Derek Reginald Carlile

BERLIN 1939-1945 WAR CEMETERY 6 D 19

Carlile was an air gunner aboard Lancaster III JB665. Shot down attacking Berlin. No survivors.

Fatalities: Carlile + John Emlyn Evans (P), John Leslie Richards (P). Norman Harold Mitchell (FE),William Philip Revenall Hewitt (N), Leslie George Lane (WO), Llewellyn Vivian Russell (AB), William English (AG).

891 aircraft – 561 Lancasters, 314 Halifaxes, 16 Mosquitoes were dispatched on what turned out to be the end of the real ‘Battle of Berlin’. One final raid was launched on Hitler’s capital but not for another month.

During the February 15th attack, a record 2,642 tons of bombs were dropped. 43 aircraft were lost (4.8% of the attacking force). Damage to Berlin was extensive – 1,000 houses and 526 temporary wooden barracks were destroyed. Important war industries were hit and 320 people killed: a further 260 civilians were buried alive and it is not known how many survived. (Source: Middlebrook and Everitt, Bomber Command War Diaries, p.p.472-473.)

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