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MONDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 3 missions are flown.
1. Mission 639: 248 of 252 B-24s drop supplies to the First Allied
Airborne
Army in the Netherlands; intense flak downs 7 B-24s, 6 are damaged
beyond
repair and 154 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 26 WIA and 61 MIA. 500+
P-38s, P-47s
and P-51s escort the B-24s, escort C-47s of the First Allied
Airborne Army as
the second troop echelon is dropped in the Netherlands to
participate in
heavy fighting around the Arnhem area; 2 fighter groups strafe rail
and
highway traffic and 50+ fighters bomb flak positions; 100+ Luftwaffe
fighters
attack; AAF claims 29-0-1 aircraft in the air; 20 fighters are lost,
9
damaged beyond repair and 46 damaged; 1 pilot is KIA and 20 MIA.
2. Mission 640: In the last Operations FRANTIC mission, 107 of 110
B-17s
drop 1,248 containers of supplies to Polish forces in Warsaw; 1 B-17
is lost
and 7 damaged. Escort is provided by 137 of 150 P-51s (64 P-51s
continue to
the USSR), they claim 4-0-0 aircraft in the air and 3-0-6 on the
ground; 2
P-51s are lost (pilots are MIA).
3. Mission 641: 8 of 8 B-17s drop leaflets in France, the
Netherlands and
Germany during the night.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): Weather cancels all bomber
activity;
<100 fighters support US VII Corps in W Germany and fly cover in the
area of
Brest, France, where organized resistance comes to an end. In
France, HQ 9th
Bombardment Division (Medium) moves from Marks Hall, England to
Chartres; HQ
371st Fighter Group moves from Beuzeville to Perthes; HQ 387th
Bombardment
Group (Medium) and the 556th, 557th, 558th and 559th Bombardment
Squadrons
(Medium) move from Maupertuis to Chateaudun with B-26s; HQ 394th
Bombardment
Group (Medium) moves from Tour-en-Bassin to Bricy; and HQ 409th
Bombardment
Group (Light) and the 640th, 641st, 642d and 643d Bombardment
Squadrons
(Light) move from Little Walden, England to Bretigny with A-20s.
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