443 Lancasters and 7 Mosquitoes flew to Berlin that night.

Ironically, the success of the raid was due to a Pathfinder mishap. The Blind Markers dropped their their red TIs as planned in a straight line leading to the City centre. But then the solitary H2S aircraft of 83 Squadron dropped its entire load of yellow markers 7 miles north of the city limits. the PFF backers-up, faced with two different marked targets, dropped their green flares halfway between the two and the Main Force dropped on these.

Unknown to all of them, this was an important industrial area ; Rheinmetall-Borsig and DWM were bombed heavily as well as the vital Alkett tank factory.

Kai is quite right ; Hitler personally intervened when told of the Alkett fire and ordered every possible fire appliance to the scene. As a result, many fire engines became jammed in nearby streets and were unable to deploy to many other blazing areas.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson