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FRIDAY, 16 JUNE 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 416: 370 bombers,
including 22 Pathfinders are dispatched to 4 airfields and 4
CROSSBOW (V-
weapon) supply sites in France; 1 B-17 is lost:
1. Of 146 B-17s, 38 bomb Laon/Athies Airfield, 38 hit Juvincourt
Airfield,
18 hit railroad targets of opportunity and 17 hit Laon/Couvron
Airfield; 1
B-17 is lost and 58 damaged; 3 airmen are WIA and 9 MIA.
2. 224 B-24s are dispatched to bomb airfields and CROSSBOW sites;
B-24s
attacking V-weapon supply sites are: 48 hit Renescure, 44 hit
Sautrecourt, 43
hit Domleger and 21 hit Beauvoir; airfields attacked are: 17 hit
Beauvais/
Tille, 17 hit Authe and 12 hit St Andre de L'Eure; 1 B-24 is damaged
beyond
repair and 13 damaged; 5 airmen are KIA and 2 WIA.
VIII Fighter Command missions for the day are:
1. 165 P-38s, 88 P-47s and 172 P-51s escort the bombers above, they
claim
1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft; no losses.
2. 70 P-51s perform a sweep against stalled trains between Angouleme
and
Poitiers, dropping external fuel tanks on them and firing the tanks
by
strafing; the same tactics are used on trains in the marshalling
yard at
Saint-Pierre-d'Ecideuil; heavy damage is inflicted on both targets,
including
heavy troop casualties.
3. 50 P-38s and 75 P-47s make fighter-bomber attacks on troops in
the
Arras-St Pol area; at St-Pol-sur-Ternoise a large number of railroad
cars are
burned by oil and phosphorus bombs and strafing attacks; other
marshalling
yards, a power station, railroad station, trains, barges, tanks,
trucks, gun
emplacements, AA tower and an armored vehicle are attacked; A total
of about
400 railroad cars are attacked and about half of them set on fire.
In general
the fighter attacks are highly effective; 3 P-38s are lost (pilots
are MIA)
and 1 damaged beyond repair.
Mission 417: 10 of 10 B-17s drop leaflets in France during the
evening.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, bad weather
prevents
bomber operations; 500+ fighters strafe and bomb rail lines, bridges
and
highway traffic on the Cherbourg Peninsula; and 397th Fighter
Squadron, 368th
Fighter Group moves from Chilbolton, England to Cardonville with
P-47s.
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