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TUESDAY, 11 APRIL 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 298: 917 bombers
and 819
fighters are dispatched in 3 separate forces to bomb production
centers
(primarily fighter aircraft factories) and targets of opportunity in
N
Germany; 64 bombers are lost, one of the heaviest single-day losses
of World
War II. The bombers also drop 2.4 million leaflets. Details are:
1. 341 B-17s are dispatched to hit aviation industry targets at
Sorau (108
bomb) and Cottbus (17 bomb); 127 hit Stettin, 20 hit Trechel, 16 hit
Dobberphel and 23 hit targets of opportunity; they claim 12-2-3
Luftwaffe
aircraft; 19 B-17s are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 190
damaged;
casualties are 12 KIA, 13 WIA and 200 MIA.
2. Of 302 B-17s dispatched, 172 hit Rostock, 52 hit Politz, 35 hit
the
industrial area at Arnimswalde and 15 hit targets of opportunity;
they claim
34-20-19 Luftwaffe aircraft; 33 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond
repair and
153 damaged; casualties are 2 KIA, 9 WIA and 330 MIA.
3. 274 B-24s are dispatched to hit aviation industry targets at
Oschersleben (121 bomb) and Berenburg (99 bomb); 9 bomb aviation
industry
targets at Halberstadt, 9 bomb Eisleben and 5 hit targets of
opportunity;
they claim 27-2-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; 12 B-24s are lost, 1 damaged
beyond
repair and 63 damaged; casualties are 5 KIA, 9 WIA and 122 MIA.
Escort is provided by 124 P-38s, 454 Eighth and Ninth Air Force
P-47s and
241 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; the fighters claim 51-5-25
Luftwaffe
aircraft in the air and 65-0-67 on the grounds: no P-38s are lost;
7
P-47s
are lost and 16 damaged, 7 pilots are MIA;
9 P-51s are lost and 13
damaged, 9
pilots are MIA.
Mission 299: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 2 million leaflets on Paris, Rouen,
Le Mans,
Rennes, Vichy, Lyon, Limoges and Toulouse between 2301 and 0055
hours local
without loss.
12 B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER operations.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Belgium, 229 B-26s and 36
A-20s,
including 3 dropping Window, attack Charleroi/Montignies, military
installations on the coast, and Chievres Airfield. 90+ P-47s
dive-bomb
a military installation and Gael Airfield, France.
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