4.25 hrs. A.M. - air raid alarm at 3.39 A.M. / all clear signal at 5.35 A.M. -442 bombers dropped a total amount of ± 1400 t. of explosives and fire rods on the heart of the city. In the centre, where the (old) buildings were densely put up to each other, with a lot of wood contructions in roofs and floors, and also overcrowded with people of Berlin etc.- refugees of the night before - the attack caused prompt a firestorm, like as in Hamburg, during "Operation Gomorrah". Hans Rumpf, the general inspector of the "Feuerwehr" ( fire-brigades), was in Leipzig during and after the raid, and he said, that firestorm was even intenser. They had to call firefighters from all the hinterland, be cause half of the own brigades were still in Berlin (!). And than, the water supply broke down quickly, and….the hoses of the external brigades did not fit the custom-made connections to the Leipziger hydrants !

More than 1800 people were killed that night; in fact a rather small number for such a heavy and successful "Bomben Angriff", and because many inhabitants and refugees did not follow the instructions, to stay in the cellars and shelters to the all clear signal, but fought against the rising flames, etc. And the results of the explosions and the firestorm were - meaning the destruction of buildings - 1067 commercial buildings, 472 factory buildings, 56 schools, 29 fair buildings and 9 churches. And the University of Leipzig was partly destroyed, like many historical buildings ("Alte Waage", Old and New Theatre, Museum of Arts, Town Hall).

Where did we see already such addition sums before ? Oh yes, I know, in Guernica (Spain), in Warszawa (= Warschau), in Rotterdam, in Coventry, in Leningrad, in Malta, etc. etc. This was obviously the only right answer they understood….. a very hard lesson from time to time.

But Hitler’s war machine wasn’t so easy to stop, and Leipzig was still paying his contributions at the beginning of 1944, although many things were going in other ways and in other proportions: most of the men were on the (east) front, and therefore a lot of workers from occupied countries were in town, in the factories and in the barracks surround. Most of the women were working too, and youngsters were running the traffic, the post, schools etc. etc.

And the "Luftwaffenhelfern", 15 and 16 year old boys from the "Hitler Jugend" (Hitler Youth) or any other Nazi-organisation, were shooting the 2-cm-Flak 38 - batteries and lightning with the search-lights. That same fanatics were standing later on nearby bridges, roadblocks, railway crossing etc. etc., in 1945, when Allied troops were opening the front in Germans country side; American soldiers for example felt sorry for them, till they came under attack of the "Panzerfausten" and heavy gun fire. 

" The little bastards ! "

Leipzig was on the roll again, 19 - 20 February 1944, as we saw already, during "Big Week". 

Between 3.15 and 4.20 A.M. areas in the South, like Connwitz, as well industrial areas in the Southwestern district of Leipzig were hit (Schleussig and Groszschocher). More than 700 RAF bombers were used, in that disastrous "night of the falling stars", which dropped about 2300 tonnes of bombs. And then, "big surprise", the same day more than 200 planes of the 8th U.S. Air Force attacked the industrial facilities in the Northeast of the city. 

The total outcome wasn’t like 4 December 1943, but about 970 people died, some of them "Zwangsarbeiter" from French, Oekrain, Poland etc., and most of them during the RAF night raid (but what could the RAF airmen do about it, they suffered themselves).

Most important of all: 65 % of that "Erla-werk" in Heiterblick was destroyed, and in May 1944 its production had not recovered the full capacity again.

I send you that crash-map of Friesland so people can see what was really going on in those wartime years in / over this part of the Netherlands.

But I must give some comments to this map too, cause this was made in the year 1979, and since that time I never made myself a new one, and besides, the Vlieland-area isn't on this map. 

A new / nowadays map should show us a lot more "victims" of the airbattle, such as a Lightning at nearby Workum, a Manchester at the Ameland beach, a (French) Spitfire near De Hemrik, etc. etc., and of course, the Lancaster ME589, if I should know more about that location in the North Sea..... (?).

Some explanations to the map:

AM = Ameland (island)                  HA = Harlingen (city/habour)               LE = (De) Lemmer (village/port)                TE = Terschelling (island)

AP = Appelscha (village)                HE = Heerenveen (village)                   LW = Leeuwarden (city)                          VR = (Lieve) Vrouwenparochie

BE = Bergum (village)                    HI = Hindeloopen (city/habour)            SCH = Schiermonnikoog (island)             WK = Workum (city/habour)

DO = Dockum (city)                      IJL = IJlst (city)                                  SN = Sneek (city)                                   WO = Wolvega (village)

DR = Drachten (city)                     KO = Kollum (village)                          ST = Stavoren (city/port)                         ZO = Zoutkamp (village/port)

As you maybe can understand, the Cemeteries in the Frisian Chain and in the cities etc. around the IJsselmeer, the Waddenzee and the Lauwerszee, received  most of the killed Allied airmen (Terschelling - 82, Harlingen - 63, S'-oog - 61, Ameland - 55, Lemmer - 44, Vlieland - 40, Makkum - 36; without the U.S.-victims ! ). 

And most of the German airmen were buried in Leeuwarden, Noorder Begraafplaats (Northern Cemetry) + Huizumer Begraafplaats (Southern Cemetery) 

72 in a total of 455 victims from all German army units (incl. 2 Russian soldiers, working for the Germans ? ). Of that 72 Luftwaffe victims (from airfields Leeuwarden + Bergen) about 30 % was KIA; the rest was killed by engine troubles, in bad weather conditions, by fuel problems, bird collisions, breaking undercarriages by landings, fire break outs etc. etc. , or by "glamorous behaviour" (stupidity).

St. Löwe = Stellung "Löwe" (= Lion) in Marum - Trimunt (operating since Febr. 1941)

St. Tiger = Stellung "Tiger" (= Tiger) near West-Terschelling (operating since end 1941)  

St. Schlei = Stellung "Schlei" or "Slien" (= Fjord) on Schiermonnikoog (operating since begin 1942)

St. Eisbär = Stellung "Eisbär (= Polar Bear) in Sondel (operating since begin 1942)

As you can see on the map, "Fliegerhorst" Leeuwarden was "in the middle" of these "Radarpeilstations"; by the way, that circles are saying nothing about the range of the radar-equipment they were using (Terschelling - over 300 Km. !!!! ; when the bombers were airborne over G.B., the Germans "pick them up" at the same time).       Willem