Vaires, Edward King's 22nd operation on his tour

Vaires, Edward King's 22nd operation on his tour

Five items, Edward's brief description of the operation, his navigation plot, the expected H2S return over the target, two press cuttings, one with the caption'Paris/Vaires marshalling yard devastation' showing the Vaires rail yard after the attacks, many craters from this and earlier raids. The second without caption but showing a bombed rail yard. Many craters damaging both track and waggons. There is also part of an official report on the operation that gives the number of aircraft involved and their squadron, the weather and a summary of the operation.

1944-07-07

1944-07-08

Two typewritten documents, a navigation plot, an H2S return, two press clippings

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

SKingEJ182986v10101, SKingEJ182986v10102, SKingEJ182986v10103, SKingEJ182986v10104, SKingEJ182986v10106, SKingEJ182986v10108

[underlined] Vaires. [/underlined]
[underlined] Railway Marshalling Yards. 7th July, 1944 [/underlined]

Airborne 2250
Landed 0325

Marshalling Yards near to Parais [sic] devastated.

[page break]

[map]
[inserted][underlined] VAIRES. [/underlined][/inserted]

[page break]

[map]

[page break]

[photograph]
PARIS/VAIRES MARSHALLING YARD DEVASTED

As the result of daylight attacks by aircraft of Bomber Command on 11th and 18th July, 1944, fresh concentrations of bomb craters and extensive damage can be seen throughout the Marshalling Yards at PARIS/VAIRES. The greater part of the damage from previous raids has not yet been repaired and this, together with the latest damage, presents a scene of chaos over the entire area of the Yard. Large numbers of wagons are damaged and derailed and practically all tracks through the yard are cut.

23

[page break]

[photograph]

[page break]

VAIRES RAILWAY CETTRE [sic] WAS THE NIGHT'S TARGET, 100 LANCASTERS SETTING OUT:-

15 SQUADRON, 17 LANCASTERS STARTED, 17 PRIMARY.
90 SQUADRON, 19 LANCASTERS STARTED, 17 PRIMARY, 2 ABORTIVE
514 SQUADRON, 21 LANCASTERS STARTED, 19 PRIMARY, 2 ABORTIVE
75 SQUADRON, 21 LANCASTERS STARTED, 18 PRIMARY, 3 ABORTIVE
115 SQUADRON, 22 LANCASTERS STARTED, 22 PRIMARY.

WEATHER WAS CLEAR AND NEARLY ALL CREWS WERE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE TARGET VISUALLY. RED, GREEN AND YELLOW MARKERS WERE CONCENTRATED AND WELL PLACED. BOMBING WAS MAINLY ON REDS AND GREENS AS DIRECTED BY MASTER BOMBER. MUCH SMOKE DEVELOPED AND THERE WERE TWO EXPLOSIONS, ONE OF WHICH WAS VERY LARGE. VERY LITTLE FLAK WAS ENCOUNTERED. ONLY TWO SQUADRONS REPORT FIGHTERS HAVING 6 COMBATS IN THE PARIS AREA AND CLAIMING ONE JU.88 DESTROYED. PRELIMINARY PLOTTINGS DENOTE A GOOD ATTACK.

PARIS – VAIRES.
ALTHOUGH SOME OF THE BOMBS APPEAR TO HAVE FALLEN OUTSIDE THE TARGET AREA TO THE NORTH-EAST OF THE POINT OF AIM THERE IS A VERY LARGE NUMBER OF FRESH CRATERS ACROSS THE WHOLE WIDTH OF THE YARD AND PRINCIPALLY IN THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN SECTIONS.

THE TRANSHIPMENT SHED HAS HAD ONE OR TWO DIRECT HITS BUT IS NOT SEVERELY DAMAGED.