Bombardment of Mailly-le-Camp

Bombardment of Mailly-le-Camp
Part of Second World War
The Avro Lancaster at the completion of a mission
Date 3/4 May 1944 Location Mailly-le-Camp, France 48°40′07″N 4°12′28″E / 48.6686°N 4.2078°E / 48.6686; 4.2078 Result Training base destroyed
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Leonard Cheshire Laurence Deane	unknown
Strength
346 Lancaster heavy bombers 14 Mosquito marker aircraft	Approximately 60 nightfighters
Casualties and losses
Air 42 aircraft shot down, 1 written off after returning	Air 3 Bf 110 night-fighters shot down[1] Ground 61 buildings, 65 vehicles & 37 tanks destroyed, 218 killed & 156 wounded.

The Bombardment of Mailly-le-Camp was an RAF raid against a German panzer training center located in northern France undertaken during the night of 3/4 May 1944. The mission was a part of the "softening up" campaign Bomber Command conducted prior to the D-Day invasion. The operation was assigned to No. 5 Group, which was joined by No. 1 Group. Estimated a lightly defended target, confusion in the mission plan and communication problems led to the force being held up at the assembly point, where German night fighters slipped in among the bombers. Though the bombers succeeded in destroying the training camp, the victory was achieved at a heavy price.