back to Lorient two nights later.
Although relatively inexperienced,
the Dierkes crew were beginning
to make a name for tenacity and
skill. Their accuracy was recognised
with a bombing certificate for each
member for their attack on Milan;
and a second two nights later for
Lorient. They were presented with
three more before the end of their
tour and their names featured
regularly in 61’s operations record
book for good photographs of
aiming points and target.
In response to the Air Ministry
directive, it was estimated that
more than 1,600 aircraft had
virtually destroyed Lorient. Many,
not least Harris, questioned the
value and effectiveness of this huge
effort, which cost the lives of many
French townspeople.
Germany’s massive programme
to build reinforced concrete pens
to shelter the U-boats had been
completed and the bombs of the
period were unable to penetrate
them. The concentrated attacks
against the U-boat ports also
diluted the effort against German
industrial cities.
There was no let up for Coles and
his colleagues and by the end of
February they had completed four
more operations, including a long
trip to Nuremberg and an attack
against St Nazaire, damaging the
French town on a scale similar to
Lorient. During the first week of
March, they notched up another
four raids, the first being to Berlin
when 300 ‘heavies’ attacked the
‘Big City’.Battle of the Ruhr
On March 5, Bomber Command
began the so-called ‘Battle of the
Ruhr’ with a raid on Essen. The
Coles crew bombed on markers
dropped by Oboe-equipped
Mosquitos of the Pathfinder
Force and the industrial city
sustained severe damage. After
another raid on Nuremberg,
the crew’s 12th in less than four
weeks, it was time for a well-
earned two weeks’ leave.
Lionel’s family lived in Seaton
on the Devon coast, and the break
in such beautiful surroundings
must have been both necessary
and refreshing. All four of the
Coles boys were in the RAF and
the second son, Ron, an observer
with 252 Squadron, had been lost
when his Beaufighter crashed in
the North African desert. Lionel
had already escaped from a crash
that had taken the rest of his
crew and, with another of the
boys in Bomber Command, the
strain on loving parents must
have been intense.
Coles and his colleagues
returned to the battle order on
March 22 when they once again
attacked St Nazaire. It was
back to the Ruhr on the night of
March 26/27 when marking by
the Pathfinder Force was poor.
At 20,000ft, Dierkes’ bomb
aimer, Plt Off Laurie Coles (no
relation), carried out a timed run
to the release point, but post-war
analysis indicated that bombing
by the force of 455 aircraft was
scattered.“Their accuracy was recognised with a
bombing certifi cate for each member
for their attack on Milan; and a second
two nights later for Lorient”May 2015 FLYPAST 23One of the fi ve bombing certifi cates
the Coles crew received.Lancasters taxying out for another raid.20-26_Medals_fpSBB.indd 23 09/03/2015 10:07