The great white way over Berlin. This was the title given by the English newspaper to the shown ...

The great white way over Berlin. This was the title given by the English newspaper to the shown photograph. This drawing was produced according to the impressions of a Squadron Leader, who took part in the night raid on Berlin on the night from Aug.30th to Sept.1st., in which the British lost 47 four engined aircraft. They call this the hell over Berlin, and by that they mean the combined defences of the city. It shows the imposing combination of Flak and night-fighters, allowance having been made, however, for the degree of accuracy with which the english artist is able to reproduce the scene. The drawing shows in the foreground a group of British Lancasters (double tail fin and rudder)and top right german night fighters. The skies are filled with bundles of floating flares, so-called X-mas trees, and flak tracer-bullets. Numerous searchlight cones, with the detonations of flak grenades in between, stand over the sea of houses. Many of the numerous light effects have to be imagined in colour. Coloured recognition lights of the night fighters, red-yellowish green flares for the path finder bombs, white and red flashes of lightening of the exploding flak of the heavy flak. Would it not be for the fact that this firework carries the cold breath of death and often in the course of half an hour kills dozens of bombers, one could look at it as an illumination, on which no pyro-technician could improve on." Bomber Command despatched 622 aircraft on this raid on the night of 31 August/1 September 1943, 331 Lancasters, 176 Halifaxes, 106 Stirlings and 9 Mosquitoes. 47 aircraft were lost during the raid. The raid was not successful as the pathfinder markers were dropped well south of the centre of the target area due to cloud, difficulties with H2S airborne radar carried by the British aircraft and the ferocity of the German defences. After this raid Goebbels ordered the evacuation from Berlin of all children and adults not engaged in war work to country areas or to towns in Eastern Germany where air raids were not expected. A German propaganda photograph distributed by the British Air Ministry from captured German photographs. (Air Ministry Ref. K/558) (Original German Ref. 1246)