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FRIDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 235: In the final
"Big
Week" mission, 4 targets in Germany are hit; 31 bombers and 3
fighters are
lost.
1. 268 B-17s are dispatched to aviation industry targets at Augsburg
and
the industrial area at Stuttgart; 196 hit Augsburg and targets of
opportunity and 50 hit Stuttgart; they claim 8-4-4 Luftwaffe
aircraft; 13
B-17s are lost and 172 damaged; casualties are 12 WIA and 130 MIA.
2. 267 of 290 B-17s hit aviation industry targets at Regensburg and
targets of opportunity; they claim 13-1-7 Luftwaffe aircraft; 12
B-17s are
lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 82 damaged; casualties are 4 KIA,
12 WIA
and 110 MIA.
3. 172 of 196 B-24s hit aviation industry targets at Furth and
targets of
opportunity; they claim 2-2-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 6 B-24s are lost,
2
damaged beyond repair and 44 damaged; casualties are 2 WIA and 61
MIA.
Escort is provided by 73 P-38s, 687 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s
and
139 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; the P-38s claim 1-2-0
Luftwaffe
aircraft, 1 P-38 is damaged beyond repair; the P-47s claim 13-2-10
Luftwaffe aircraft, 1 P-47 is lost and 6 damaged, 1 pilot is MIA;
the P-51s
claim 12-0-3 Luftwaffe aircraft, 2 P-51s are lost and 1 damaged
beyond
repair, 2 pilots are MIA.
Mission 236: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 250 bundles of leaflets on Grenoble,
Toulouse, Chartres, Caen and Raismes, France at 2129-2335 hours
without
loss.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): Major General Paul L Williams
becomes Commanding General IX Troop Carrier Command. 191 B-26s bomb
Venlo,
Saint-Trond, and Cambrai/Epinoy Airfields, France in a morning raid
as a
diversion in support of the VIII Bomber Command heavy bombers over
Germany;
36 abort, mainly because of a navigational error; 164 B-26s
dispatched
against military targets in France during the afternoon are recalled
because
of bad weather.
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