|
MONDAY, 14 AUGUST 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 552: 1,183 bombers
and 429
fighters are dispatched to attack 9 airfields, 2 aero engine
factories, 1 oil
plant, 2 bridges, 2 rail junctions and other secondary and targets
of
opportunity in SW Germany, E France, and the Bordeaux, France
region; 2
bombers and 1 fighter are lost (numbers in parenthesis indicate
number of
bombers attacking the target):
1. Of 376 B-24s dispatched to France, the following airfields are
hit:
Lyon/Bron (108), Dijon/Longvi (83) and Dole/Evaux (70); bridges hit
are at
Anizy (46) and Fismes (34); and 12 B-24s hit Liart rail junction and
1 hits a
target of opportunity; 1 B-24 is damaged beyond repair and 32 are
damaged; 2
airmen are WIA. Escort is provided by 92 P-47s and P-51s without
loss.
2. 77 B-24s are dispatched to hit French rail junctions at Saintes
(38) and
Angouleme (38) without loss. Escort is provided by 40 of 42 P-51s
without
loss.
3. 349 B-17s dispatched to Germany hit Ludwigshafen (144), Mannheim
(110)
and Mannheim/Sandhofen Airfield (72); 4 others hit targets of
opportunity; 2
B-17s are lost and 232 damaged; 8 airmen are WIA and 18 MIA. Escort
is
provided by 88 of 99 P-51s without loss.
4. 381 B-17s dispatched to Germany hit airfields at Hagenau (92),
Metz/
Frascaty (72), Florennes (24) and Chievres (9); and Stuttgart/Echterdingen
(72), Kaisereslautern (46), Sindelfingen (12), Trier (10) and
targets of
opportunity (16); 20 B-17s are damaged. Escort is provided by 168 of
193
P-51s; they claim 10-0-11 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot
is MIA).
Mission 553: 6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the night;
they
claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft. 37 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions
in France;
1 B-24 is lost.
136 P-38s and P-47s fly fighter-bomber missions in the Paris area;
they
claim 3-0-0 aircraft; 1 P-38 and 2 P-47s are lost, 1 P-47 is damaged
beyond
repair and 2 P-47s are damaged; 2 pilots are MIA.
The 36th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), VIII Air Force Composite
Command,
moves from Harrington to Cheddington, England with B-24s; the
squadron will
convert from CARPETBAGGER to ECM missions over Europe.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, A-20s and B-26s
with
fighter escort hit several highway and rail bridges, junctions and
sidings
mostly beyond the battlelines to delay and complicate the German
retreat;
fighters fly armed reconnaissance over the Falaise, Broglie, and
Chartres
areas, and support ground forces, especially 7 armored and infantry
divisions,
over wide areas of N and W France; a XIX Tactical Air Command
squadron
uniquely effects the surrender of a number of German ground troops,
Germans
on roads being strafed by the squadron NE of Carrouges wave white
flags,
whereupon the planes buzz the road and shepherd the enemy troops
into a
column which then proceeds to US lines to surrender; HQ 358th
Fighter Group
and the 365th, 366th and 367th Fighter Squadrons move from
Cretteville to
Pontorson with P-47s; HQ 367th Fighter Group moves from Beuzeville
to
Cricqueville; and the 355th Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group,
moves from
Cricqueville to Gael with P-51s.
|
