ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 206806
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| Date: | Monday 2 December 1940 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Dornier Do 17Z-3 |
| Owner/operator: | 3./KGr.606 Luftwaffe |
| Registration: | 3168 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 3 km north of Brest-Lanvéoc airfield, Finistere -
 France
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
The second major air raid on Bristol was launched by the Luftwaffe on the night of 2-3 December 1940, but once again the operation was restricted to the first half of the night to allow the bombers to return to base before the onset of widespread fog on the Continent. Participating aircraft were drawn from I. and III./KG 1, II./KG 77, II. and III./LG 1, I. and III./KG 27, KGr 100, KGr 606, I. and II./KG 54, KGr 806, I. and II./KG 55.
The attack, which the Germans claimed was to complete the work of destroying the industrial and port installations at Bristol, was carried out by 121 aircraft between 18.20 and 22.30 hrs, with 120.9 tonnes of HE bombs, a tonne of Oil Bombs and 22,140 incendiary bombs. Prior to the raid the RAF had correctly identified X-Beams laid over the City, and just before nightfall the Knickebein transmitter at Dieppe, previously deployed over London, suddenly swung round and to be re-aligned over Bristol.
In the target area at the start of the raid there was nearly 10/10ths cloud cover in two layers, the lower lying between 300 and 1000 metres, and the upper between 2500 and 3000 metres. Underneath, surface visibility was bad and down to 1000 metres, with the result that initial bombing was by Knickebein and Dead Reckoning methods. The general line of approach by the raiders was from the south, though a few aircraft were tracked in from the north-west.
Parachute flares and incendiaries were dropped at the start of the raid by II./KG 55, but due to the exceptionally overcast conditions many initially fell over Clifton and the northern parts of the town. However, immediately after this opening attack Oblt. Otto-Bernard Harms, Staffelkapitan of 4./KG 55, dived through both layers of cloud to an altitude of 300 metres to check on the positioning of the target marking fires laid by the Gruppe. Despite the poor visibility he confirmed the accuracy which his Gruppe had achieved using Knickebein and Dead Reckoning, aided by the flares. This was undertaken with complete disregard to the Balloon Barrage and strong Anti-Aircraft defences.
Later, isolated breaks occurred in the cloud cover enabling some visual bombing to be carried out, but the returning crews were unable to provide an accurate assessment of the success of the operation. Unknown to the Germans the damage caused to Bristol was of a more widespread nature than on November 24th, but the main concentration was astride a line running about due east and west through Redfield, St.Paul's, Cotham and Redland. As result 156 people were killed and a further 270 injured.
As in the first raid the German losses were minimal and on this occasion amounted to just the 4 crew of the Do 17 Z-3 WNr 3618 7T+KL of 3./KGr 606 that crashed 3 km north of Brest-Lanveoc airfield soon after take-off.
Crew (all killed)
Lt Helmut Anders (pilot)
Lt zur See Karl Ganske (observer)
Ogefr Willi Dembeck (radio)
Uffz Paul Tüsselmann (flying engineer)
The body of Lt Anders was not found and given the position listed in the loss list, it is probable that the bomber crashed in the Roadstead of Brest, the large bay south of the city.
Sources:
http://fishponds.org.uk/luftbri1.html
http://fishponds.org.uk/luftbri2.html
http://fishponds.org.uk/luftbri10.html
http://www.absa3945.com/Pertes%20Bretagne/Finistere/pertes_luftwaffe_finistere.html
http://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20France.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadstead_of_Brest
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=48.309916&lon=-4.414787&z=12
http://ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20France.pdf
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Feb-2018 14:52 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 26-Jan-2020 17:03 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 24-Mar-2020 21:43 | Iwosh | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 07-Aug-2021 12:02 | TigerTimon | Updated [Location, Source] |
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