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THURSDAY, 13 APRIL 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 301: 626 bombers
and 871
fighters are dispatched to hit targets in Germany; the bombers claim
22-13-34
Luftwaffe aircraft and the fighters claim 42-8-10 in the air and
35-0-21 on
the ground; 38 bombers and 9 fighters are lost; the bombers also
drop 5.2
million leaflets on Germany; this mission is flown in conjunction
with a raid
on Hungary by 500+ Fifteenth Air Force bombers and a Ninth Air Force
B-26
raid in S The Netherlands; details are:
1. 154 of 172 B-17s hit the industrial area at Schweinfurt and 1
hits a
target of opportunity; 14 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair
and 127
damaged; casualties are 11 WIA and 139 MIA.
2. 207 of 243 B-17s bomb aviation industry targets at Augsburg and
20 hit
the city of Augsburg; 18 B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and
178
damaged; casualties are 3 KIA, 16 WIA and 170 MIA.
3. 211 B-24s are dispatched to hit Lechfeld Airfield; 93 hit the
primary,
60 bomb aviation industry targets at Oberpfaffenhofen; 29 hit
Lauffern and 2
hit targets of opportunity; 6 B-24s are lost and 45 damaged;
casualties are 1
KIA, 3 WIA and 60 MIA.
Escort is provided by 134 P-38s, 504 Eighth and Ninth Air Force
P-47s and
233 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; 3 P-38s are lost and 1 damaged
beyond
repair; 2 P-47s are lost; and 4 P-51s are lost and 1 damaged beyond
repair;
a total of 11 fighters are damaged; casualties are 2 WIA and 8 MIA.
Mission 302: 4 of 5 B-17s dispatched drop 800,000 leaflets on
Amsterdam,
The Hague and Eindhoven, The Netherlands at 2235-2252 hours without
loss.
SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE (SHAEF): General of
the
Army Dwight D Eisenhower formally assumes direction of air
operations out of
the UK at 0000 hours (though he began informal exercise of this
authority in
late Mar 44). This assumption of authority gives Eisenhower
direction over
the Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF), Royal Air Force (RAF)
Bomber
Command, and US Strategic Air Forces in Europe (USSTAF) (the
Fifteenth Air
Force retains some degree of independence) along with the US 1st
Army Group,
British 21 Army Group, and Allied Naval Forces.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 121 B-26s and 37 A-20s attack
a marshalling yard, coastal batteries, airfields and V-weapon sites
at Namur,
Chievres and Nieuport, Belgium; Le Havre, France; and along the N
coast of
France in general; nearly 175 other aircraft abort missions mainly
because of
weather; and 48 P-47s also dive-bomb V-weapon sites.
Moves in England: HQ 358th Fighter Group and 365th, 366th and 367th
Fighter
Squadrons from Raydon to High Halden with P-47s; HQ 362d Fighter
Group from
Wormingford to Headcorn.
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