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THURSDAY, 15 JUNE 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
ICELAND (Iceland Base Command): HQ 24th Composite Wing is disbanded.
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 414: 1,361 bombers
are
dispatched in 8 forces to bomb an oil refinery Germany and numerous
tactical
targets in France, including 9 airfields, an aircraft plant, a
CROSSBOW (V-
weapon) sites, 11 bridges, a marshalling yard, and various scattered
targets;
2 B-17s are lost:
1. Of 747 B-17s dispatched, 172 hit the Hannover/Misburg oil
refinery, 16
hit Wilster, 16 hit Wesermunde, 2 hit the Hannover area and 1 hits
Helgoland Island, Germany; in France, 144 hit Bordeaux/Merignac
Airfield, 71
hit Nantes railroad bridge N, 71 hit La Poissonniere rail viaduct,
70 hit
Angouleme marshalling yard, 59 hit Beauvoir V-weapon site, 46 hit
Nantes
railroad bridge S, 12 hit Gael Airfield and 10 hit a viaduct N of
Nantes; 2
B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 267 damaged; 7 airmen
are WIA
and 18 MIA.
2. Of 614 B-24s dispatched to France, 89 hit Le Port Boulet railroad
bridge, 61 hit Evreux/Fauville Airfield, 59 hit Tours-la-Frillerie,
54 hit
Tours-La Rice railroad bridge, 46 hit Guyancourt Airfield, 45 hit
Etampes/
Modesir Airfield, 44 hit Cinq Mars bridge, 27 hit St Cyr, 21 hit Buc
Airfield, 12 hit Tours-La Riche highway bridge, 12 hit Le Mans
Airfield, 12
hit Orleans/Saran Airfield and 8 hit targets of opportunity; 12
B-24s use
Azon missiles against Etaples railroad bridge and 7 others use the
missiles
against the Pecrone railroad bridge.
Fighter operations are:
1. 96 P-38s, 202 P-47s and 211 P-51s escort the bombers and claim
5-0-5
Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 P-38s and 1 P-51 are lost with the pilots MIA.
2. 36 of 48 P-47s bomb Etaples, France; 1 P-47s is lost (pilot is
MIA).
3. 177 of 185 P-38s fly a fighter sweep in front of the bomber
forces
without loss.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 550+ B-26s and A-20s direct
main
attacks against fuel and ammunition dumps, rail and highway
communications,
and armored division HQ S of the bridgehead on the Douve River;
1,400+
fighters fly armed reconnaissance in the Valognes-Cherbourg area,
the W part
of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and along communications lines S to
Loire;
fighters also attack shipping between the Channel Islands and the
Cherbourg
Peninsula.
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