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The Mighty Eighth -Saturday, 14 April 1945 |
| SATURDAY, 14 APRIL 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 3 missions are flown. Mission 948: 1,167 bombers are dispatched without escort to visually attack enemy pockets on the French Gironde estuary; 2 B-24s are lost; other Allied AFs and French naval units attack similar targets; the air attacks precede a ground assault by a French detachment of the Sixth Army Group on the defense pockets which deny the Allies use of port facilities in the Bordeaux area: 1. 480 of 490 B-17s hit 15 strongpoints and flak batteries in the Bordeaux/ Royan, Pointe Coubre and Pointe Grave areas; 1 B-17 is damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged; 1 airman is WIA. 2. 315 of 336 B-24s hit 12 strongpoints and flak batteries in the same area as Force 1; 2 B-24s are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged; 18 airmen are KIA, 8 WIA and 12 MIA. 3. 338 of 341 B-17s attack 4 strongpoints and flak batteries in the Bordeaux/Royan area without loss. 4. 31 P-47s and P-51s fly scouting missions. 5. 9 of 11 P-51s escort 8 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions over Royan and Germany. Mission 949: 10 of 11 B-24s drop leaflets in Germany, the Netherlands and France during the night. Mission 950: An experimental bombing operation is flown by a Mosquito and B-24s against Neuruppin Airfield, Germany; the mission is unsuccessful. 1 of 4 B-24s completes a CARPETBAGGER mission to Denmark during the night. HQ 352d Fighter Group and the 486th and 487th Fighter Squadrons move from Chievres, Belgium to Bodney, England with P-51s. TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 18 B-26s fly a leaflet mission in the Ruhr area; fighters fly patrols, sweeps, and armed reconnaissance, and support the US 3d Armored Division SW of the Elbe/Mulde River junction near Dessau, the 9th Armored Division in the Borna and Lobstadt area, XX Corps elements which continue to arrive at the Zwickauer Mulde River, the VIII Corps along the Weisse Elster River S of Gera, XII Corps elements in the Bayreuth area, the 2d and 5th Armored Divisions along the Elbe River in the Barby-Magdeburg and Tangermunde areas. Units moving in Germany: HQ XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional) to Gutersloh; HQ 84th and HQ 303d Fighter Wings from Haltern to Gutersloh; HQ 100th Fighter Wing from Metz, France to Konigstein; 167th Liaison Squadron, Ninth AF (attached to Sixth Army Group) from Kaiserslautern to Pfaffengrund with L-5s; the 377th and 378th Fighter Squadrons, 362d Fighter Group from Rouvres, France to Frankfurt with P-47s; the 389th and 390th Fighter Squadrons, 366th Fighter Group, from Asch, Belgium to Handorf Airfield, Munster with P-47s. |