25 April 1942
EASTERN FRONT: Over Leningrad Obstlt. Hans-Ekkehard Bob of JG 54 bounced a Russian MiG-3 and destroyed the fighter bringing his score to forty victories.
GERMANY: The RAF returned to Rostock during the night with 128 aircraft of six types, 110 to the town and 18 to the Heinkel factory. No aircraft were lost although crews reported that Rostock's flak defenses had been strengthened. Heavy bombing of the town and many fires were achieved. Some aircraft also hit the Heinkel factory for the first time, the crews achieving this were flying Manchesters of RAF No. 156 Sqdn, which was commanded by Wing Commander Guy Gibson. Although Oblt. Rudolf Schoenert of 4./NJG 2 was credited with a Wellington during this raid, it may have been a Stirling from another, smaller British raid. Six Stirlings carried out a long-range attack on the Skoda armaments factory at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia. Cloud covered the target on arrival but at least five Stirlings bombed. One Stirling was lost from the raid.
UNITED KINGDOM: The ancient city of Bath was the target of the "Baedecker Raids" during the night with all bomber units of Luftflotte 3 being called upon. including for the first time the training crews from the fourth Gruppen of which IV./KG 2, IV./KG 3, IV./KG 4, IV./KG 30, IV./KG 55 and IV./KG 77 were available, flying an assortment of obsolete Do-17s, He-111s and Ju-88s. Once the aircraft arrived over the city, they would be allowed to fly around at will, making extensive use of shallow dive-bombing and machine-gunning the streets, as the city possessed no AA or Balloon Barage protection. The Luftwaffe flew a total of 151 bomber sorties to Bath, with most aircraft making 2 flights, the crews claiming to have dropped 206 tonnes of HE and 3564 IBs on the city in the biggest effort against Britain since July 1941. The pathfinders from Erg.u.Lehr Kdo 100 were operating with Y-Verfahren, successfully leading in the other participating units from II and III./KG 2, II./KG 40, KuFlGr 106 and KuFlGr 506, in addition to the assorted aircraft from the IV Gruppen. The "Red Alert" went out in Bath at 22:29 hrs and shortly after that, the sky, which had been clear with a bright half-moon, was filled with the light from chandelier flares, which were quickly followed by IBs, the first fires developing in the west of the city in the Upper and Lower Bristol Road areas. Then came the HEs, one of the first of which destroyed Number 3 Gasholder at the Gasworks, while others caused serious damage to the Kingsmead area, at the Abbey Church House and Circus Tavern. A serious fire developed at the Midland Railway Goods Yard. Some of the bombers, however, misidentified the target completely and bombs also fell on the Brislington area of Bristol, where 18 were killed and 41 injured. This, the first phase of the attack, ended with the sounding of the "ALL Clear" at 00:11 hrs. The German aircraft then returned to their French bases to refuel and re-arm before taking off again for their second sorties of the night. The first of the bombers crossed the English Coast at 04:20 hrs and in Bath the "Red Alert" was issued at 04:35 hrs. On this occasion the bombing, whilst heavy, was rarely concentrated, although both the Kingsmead and Oldfield park areas again received a fair amount of attention. Other isolated bombings also took place at Southdown and North Bath, while railway traffic was also affected, the main line between Bristol and London being closed by a damaged bridge at Oldfield park, before the "All Clear" sounded at 06:02 hrs. A total of 4 German aircraft failed to return, resulting in the deaths of 14 cewmen and a further 2 being taken prisoner. One Do-17 of IV./KG 2 crashed into the sea on the return flight, IV./KG 3 lost a Ju-88 at Builth Wells, II./KG 40 lost a Do-217 over Dorset and KuFlGr 506 lost a Junkers crashing into the sea.