January 1945

The Mighty Eighth -Sunday 14 January 1945

SUNDAY, 14 JANUARY 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 792: 911 bombers and 860 fighters are dispatched to attack oil
refineries and plants in C Germany and highway bridges at Cologne; clear
skies allow all bombers to bomb visually; about 250 Luftwaffe fighters attack
and the AAF claims 158-0-30 aircraft; 7 bombers and 11 fighters are lost:
1. 370 B-17s are sent to hit oil targets at Derben (186) and Magdeburg
(90); 36 hit Hallendorf, the secondary target; targets of opportunity hit are
the Osnabruck marshalling yard (8) and other (19); they claim 31-9-7
aircraft; 6 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 121 damaged; 4 airmen
are WIA and 149 MIA. Escorting are 295 of 331 P-51s; they claim 89.5-0-14
aircraft in the air and 3-0-5 on the ground; 5 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA)
and 3 damaged beyond repair.
2. 348 B-24s are dispatched to hit oil targets at Hallendorf (145),
Hemmingstedt (91) and Ehmen (89); 1 hits Wangerooge Island, a target of
opportunity; 1 B-24 is damaged beyond repair and 80 damaged; 8 airmen are KIA
and 1 WIA. The escort is 261 of 295 P-51s; they claim 14.5-0-0 aircraft; 1
P-51 is lost (pilot MIA) and 1 damaged beyond repair.
3. 187 B-17s are sent to hit highway bridges at Cologne, the Deutz Bridge
(71), the Hohenzollern Bridge (67) and the Rodenkirchen Bridge (36); targets
of opportunity are Berg (1) and Cologne (1); 1 B-17 is lost, 3 damaged beyond
repair and 92 damaged; 4 airmen are WIA and 10 MIA. Escort is provided by 40
of 42 P-51s; they claim 9-0-5 aircraft; 2 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA) and 1
pilot is WIA.
4. 6 of 6 B-17s fly a screening mission without loss.
5. 116 P-47s and P-51s fly a sweep over N Germany and claim 42-0-6
aircraft; 2 P-47s and 1 P-51 are lost (pilots MIA); 1 P-47 is damaged beyond
repair.
6. 30 of 32 P-51s fly a scouting missions without loss.
7. 19 of 22 P-51s escort 12 F-5s and 4 Spitfires on a photo reconnaissance
mission over Germany.
Mission 793: 2 B-17s and 5 B-24s drop leaflets over SE Belgium and Germany
during the night.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 280+ A-20s and B-26s strike bridges
and communications centers in the base area of the Ardennes salient and in
other areas of W Germany. Fighters escort 9th Bombardment Division and Eighth
AF bombers, fly armed reconnaissance and patrols, attack numerous ground
targets, and support the US First Army in the Vielsalm, Belgium area and the
US Third Army around Diekirch, Luxembourg.