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THURSDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IX Troop Carrier Command): The 304th Troop
Carrier
Squadron, 442d Troop Carrier Group, moves from Peray to St-Andre-de-L'Eure,
France with C-47s.
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 707: 1,309 bombers and 738 fighters are dispatched to hit
front
line strongpoints and tactical targets in the Metz and Thionville,
France
areas; 4 bombers and 5 fighters are lost:
1. 460 B-17s are dispatched to hit transportation targets at
Thionville
(47); 276 hit the secondary, the marshalling yard at Saarbrucken;
targets of
opportunity are Saarlautern (34) and other (3); 4 B-17s are lost, 4
damaged
beyond repair and 96 damaged; 8 airmen are KIA, 6 WIA and 27 MIA.
Escort is
provided by 187 of 192 P-51s without loss.
2. 437 B-17s are dispatched to hit transportation targets at Metz
(345); 41
hit the secondary, the marshalling yard at Saarbrucken; 28 hit
Koblenz; 3
B-17s are damaged beyond repair and 13 damaged; 19 airment are KIA.
Escort is
provided by 176 of 184 P-51s without loss.
3. 402 B-24s are dispatched to hit transportation targets at Metz
(385); 15
hit the secondary, the marshalling yard at Saarbrucken; 1 B-24 is
damaged
beyond repair and 5 damaged. Escort is provided by 113 of 119 P-51s;
3 P-51s
are damaged beyond repair.
4. 10 of 10 B-17s fly a screening force mission.
5. 139 P-47s and P-51s fly fighter-bomber missions in the Frankfurt-
Lannheim area of Germany; 1 P-47 and 4 P-51s are lost; 4 pilots are
MIA.
6. 30 of 32 P-51s fly a scouting forces mission.
Mission 708: 5 B-17s and 12 B-24s drop leaflets in France, the
Netherlands
and Germany during the night.
The 27th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, 7th Photographic
Group
(Reconnaissance) (attached to VIII Air Force Service Command), moves
from
Mount Farm, England to Denain/Prouvy, France with F-5s.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 74 planes of the 9th
Bombardment
Division attack road junctions, barracks, ordnance arsenals,
artillery camps,
military storage depot, and other targets in the Dieuze and
Faulquemont,
France and Landau and Sankt Wendel, Germany areas; the IX Tactical
Air
Command flies sweeps over W Germany and attacks marshalling yard at
Duren,
Germany, while the XXIX Tactical Air Command escort attacks Rahling,
Germany
and an airfield and supports US Third Army elements (2 infantry and
2 armored
divisions) as an allout assault on Metz, France is pushed. In
France, HQ 358th
Fighter Group moves from Mourmelon to Toul; the 379th Fighter
Squadron, 362d
Fighter Group, moves from Prosnes to Rouvres with P-47s; the 425th
Night
Fighter Squadron, XIX Tactical Air Command, moves from Prosnes to
Etain with
P-61s.
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