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MONDAY, 6 MARCH 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 250: 504 B-17s and
226
B-24s are dispatched to hit industrial areas in the suburbs of
Berlin; fierce
fighter opposition claims 69 bombers (the highest number lost by the
Eighth
Air Force in a single day) and 11 fighters; the bombers claim
97-28-60
Luftwaffe fighters; details are:
1. 248 B-17s hit secondary targets in the Berlin area; 18 B-17s are
lost, 2
damaged beyond repair and 172 damaged; casualties are 2 KIA, 8 WIA
and 184
MIA.
2. 226 B-17s hit targets of opportunity at Templin, Verden,
Kalkeberge,
Potsdam, Oranienburg and Wittenberg; 35 B-17s are lost, 3 damaged
beyond
repair and 121 damaged; casualties are 15 WIA and 354 MIA.
3. 198 B-24s hit the primary target (Genshagen industrial area),
secondary
targets in the Berlin area and targets of opportunity at Potsdam; 16
B-24s
are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 54 damaged; casualties are 15
KIA, 8 WIA
and 148 MIA.
Escort is provided by 86 P-38s, 615 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s
and
100 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; results are:
1. P-38s claim 3-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-38 is lost, the pilot
is MIA.
2. P-47s claim 36-7-12 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 P-47s are lost, 3
damaged
beyond repair and 4 damaged; casualties are 2 WIA and 5 MIA.
3. P-51s claim 43-1-20 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 P-51s are lost and 2
damaged;
casualties are 5 MIA.
The fighters also claim 1-0-12 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground.
Mission 251: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 250 bundles of leaflets on Nantes, Cambrai,
Lille, Chateauroux and Lorient, France at 2029-2130 hours without
loss.
CARPETBAGGER missions are also flown.
A detachment of 22d Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 7th
Photographic
Group (Reconnaissance), ceases operating from Attlebridge and
returns to base
at Mount Farm, England with F-5s.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, 260 B-26s bomb
NOBALL
(V-weapon) targets, Hirson marshalling yard, and Beauvais/Tille,
Airfield;
heavy clouds cause 50+ B-26s and A-20s to abort missions.
Arriving in England from the US are: 93d and 94th Troop Carrier
Squadrons,
439th Troop Carrier Group, at Balderton; 510th and 511th
Fighter-Bomber
Squadrons, 405th Fighter-Bomber Group, at Christchurch with P-47s
(first
mission is 11 Apr).
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