Interpretation Report, Le Havre, provisional statement of damage

Interpretation Report, Le Havre, provisional statement of damage

Describes damage to E-boat pens mentioning some direct hits and definite damage to north-west corner. Mentions other hits and heavy damage to small craft, a floating dock, jetties and basins. Limited damage outside dock area.

One-page typewritten document

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MCheshireGL72021-181210-020010

[underlined] INTERPRETATION REPORT. [/underlined]

[underlined] LE HAVRE. [/underlined]
[underlined] PROVISIONAL STATEMENT OF DAMAGE. [/underlined]
The E-Boat pens in the Bassin de Maree appear, from the marks on the roofs to have received several direct hits, but definite damage to the structure is confined to the north-west corner where a hit has penetrated the roof, destroying about 25 feet of the edge of the north wall and displacing the whole corner. On the eastern half of the building there is what appears to be a very shallow crater. Whitening in several places may indicate other hits, three of the five gun positions on the roof appear to be empty, while a fourth has been completely destroyed.

Many small craft and barges are very heavily damaged and the large floating dock near the E-boat pens is now half submerged. In the part still visible there are several points of damage.

Several jetties have been severely damaged and warehouses and dockside installations have suffered heavily, particularly around the Bassin de l’Eure and the Bassin Bellot, north of the pens. There are many craters seen on the quaysides. Fires are still burning among the warehouses.

Damages outside the dock area is limited to a few items, industrial, business and residential, in the area close by the docks.

[page break]

[underlined] EXTRACT FROM BOMBER COMMAND SUMARY OF OPERATIONS. [/underlined]

[underlined] LE HAVRE E-BOAT PENS – EFFECT OF 12,000 lb BOMBS. [/underlined]
During the attack, two or possibly three direct hits were scored, which in fact penetrated the roof and from an examination of the general pattern obtained, it is evident that near misses were also achieved.

As a result of the attack, some 20,000 tons of the roof gave way some days later and crashed into the pens beneath. This would be in accordance with expectation, the process by which the destruction was caused being in all probability as follow.

The two direct hits which went deep amongst the foundations of the pens would, as designed, have secured the effect of blasting away the soil under the foundations of the immensely thick concrete dividing walls upon which the roofs of the pens rest. The shock wave and subsoil removal effect of the other bombs which fell nearby in the water would tend to undermine the whole building, and this coupled with the damage done by the direct hits would be likely to, as in fact it did, cause the collapse of the roof which was holed and cracked by the direct hits and left largely unsupported by the damage underneath the foundations.