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WEDNESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IX Troop Carrier Command): In France, C-47s fly
numerous supply and evacuation missions; and the 95th, 97th and 98th
Troop
Carrier Squadrons, 440th Troop Carrier Group, move from Exeter,
England to
Reims with C-47s.
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 3 missions are flown.
Mission 628: 1,015 bombers and 477 fighters attack oil and
industrial
targets in S Germany by visual means; 15 bombers and 8 fighters are
lost:
1. 376 B-17s are dispatched to oil refineries at
Stuttgart/Sindelfingen
(109) and Ludwigshafen (74); secondary targets hit are Darmstadt
(95) and
Wiesbaden (8); targets of opportunity hit are Mainz (22), a
marshalling yard
near Wiesbaden (12) and others (3); 4 B-17s are lost, 2 damaged
beyond repair
and 134 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 2 WIA and 37 MIA. Escort is
provided by 73
of 74 P-47s, they claim 6-0-2 aircraft on the ground.
2. 342 B-24s are dispatched to hit Schwabish Hall Airfield (65), a
munitions dump at Ulm (65) and Weissenhorn (45); a target of
opportunity hit
is Reichelsheim (1); 4 B-24s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and
127
damaged; 3 airman are WIA and 39 MIA. Escort is provided by 99 P-38s
and
P-51s; they claim 14-0-5 aircraft on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.
3. 297 B-17s are dispatched to hit oil refineries at Merseburg (141)
and
Lutzkendorf (77); targets of opportunity hit are Giessen (17),
Eisenach (12),
Altenburg (7), Gera (7) and other (19); they claim 1-0-0 aircraft; 7
B-17s
are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 145 damaged; 4 airmen are KIA,
8 WIA
and 67 MIA. Escort is provided by 233 P-47s and P-51s; they claim
33-0-4
aircraft in the air; 6 P-51s are lost.
Mission 629: 11 B-24s are dispatched on an Azon mission to the oil
refinery
at Hemminstedt (6); 5 hit the secondary target, ammunition dumps at
Kropp.
Escort is provided by 15 of 15 P-51s without loss.
Mission 631: 8 of 8 B-17s drop leaflets on the Netherlands, Belgium
and
Germany.
73 of 74 B-17s, escorted by 63 P-51s, continuing the
UK-USSR-Italy-UK
shuttle-bombing mission, take off from USSR bases, bomb steel and
armament
works at Diosgyor, Hungary and proceed to Fifteenth AF bases in
Italy.
40 of 48 P-51s fly a strafing mission S of Munich hitting an
aircraft
dispersal area, airfield and marshalling yard; they claim 5-0-0
aircraft on
the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, HQ XIX Tactical
Air
Command accompanies HQ US Third Army HQ to ChaIons-sur-Marne; B-26s
fly a
leaflet mission to coastal N France and Belgium; fighters support
ground
forces in the Brest and Nancy-Metz areas (air-ground coordination
being
especially effective between XIX Tactical Air Command and French 2d
Armored
Division in defeating the enemy move on Vittel), and in Germany, fly
armed
reconnaissance over the Cologne, Aachen, Koblenz, Linz/Rhine, and
Wahn areas;
the XIX Tactical Air Command inaugurates a rail cutting campaign; HQ
97th
Combat Bombardment Wing (Medium) moves from Little Walden, England
to
Voisenon; HQ 404th Fighter Group and the 508th and 509th Fighter
Squadrons
move from Bretigny to Juvincourt with P-47s; the 162d Tactical
Reconnaissance
Squadron, 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group, moves from Azeville to
Montrevil with F-6s; and the 392d Fighter Squadron, 367th Fighter
Group,
moves from Pera to Clastres with P-38s.
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