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SUNDAY, 13 AUGUST 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 4 missions are flown:
Mission 548: 1,264 bombers and 131 fighters are dispatched to make
visual
attacks in support of ground forces on coastal batteries and
transportation
choke points between Le Havre and Paris; 12 bombers are lost:
1. Of 798 B-17s, 634 hit battle area targets, 69 hit Le Manoir
Bridge and
54 hit targets of opportunity; 7 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond
repair and
484 damaged; 2 airmen are KIA, 8 WIA and 63 MIA.
2. Of 466 B-24s, 347 hit battle area targets, 69 hit Ile de Cezembre
and 34
hit St Malo; 5 B-24s are lost; 1 airman is KIA, 4 WIA and 50 MIA.
The 2 forces above are escorted by 131 of 136 P-51s.
Mission 549: 1 APHRODITE B-17 with 2,000-pounds (907 kgs) of bombs
is
launched against Le Havre; B-17, P-38 and Mosquito support aircraft
assist;
the target is missed and the Mosquito is destroyed by the exploding
bombs.
Mission 550: 2 of 4 B-17s fly a Micro H test mission to La Chenaie
rail
junction.
Mission 551: 6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands
and
Belgium during the night.
36 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.
844 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s fly fighter-bomber missions against
transportation targets in the Seine River area; they claim 0-0-1
Luftwaffe
aircraft on the ground; 4 P-47s and 9 P-51s are lost, 4 P-47s are
damaged
beyond repair and 1 P-47 is damaged; 1 pilot is KIA, 1 WIA and 13
MIA.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, around 575 B-26s
and
A-20s with fighter escort bomb fuel storage at Les Buissons, points
along
highways around Lisieux and SE to Rugles with the aim of containing
the enemy
in the Falaise pocket, railroad targets at Peronne, Doullens, and
Corbeil-
Essonnes; fighters cover ground forces, and fly armed reconnaissance
in the
Alencon, Le Mans, Domfront, and Chartres areas; about 125 C-47s fly
ferry and
evacuation missions; during the night of 13/14 Aug, 28 B-26s bomb
the Foret
de Halouze ammunition dump and bivouac area; and the 378th Fighter
Squadron,
362d Fighter Group, moves from Ligneroller to Rennes with P-47s.
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