Features
IN MAY 1942, THE ROYAL AIR FORCE’S UNPRECEDENTED AND REMARKABLE ‘THOUSAND BOMBER’ RAID TO THE CITY OF COLOGNE SENT A TREMOR THROUGH THE NAZI HIERARCHY. THE ATTACK, CODENAMED ‘OPERATION MILLENIUM’, WAS A CLEAR DEMONSTRATION OF THE BLUNT DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF THE BOMBER, AND IT HAD A SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE ON THE PROGRESS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. ON THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY WE LOOK AT THE RAID THROUGH THE EYES OF THOSE WHO WERE THERE.
Fg Off Leslie Manser pilots his crippled 50 Squadron Manchester bomber, moments before it plunged to the ground in an action which earned Manser the Victoria Cross. (IMAGE BY ANDY HAY)
THE BACKGROUND
