The last bombs went in at 01:58 and Slee, 13 minutes after arriving, announced that the attack was complete and all crews should leave the target area. By now only the master bombers and the Pathfinders were left. They turned south-east after the main force to cross the Central Eastern Alps of Austria, the snowy mountains looking blue in the moonlight. To clear the peaks it was necessary to climb to 14,000 feet in 60 miles. Gerry Fawke, Slee's pilot, had to do this on three engines with a heavy fuel load still aboard, which was not in the manual.Bowman 2014, p.57; Air Ministry 1944, p.34. Once past the edge of Swiss territory, the bombers tracked south-west for the Italian Lakes. German night fighter airfields, and ground radar stations, were mainly concentrated in a defensive line across north-east France, the Low Countries, north-west Germany and Denmark.Price 1973, pp.19, 37. When the RAF raiders were reported at Friedrichshafen, away, the Luftwaffe controller decided to marshal his fighters over the bases of Florennes, near Charleroi, and Juvincourt, near Reims, to catch the bomber force on its return.Bowman 2014, p.58; Middlebrook & Everitt 2000, p.400. This was the logical course of action; but, as the fighters circled and waited, using up their fuel, the bombers were more than halfway to Africa.
