[MW Giles]

Yes I was disappointed with the book.

Circus = small number of bombers escorted by a large number of fighters - the main purpose is to bring the Lw fighters to battle. Hitting the target was good, but not the main purpose

Ramrod = bombing the target is the prime motive for the operation, fighter support is designed to protect the bombers

As the war went on Circuses disappeared but Ramrods continued right up to the end.

The main sequence was controlled by 11 Group - Circuses, Ramrods, Rodeos etc all get a number in sequence (or nearly so) I have Circuses to at least C-315 and Ramrods to R-1559. There are also oddities like the Starkey raids that have their own numbers.

10 Group started off calling the operations by different names - Mandolin, Warhead, Gudgeon, Blot just to confuse everyone. Then it conformed to 11 Group names. There are 10 Group Circuses up to at least C-58 and 10 Group Ramrods to R-98

12 Group came a bit later to the game and followed 11 Group nomenclature. There are 12 Group Circuses up to C-11 and Ramrods to R-28

To really confuse things occasionally two groups will act together, mostly they use the 11 Group number, but occasionally both groups use the number from their own sequence for their contribution to that raid.

Regards

Martin