23rd December 1944 – RAF Bomber Command daylight raid on Cologne
Header image: Lancasters in formation in daylight. These are actually 50 Sqn Lancasters which were not involved in the daylight raid against Cologne on 23rd December 1944, but this picture shows how it would have looked for the crews of the 582 and 35 Sqn Lancasters that took part.
Eighty years ago, on Saturday 23rd December 1944, a vital daylight bombing raid against rail yards in the German city of Cologne (Köln) proved very costly for RAF Bomber Command and meant that many of the crews were not going to see Christmas.
On 16th December 1944 the Germans had begun a surprise counter-offensive in the Ardennes on a 25-mile front, with a ferocity that staggered the Americans who faced the main thrust, and which became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Within a week, German Panzer divisions had punched their way through the Allied positions to a depth of 60 miles. By the 22nd the Germans were poised to make their way to the Meuse and then to Antwerp, which would isolate the British and Canadian armies in the north. General Eisenhower made urgent appeals to the Allied Air Forces to attack the German supply lines, marshalling yards and major rail and road junctions, but for a week the Allied aircraft were grounded by thick blankets of fog that covered most of northern Europe. The Germans had fortune on their side as they brought up fresh supplies and troops for the next stage of the offensive scheduled to begin on the 23rd December.
It was against this backdrop that Bomber Command ordered a daylight raid against the Gremberg railway marshalling yards in Cologne – critical to the German supply routes – to be carried out by Lancaster Pathfinder crews from 582 Squadron at Little Staughton and 35 Squadron at Graveley. The bad weather twice forced postponement of the raid, but at the third time of asking and despite atrocious weather in the UK, the decision was finally made to go on 23rd December.
Those taking part were all Pathfinders, many of them experienced bomber men. Arguably the most experienced of all was Squadron Leader Bob Palmer, DFC & Bar, a Mosquito Pathfinder pilot with 109 Squadron (also based at Little Staughton), who now had a remarkable 109 operations under his belt. This attack on the Cologne railway yard, which he was to lead, would be his 110th ‘op’.
The attack involved only 27 Lancasters in three formations and, with bad weather expected over the target, each of the three formations was led by a Lancaster equipped with ‘Oboe’ blind bombing equipment. This system enabled very accurate bombing even when the target was completely obscured by cloud. Each formation was also accompanied by an Oboe Mosquito (from 109 and 105 Squadrons) in case the equipment in the lead Lancaster failed, as it was prone to do. The regular crew of the Oboe Lancasters was supplemented by a specialist Oboe pilot and navigator, who literally swapped seats with their hosts for the bombing run. The principal drawback to Oboe was that it required the pilot to fly straight and level for 10 minutes on the run up to the target, which rendered the aircraft very vulnerable to ground fire. The Master Bomber, Bob Palmer, along with his navigator Flight Lieutenant George Russell, had left their usual 109 Squadron Mosquito behind to ride with the Lancaster crew of Flight Lieutenant Owen Milne of 582 Squadron, and to fly the Oboe bombing run. The reserve Oboe Mosquito in the lead formation was flown by Canadian Flight Lieutenant Eric Carpenter.
The first aircraft took off at 10.27 hrs and the last aircraft fifteen minutes later. As the aircraft climbed to their first rendezvous point, two Lancasters of 35 Squadron collided with one another and tragically all on board both aircraft lost their lives. It was not a good start and it was going to get worse. As the three formations approached the target area, rather than the thick cloud they had been promised over the target, they found completely clear sky, which very much favoured the German anti-aircraft gunners and the Luftwaffe fighters. There was confusion amongst the bomber crews as to whether to break formation and bomb visually or continue in formation for the Oboe run. In the lead Lancaster, Palmer had taken control of the aircraft and did not receive any order to abandon the Oboe run. He held the aircraft steady on the run-in whilst his navigator George Russell listened to the Oboe signal for the release point.
Heavy, predicted ‘flak’ began to pepper the sky. Not a single aircraft in the first formation escaped undamaged. In the lead Lancaster the rear gunner, Canadian Flight Sergeant Russ Yeulett, was shocked to see Carpenter’s reserve Mosquito, flying alongside, receive a direct hit from a heavy anti-aircraft shell and simply explode. One moment it was there 100 feet away; the next it was gone. Then the Lancaster was hit and the two port engines were set on fire and the port tail fin was shot away. Even so, Bob Palmer courageously flew on in the limping Lancaster, following the Oboe signal and believing that if he broke formation the whole attack would have to be abandoned. When the signal to release was received, the bombs were dropped and, almost immediately, Palmer’s Lancaster fell into a spin, out of control. The rear gunner, Russ Yeulett, was the only one of the crew of seven who survived to become a POW. Palmer later received the Victoria Cross for displaying “heroic endeavour beyond praise”. The Oboe reports studied after the attack showed that at the point Palmer was shot down, his aircraft was tracking with absolute accuracy towards the target. Such precision was rarely achieved on a practice run, let alone on an actual raid with the aircraft under constant attack.
A squadron of German fighters then appeared on the scene, led by one of Germany’s greatest fighter ‘experten’, Anton Hackl, who eventually claimed 192 aircraft destroyed, including 32 four-engine bombers. The escorting RAF P-51 Mustangs from 19, 65 and 122 Squadrons fought hard to keep the German fighters away from the bombers, but despite their best efforts it was still a slaughter. The second Lancaster to fall from the sky was that of American (RCAF) Flight Lieutenant Arndt Reif after it was hit by both ‘flak’ and enemy fighters. Reif himself was badly injured and gave the order to bail out. Only two of his crewmen, the two Canadian gunners, escaped with their lives to become POWs. Lancaster PB141 went down next. With no controls and one wing on fire, Flight Lieutenant Hockley gave the order to jump, and all seven crewmen managed to escape the burning wreck. Six were picked up by the Germans below to become POWs, but the seventh, 24-year-old Pilot Officer Ken Hewitt was attacked by murderous civilians and shot several times. Efforts to save him by a local policeman failed.
In total, eight aircraft of the attacking force of 30 were lost, seven Lancasters (two from 35 Squadron and five from 582 Squadron) and one Mosquito. Of the men who flew them, 31 were dead and would not see Christmas, whilst a further 13 would spend Christmas as POWs. For many families Christmas 1944 was not going to be a time for joy.
In addition to the aircraft and crews that failed to return, a further 21 were damaged by ‘flak’, some seriously, and some returned with injured crew members. Some aircraft were so badly mauled they need to be sent away for repair and rebuild. The raid caused considerable damage to the marshalling yards but at a terrible price.
LEST WE FORGET
