|
TUESDAY, 19 DECEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 756: 328 bombers
and 45
fighters are dispatched to hit tactical targets (rail and road
junctions,
rail and road chokepoints and railheads) in the Luxembourg and
Ehrang and
Koblenz, Germany area to impede the German counteroffensive launched
in the
Ardennes on 16 Dec using PFF:
1. 144 of 172 B-17s hit 6 tactical targets and 24 hit the secondary
target,
the Koblenz marshalling yard without loss.
2. 62 of 156 B-24s hit 2 tactical targets and 82 hit the secondary
target,
the Ehrang marshalling yard; 2 B-24s are damaged beyond repair; 11
airmen are
KIA.
3. The missions above are escorted by 37 of 41 P-47s; they claim
7-0-1
Luftwaffe aircraft; 3 P-47s are damaged beyond repair; 1 pilot is
WIA.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): All administrative sections
and
extra operational equipment of the XXIX Tactical Air Command
(Provisional)
are moved from Maastricht, the Netherlands to Saint-Trond, Belgium
to avert
transportation problems should the XXIX Tactical Air Command be
subsequently
forced into a hasty withdrawal.
Weather grounds the bombers. Fighters fly armed reconnaissance in W
Germany, escort RAF Lancasters, fly patrols from Belgium to the
Rhine River,
support the US 1st, 2d, 99th, and 106th Infantry Divisions, and 7th
Armored
Division (N and E of Malmedy and SE and SW of Saint-Vith, Belgium),
and fly
cover for US Twelfth Army troops and the XII Corps near Verdun and
Saint-
Avold, France. In Belgium, the 153d Liaison Squadron moves from Spa
to Olne
(the squadron is operating from Liege with L-5s).
|
