19. A Needless Mission?
The raiders arrived at noon, and dropping 500-pound bombs with delayed fuses to allow the Mosquitoes to fly out of the blast zone before detonation, successfully breached the outer walls. Then the guardhouse was struck and destroyed, killing its occupants along with some prisoners in the vicinity. Once prisoners were observed pouring out of the breached walls, the raiders departed and flew back home.
The mission was a tactical success, but the results were mixed. By the era’s standards, the bombing was pinpoint accurate, and the walls were successfully breached, allowing the prisoners an opportunity for a jailbreak. At the cost of three Mosquitoes and two Typhoons, 50 Germans were killed, but so were 107 of the 717 prisoners. 258 prisoners escaped, but 182 were recaptured. Controversy erupted after the war when some in the Resistance disputed that they had requested the bombing. Additionally, no evidence emerged that the Germans had planned mass executions of the Amiens prisoners.
