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MONDAY, 30 OCTOBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 3 missions are flown.
Mission 693: 1,279 bombers and 978 fighters fly a major mission
against
German oil production facilities; 2 bombers and 5 fighters are lost:
1. 357 B-24s are dispatched to hit the Harburg oil refinery (72) and
Rhenania oil refinery (67) at Hamburg; targets of opportunity are
Hamburg
(28), Cuxhaven (25), Wesermunde (21), Uetersen (9), Bremen (1) and
other (1);
2 B-24s are lost and 30 damaged; 19 airmen are MIA. Escort is
provided by 293
P-47s and P-51s; 4 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA).
2. 463 B-17s dispatched hit secondary targets, the marshalling yards
at
Hamm (209) and Munster (192); targets of opportunity are Osnabruck
(12),
Enschede (2) and other (4); 17 B-17s are damaged; 1 airman is WIA
and 2 MIA.
Escort is provided by 123 of 135 P-47s; 1 P-47 is lost (pilot MIA).
3. 459 B-17s dispatched to hit the Leuna oil refinery at Merseburg
are
recalled due to deteriorating weather; 2 B-17s are damaged. Escort
is
provided by 482 of 508 P-51s without loss.
Mission 693A: 2 of 5 B-17s make an APHRODITE attack on Heligoland
Island,
Germany; escort is provided by 7 of 7 P-47s. 26 of 27 B-17s,
escorted by 8 of
8 P-47s, fly a cover mission to Heligoland without loss.
Mission 694: 2 B-17s and 7 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands
and
Germany during the night.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): B-26s are recalled from a
mission
(mainly against bridges) because of bad weather; fighters fly
patrols and
armed reconnaissance over NE France and in W Germany around Aachen
and the
Rhine River; XIX Tactical Air Command escorts B-26s and heavy
bombers of the
Eighth AF. In France, HQ 387th Bombardment Group (Medium) moves from
Chateaudun to Clastres.
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