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SUNDAY, 18 JUNE 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 421: 1,378 bombers
are
dispatched to targets in Germany; 11 bombers are lost, 10 to AA fire
and 1 to
unknown causes:
1. Of 890 B-17s dispatched, 381 bomb Hamburg, 88 hit Hannover-Misburg
oil
refinery, 85 hit the Bremen area; 60 hit Hannover, 54 hit Hamburg-Eurotank
oil refinery, 38 hit Hamburg-Ossag oil refinery, 36 hit
Hamburg-Schindler oil
refinery, 18 hit Bremen-Oslebshausen; 18 hit Hamburg-Ebano oil
refinery and
5 hit targets of opportunity; 7 B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond
repair and
284 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 10 WIA and 70 MIA.
2. Of 488 B-24s, 168 hit Hamburg, 107 bomb Bremerhaven, 58 attack
the
Watten V-weapon sites, France, 54 hit Brunsbuttel, 45 hit Stade
Airfield, 28
hit Wesermunde, 13 hit Husum Airfield, 9 hit Nordenham, 8 hit
Heligoland
Airfield, 5 hit targets of opportunity and 1 hits Wrist marshalling
yard; 4
B-24s are lost and 53 damaged; 8 airmen are WIA and 39 MIA.
Escort is provided by 198 P-38s, 172 P-47s and 215 P-51s; 1 P-38 is
damaged
beyond repair; no losses or claims.
Other VIII Fighter Command missions in France are:
1. 94 of 98 P-38s and 82 of 87 P-47s attack railroad bridges in the
St
Quentin area without loss.
2. 47 P-51s make a sweep of the Dol de Bretagne area; 3 P-51s are
lost
(pilots are MIA).
Mission 422: 9 B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER missions in
France; 1
B-24 hits a tree at the drop zone.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, about 130 A-20s
and B-26s
bomb fuel dumps at Foret d'Andaine and Conches and marshalling yards
at
Rennes and Meudon during the morning and NOBALL (V-weapon) targets
in the
afternoon; fighters, in addition to escort duty, continue strafing
and
bombing rail lines, troop concentrations, and highway traffic on the
Cherbourg Peninsula; HQ 48th Fighter Group and 492d and 493d Fighter
Squadrons move from Ibsley, England to Deux Jumeaux with P-47s; 153d
Liaison
Squadron, IX Tactical Air Command, moves from Erlestokes, England to
Vouilly
with L-5s; and 355th Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group, moves
from
Lashenden, England to Criqueville with P-47s.
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