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SATURDAY, 16 DECEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 752: 236 B-17s are
dispatched to attack rail targets at Stuttgart, Germany but
extremely poor
weather conditions result in many aborts; primary targets are the
marshalling
yard at Stuttgart (81) and Bietingheim (33); 1 other B-17 hits a
target of
opportunity; 1 B-17s is lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 9 damaged;
3 airmen
are KIA and 9 MIA. Escorting are 106 of 114 P-51s without loss. 10
P-51s fly
a scouting mission.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): Bad weather cancels 9th
Bombardment
Division combat operations. In Germany, fighters escort RAF
aircraft, fly
night patrol and intercept missions, and support US First Army
elements in
the Ardennes in Belgium as Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt begins
an allout
counteroffensive, and the XII and XX Corps at Saarlautern the
bridgehead and
in Saint-Avold-Saarbrucken area where news of the Ardennes
counteroffensive
cancels the XII Corps plans for an assault on the Westwall. HQ IX
Air Defense
Command moves from Versailles to Paris, France.
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