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TUESDAY, 25 JULY 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 494: 1,581 bombers
and 500
fighters are dispatched to support a US First Army assault
(Operation COBRA)
with saturation bombing in the VII Corps area in the Marigny-Saint-Gilles
region, just W of Saint-Lo; 5 bombers and 2 fighters are lost; 843
of 917
B-17s and 647 of 664 B-24s hit the Periers/St Lo area and 13 B-17s
hit
targets of opportunity; 1 B-17 and 4 B-24s are lost, 2 B-24s are
damaged
beyond repair and 41 B-17s and 132 B-24s are damaged; 9 airmen are
WIA and 46
MIA. Escort is provided by 483 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s and also
provide escort
for Ninth Air Force B-26s; they claim 12-1-3 Luftwaffe aircraft in
the air
and 2-0-0 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost (pilots are MIA) and 5
damaged. Due
to a personnel error, bombs from 35 bombers fall within US lines;
102 US
troops, including Lieutenant General Lesley J McNair, are killed and
380
wounded.
Mission 295: Late in the afternoon 106 B-24s are dispatched to bomb
the
Brussels/Melsbroek Airfield, Belgium but they are recalled because
of heavy
cloud formations. Escort for this mission is provided by 26 P-38s
and 110
P-51s.
1 P-38 and 78 P-47s fly a fighter-bomber mission against the
Fournival/Bois
de Mont fuel dump; they claim 0-0-1 aircraft; 1 P-38 and 4 P-47s are
damaged.
17 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions during the night.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France during the morning
11 B-26
and A-20 groups attack tactical targets in the vicinity of Saint-Lo
in
support of the US First Army; in the afternoon 4 groups bomb bridges
on the
Seine and Loire Rivers; 42 B-26s, repeating errors of the previous
day, short-
bomb behind US lines and casualties again are concentrated in the
30th
Infantry Division; fighters strafe and bomb military targets in the
Saint-Lo
area in support of Operation COBRA, fly area patrol and sweeps S of
the
battle area, and carry out armed reconnaissance against
installations in the
Laval-Ghent-Amiens areas; and the 422d Night Fighter Squadron, 71st
Fighter
Wing, moves from Scorton, England to Maupertus with P-61s (a
detachment is at
Ford, England).
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