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FRIDAY, 25 AUGUST 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Four missions are flown.
Mission 570: 1,191 bombers and 708 fighters make visual bombing
attacks
against aircraft component plants, Luftwaffe experimental stations
and the
synthetic oil industry; 18 bombers and 7 fighters are lost; numbers
in
parenthesis indicate number of bombers attacking the target:
1. 435 B-24s are dispatched to hit aircraft component plants at
Rostock
(116), Schwerin (106), Wismar (91) and Lubeck (81); 11 others hit
Grossenbrode Airfield and 4 hit targets of opportunity; 5 B-24s are
lost, 2
damaged beyond repair and 55 damaged; 5 airmen are WIA and 64 MIA.
Escort is
provided by 243 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 11-2-3 aircraft; 1 P-51
is lost.
2. 380 B-17s are dispatched to the Rechlin Experimental Station
(179) and
oil refinery at Politz (169); 6 others hit targets of opportunity; 8
B-17s
are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 182 damaged; 10 airmen are WIA
and 64
MIA. Escort is provided by 215 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 4-0-2
aircraft on
the ground; 4 P-51s are lost.
3. 376 B-17s are dispatched to the Peenemunde Experimental Station
(146),
Neubrandenburg Airfield (108) and Anklam Airfield (73); 21 others
hit Parow
Airfield and 5 hit targets of opportunity; 5 B-17s are lost and 75
damaged; 1
airman is KIA, 9 WIA and 45 MIA. Escort is provided by 171 P-47s and
P-51s;
they claim 36-0-28 aircraft on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.
Mission 571: 10 of 10 B-24s fly an Azon glide bomb mission to
Moerdijke,
the Netherlands but the target is missed. Escort is provided by 36
of 36
P-47s without loss.
Mission 572: 107 bombers and 172 fighters are dispatched to make
visual
attacks on liquid oxygen and ammonia plants in Belgium and N France:
1. 31 of 38 B-17s hit Henin Littard without loss.
2. 69 B-24s are dispatched to hit Willerbroeck (18), Tertre (17),
Tiller/
Liege (12) and La Louviere (10); 4 others hit St Trond Airfield and
1 hits a
target of opportunity; 24 B-24s are damaged and 4 airmen are WIA.
Escort for Mission 572 is provided by 152 P-38s and P-51s without
loss.
Mission 573: 6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets on France and Belgium during
the
night.
1 C-47 flies a CARPETBAGGER mission during the night.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, about 240 A-20s
and B-26s
attack various enemy strongholds in and around Brest supporting the
ground
forces' attempt to capture Brest harbor; fighters provide air cover
for 5
divisions, fly armed reconnaissance along the Seine River, and
sweeps in wide
areas around Paris which is liberated; fighters of the IX Tactical
Air
Command raid, and set afire with napalm tanks, the reported HQ of
Field
Marshall Walter Model (Commander-in-Chief West) and Verzy; HQ IX Air
Defense
Command moves from Ecrammeville to Rennes; HQ 394th Bombardment
Group
(Medium) moves from Holmsley, England to Tour-en-Bassin; the 14th
Liaison
Squadron, XIX Tactical Air Command (attached to Third Army), moves
from
Dampierre to Courcy with L-5s; the 34th Photographic Reconnaissance
Squadron,
10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance), moves from Rennes to
Chateaudun
with F-5s; the 153d Liaison Squadron, IX Tactical Air Command
(attached to
First Army), moves from Couterne to Maillebois with L-5s; and the
390th
Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group, moves from Pierre du Mont to
Dreux
with P-47s. The 303d Troop Carrier Squadron, 442d Troop Carrier
Group, that
has been operating from Follonica, Italy with C-47s, returns to base
at
Weston Zoyland, England.
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