The scene over Plauen on 11 April 1945 when 307 Lancasters and eight Mosquitos of Bomber Command attacked the railway marshalling yards of that town. The yards were hit, and 51 percent of the town's built up area was also destroyed. The sight of dazzling target indicators floating down and the fires of the city beneath were also never forgotten by those who witnessed them. Arthur Hoyle, who flew as a navigator with No. 460 Squadron RAAF, recalled: I'd look in great wonder at the sight—the terrible beauty of a city burning to death—the streets on fire, the street pattern outlines as the bitumen caught alight … the 4,000-lb bombs bursting—the cascading stars of the Pathfinder markers. It was beautiful. [Hoyle quoted in Mark Rowe, The luckiest men alive, privately published, 2003, p. 36] [AWM P00811.036]
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