The raid on the Renault works became a test case of the dual strategy of economic attrition and morale making. On the night of March 3–4, Bomber Command sent off 235 bombers, the largest number yet for a single raid. Flying in to bomb from between 2,000 and 4,000 feet with no antiaircraft fire to distract them, 222 aircraft dropped 419 tons on the factory and the surrounding workers’ housing. Much of the factory area was destroyed, though not the machinery in the buildings, at the cost of only one aircraft lost. No alarm had sounded and casualties among the local population were high: French
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