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WEDNESDAY, 27 DECEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 764: Freezing fog at bases in the UK restrict operations but
641
bombers and 390 fighters are dispatched against rail targets in W
Germany in
support of the battlefront in the Bulge; they claim 29.5-1-9
Luftwaffe
aircraft; 2 bombers and 5 fighters are lost:
1. 227 B-17s are sent to hit marshalling yards at Fulda (118) and
Andernach
(63) and the rail bridge at Neuwied (7); 13 others hit a target of
opportunity; 1 B-17 is damaged beyond repair and 45 damaged; 9
airmen are
KIA. The escort is 44 of 46 P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).
2. 182 B-24s are dispatched to hit marshalling yards at Neunkirchen
(57),
Homburg (46) and Kaiserslautern (33) and the rail bridge at
Kaiserslautern
(19); targets of opportunity are the marshalling yard at St Wendel
(9) and
the rail junction at Enkenbach (8); 1 B-24 is lost, 5 damaged beyond
repair
and 60 damaged; 18 airmen are KIA, 11 WIA and 6 MIA. Escorting are
88 of 96
P-51s; 2 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA).
3. 232 B-17s are sent to hit the marshalling yard at Euskirchen
(72), the
Gerolstein rail junction (58) and rail bridges at Bullay (34) and
Altenahr
(25); targets of opportunity are Hillesheim (12) and Eckfeld (1); 1
B-17 is
lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 83 damaged; 9 airmen are KIA, 6
WIA and 9
MIA. Escort is provided by 46 of 48 P-51s without loss.
4. 163 P-47s and P-51s fly a fighter sweep and engage about 200
Luftwaffe
fighters; they claim 29.5-1-9 aircraft; 2 P-51s are lost (pilots
MIA).
5. 15 of 15 P-51s fly a scouting missions without loss.
Mission 765: A night leaflet mission is flown over Germany.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): The 9th Bombardment Division
attacks
rail bridges, communications centers, and targets of opportunity in
Germany
and Belgium; fighters escort the bombers, fly patrols and armed
reconnaissance, and support the US 3d Armored and 82d Airborne
Divisions in
the Manhay and Trois-Ponts area of Belgium, and the III, VIII, and
XII Corps
in Saint-Hubert-Bastogne-Martelange area of Belgium. Units moving
from
Chievres, Belgium: HQ 365th Fighter Group and the 388th Fighter
Squadron to
Metz, France with P-47s; HQ 368th Fighter Group and 395th, 396th and
397th
Fighter Squadrons to Juvincourt, France with P-47s.
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