The short, damp winter days passed slowly. When the weather permitted, some sporting activities were carried on, volleyball and horseshoes being the favourites; but most of the time, with a wind howling across the flatlands, threatening to tear down the tents,
and a sea of mud threatening to engulf anyone who ventured off the hard standings, it was better to stay indoors, huddling about the little stoves and nursing them continually with wood. Distinguished guests provided some diversion, among them being Cardinal
Villeneuve, A/C/M Tedder and Marshal of the R.A.F. Sir Charles Portal.

Less welcome was another visitor, an Me. 262 jet that came diving "out of nowhere" to drop a bomb near the "Sally Ann" truck. After a torrential rainfall on the 17th that left big pools everywhere and submerged the adjutant's tent in about two inches of water, the sun finally broke through on the 18th, permitting
three more operations. All three were directed against the same target, a small bridge across the Roer River at Hilfarth inside the German border. On the first two attempts the bombs fell wide due to the strong drift. Then W/C Grant led the squadron out for a third try. Red section got its bombs close to the target, one pair
landing right at the entrance to the bridge. After Blue bombed, "with much the same results", an extraordinary amount of smoke drifted over the bridge, the possibly a smoke screen to cover it up. When the smoke cleared, however, structure appeared to be still intact, despite the explosion of 48,000 lbs. of TNT in the vicinity. Flak was quite heavy over r the target area, and two Tiffies  sustained some damage.

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Intentionally left blank

After this luckless venture at bridge busting the squadron returned to its more successful rail cutting, carrying out two operations on the l9th before the sky again became overcast. At Issum, a few miles east of Geldern, a formation led by F/O Joe Cote made direct hits at both ends of a small siding, despite the handicap of sun glare which made it difficult to pick out the correct railroad. It was not often that the pilots were bothered by that particular handicap; probably their eyes, after so many dull days, were easily dazzled by even pale winter sunshine. 

Flak was ineffective over Issum, but the next formation led by F/O Nick Rassenti, making the last trip of his tour, flew into a veritable hornets' nest. En route to the target at Wickrath the pilots flew south towards Aachen to remain as long as possible within our own bomb line; then as they turned north into enemy territory they were greeted by accurate heavy flak, the first burst of which struck F/O R.A. Hiltz's aircraft, making glycol and gas stream out. Bob headed westward and made a successful belly landing near Maeseyck, just inside the Belgian border, where a British ack ack battery picked him up and saw him safely home. 

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