Six Mosquitoes to Cologne, Duisburg and Düsseldorf (the main attack was against, Four Mosquitoes as a diversionary raid, (the main attack was against, 653 aircraft attacked Cologne's industrial area on the east bank of the. On the night of 30 May, 890 bombers reached Cologne. Only 41 aircraft were lost. No Mosquitoes lost. Bermuda Conference Hamburg Air Offensive Cripps' Mission to India Second Washington Conference The main raid of the night was to Leipzig, 1 Mosquito on a diversionary nuisance raid and returned safely to base (main raid to Berlin). Later mass RAF raids used between 400 and 700 four-engined bombers, and on some nights, Bomber Command could send two 400-bomber forces to separate targets. The action of fire fighters and the width of the streets stopped the fires combining into a firestorm, but nonetheless most of the damage was done by fire and not directly by the explosive blasts. By war’s end the city of Cologne had seen damage of epic proportions rivaled, perhaps only by the infernos created by the bombing of Tokyo and other Japanese cities. Later mass RAF raids used between 400 and 700 four-engined bombers, and on some nights, Bomber Command could send two 400-bomber forces to separate targets. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. Reserved Occupations The raid on Cologne used mostly incendiaries and therefore, the majority of damage was not attributed the explosions themselves but to the fires that they started. He reasoned that there were a fixed number of defenders at each target and a relatively fixed number of German interceptors that could reach a site during a bombing raid. Arnhem (Market-Garden) Fall of Singapore and Malaya [2]. 'Admiral Graf Spee' Sunk, Norwegian Campaign 12 Mosquitoes equipped with OBOE bombed the, 28 Mosquitoes to Berlin, Cologne, Brauweiler and Emden. Early in the war, even city bombing could not be undertaken with any confidence; the Butt Report of 1941 concluded that less than one in three of all bombers had got within five miles of their appointed target. Codenamed Operation Millennium, the massive raid was launched for two primary reasons: At this stage of the war Bomber Command only had a regular front line strength of around 400 aircraft, and were in the process of transitioning from the twin engined medium bombers of the pre-war years to the newer more effective four-engined heavy bombers such as the Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster. The target was the industrial city of Cologne; the tactic was to overwhelm city defences by sending 1,000 bombers overhead in the space of 90 minutes. No Mosquitoes were lost. The German city of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids by the Allies during World War II, including 31 times by the Royal Air Force (RAF). It led to the retaliatory "Baedeker" raids on historic British cities. Caen Captured 50 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. On the night of 30/31 May 1942 the inner city of Cologne was almost totally destroyed by a 1000-bomber raid. 39 aircraft encountered ice and cloud, poor bombing results reported.