Oslo Fjord – Norway 28th December 1944
On the 28th December 1944, we were one of four crews briefed to carry out a raid on Horton Harbour in the Oslo Fjord where our mission was to find and sink two German light cruisers - the Koln and the Emdon, which were known to be sheltering in the Oslo Fjord at anchorage just offshore from the small town of Horten.
We were able to use our normal aircraft OL ‘E – Easy’ (Note: OL is the code letters for No.83 Squadron, E being the letter to indicate an individual aircraft within the Squadron.) and the bomb load was made up of two Red/Yellow and two Red/Green Wangannui marker flares, eight Marine Floats, two Flame Floats and ten 1000Lb HE Medium Case bombs.
We would be the Pathfinder Force and would be joined by a Mosquito who would assume the role of Master Bomber and the main force of 63 Lancaster’s would follow us in.
Weather conditions forecast for the target area indicated complete cloud cover, and the carrying of Wangannui marker flares meant that blind bombing techniques would be used.
It was therefore vital that the H2S equipment was in top-notch condition since only aircraft equipped with this would be able to ‘see’ the target area on their screens.
Wangannui marker flares were designed as airborne flares (also known as Skymarkers), which were dropped by the Pathfinder force when there was complete cloud cover of the target. They were dropped on the calculated point of weapon release by the main force who were flying close behind the pathfinder force at the same height and speed and the main force would aim to bomb release onto the markers.
In order to be successful using this technique timing and accuracy was all important both for the Pathfinders and the main force since both had to pass through the target area in the minimum of time
In the event our aircraft (OL-E) was able to report that cloud cover was thin and that visual identification was possible.
The target ships were not in their briefed position and it was necessary to make three separate runs over the target area before we were able to successfully target the Koln.
Enemy defence was heavy due to a previous attack 3 weeks earlier, however no aircraft were lost although OL-E was badly holed by predicted flak but nevertheless pressed home her attacks and for this the Captain was awarded the DFC
The photo below was taken during the raid and clearly shows that the H2S radar was capable of providing a very good picture of the terrain and was able to allow the radar operator to discriminate large targets such as the Koln
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