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SATURDAY, 23 DECEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IX Troop Carrier Command): 260 C-47s drop 334
tons of
supplies in parapacks on several drop zones inside the besieged
American
positions at Bastogne, Belgium.
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 757: 423 bombers and 636 fighters are dispatched to hit
marshalling
yards, communication centers and a rail junction in the rear of the
battle
area; 75-150 Luftwaffe aircraft are encountered and the AAF claims
75-5-23; 7
fighter are lost:
1. 148 of 153 B-17s hit the marshalling yard at Ehrang; 45 B-17s are
damaged; 1 airman is KIA and 1 WIA. Escorting are 54 of 62 P-51s;
they claim
20-0-3 aircraft without loss.
2. 113 B-24s are sent to bomb communication centers at Ahrweiler
(48),
Junkerath (31) and Dahlem (27); 74 B-24s are damaged; 3 airmen are
WIA.
Escort is provided by 243 of 254 P-51s; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft; 1
P-51 is
lost (pilot MIA) and 1 damaged beyond repair.
3. 152 B-17s are dispatched to hit marshalling yards at Homburg (58)
and
Kaiserslautern (40) and the rail junction at Homburg; 6 others hit
targets
of opportunity; they claim 6-4-5 aircraft; 77 B-17s are damaged; 1
airman is
WIA and 7 MIA. Escorting are 112 of 117 P-51s; they claim 2-0-0
aircraft
without loss.
4. 6 of 6 B-17s fly a screening mission.
5. 163 P-47s and P-51s fly a fighter sweep of the Bonn, Germany
area; they
claim 46-1-15 aircraft; 3 P-47s and 3 P-51s are lost (all pilots
MIA).
6. 20 P-51s fly a scouting mission without loss.
Mission 758: 5 B-17s and 7 B-24s are dispatched to drop leaflets in
France,
the Netherlands and Germany during the night; only 10 aircraft drop
leaflets.
The 374th, 375th and 376th Fighter Squadrons, 361st Fighter Group,
based at
Little Walden, England with P-51s, begin operating from St Dizier,
France;
the 486th and 487th Fighter Squadrons, 352d Fighter Group, based at
Bodney,
England, begin operating from Asch, Belgium with P-51s.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
First Tactical Air Force (Provisional): The 405th Fighter Squadron,
371st
Fighter Group, ceases operating from Dijon, France with P-47s and
returns to
base at Tantonville.
Ninth Air Force: In Germany, around 500 B-26s and A-20s attack rail
bridges, communications targets, villages, a rail junction and
targets of
opportunity losing 31 bombers; fighters fly bomber escort, armed
reconnaissance, and patrols (claiming 100+ aircraft downed and 3
airfields
bombed), and support ground forces between Werbomont, Belgium and
Butgenbach,
Germany along the N battleline of Bulge and the US III, VIII, and
XII Corps
forces along the S battleline of the Bulge. In Belgium, the L-5s of
the 153d
Liaison Squadron, IX Tactical Air Command (attached to Twelfth Army
Group),
cease operating from Liege and return to base at Tongres; the 161st
Tactical
Reconnaissance Squadron, 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group, based
at Le
Culot begins operating from Conflans, France with F-6s and P-51s.
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