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The Mighty Eighth - Friday, 13 April 1945 |
| FRIDAY, 13 APRIL 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 3 missions are flown. Mission 945: The AAF claims 284-0-220 Luftwaffe aircraft. 1. 212 B-17s, escorted by 256 of 278 P-51s, attack the marshalling yard at Neumunster visually; 2 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 3 damaged; 8 airmen are KIA, 3 WIA and 17 MIA. The escort claims 137-0-83 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air; 6 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA). 2. 97 P-47s and P-51s fly a freelance mission in support of the bombers; they claim 147-0-137 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-47 and 1 P-51 are lost; both pilots are MIA. 3. 8 P-51s fly a scouting mission. 4. 11 of 13 P-51s escort 10 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions over Germany. Mission 946: 10 of 12 B-24s bomb the Beizenburg rail junction during the night without loss. Mission 947: During the night, 10 of 11 B-24s drop leaflets in France and Germany and 1 of 4 B-24s completes a CARPETBAGGER mission to Denmark. The 328th Fighter Squadron, 352d Fighter Group, moves from Chievres, Belgium to Bodney, England with P-51s. TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, a special mission is flown by IX Tactical Air Command fighter-bombers against the HQ of Field Marshall Walter Model's Army Group B at Haus Waldesruh in the Ruhr pocket; the air attack is followed by an artillery barrage; as a result the HQ is moved to Haan; IX Tactical Air Command pilots sight Soviet fighters in the air for the first time; weather grounds the 9th Bombardment Division; fighters fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, and support the US XVIII Corps in the Huckeswagen and Hagen areas, the III Corps between the Ruhr and Honne Rivers, the 3d Armored Division on the Saale River in the Alsleben, Nelben and Friedeburg area, the XX Corps astride and between the Weisse Eister and Zwickauer Mulde Rivers N of Gera, the XVI Corps NW of Hagen, the 2d Armored Division in the Elbenau-Grunwalde area, and the 5th Armored Division along the Elbe River in the Tangermunde area. P-47 units moving to Fritzlar Germany: HQ 365th Fighter Group and 387th Fighter Squadron from Aachen; the 507th Fighter Squadron, 404th Fighter Group, from Keltz. |