Operation MEDIUM (page 2)

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Results

In their “Appendix 2a to Situation Report No. 402” the Germans set out where the bombs had fallen (times GMT+2):

0120–0157 0229	Cherbourg	numerous HE & IB	Bombs on harbour, railway installations (West Station) and commercial harbour (between Auderville and Jobourg).
0253–0413	25 km E Cherbourg	not reported	No damage
0313	5 km NE Saint-Pierre -Église	not reported	No damage
0430–0505	Cherbourg	numerous HE & IB Simultaneously, bombardment by 3 British warships with 38 cm shells at 20 km range.	6–8 houses destroyed, light material damage to railway installation, traffic will be sustained. 15 civilians killed, 10 injured; 1 Flak soldier seriously wounded by bomb splinters. In the vicinity of Cherbourg’s Gare Maritime, one railway Flak accommodation carriage destroyed, no personnel casualties. West of Cherbourg on Cap de la Hague, a special device (Wotan) destroyed. 1 soldier dead, another seriously wounded. 1 goods wagon of the Army rations depot destroyed, one shed near the ration office destroyed

Aircraft of the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit had flown from St. Eval to cover Cherbourg on the 9th and returned three days later to assess what MEDIUM might have achieved:

Compared with [9 October] there is a reduction of one in number of TB’s [torpedo boats] in Petite Rade and of one in the Bassins. One other probably badly damaged and possibly another. Except for a few small craft, Bassin Charles is empty. Not more than two M Class minesweepers compared with seven in [the previous photo] can be seen. Two or three E-boats are visible compared with ten. Dry docks and repair slips in Bassin Napoléon damaged. A vessel moored alongside the Gare Maritime is heavily on fire with black smoke rising. A fire is still burning from the Entrepôt to the East of the inner harbour. Colonial Infantry Barracks by outer harbour probably severely damaged. Direct hit obtained on main Seaplane Base at Chantereyne.

There was however other unlooked for damage: 27 people were killed and about 30 injured; and 60 houses and an agricultural machinery makers (Simon Frères) were hit.

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PART TWO OF TWO