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The Mighty Eighth -Monday 29 January 1945 |
MONDAY, 29 JANUARY 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown. Mission 811: 1,158 bombers and 700 fighters are dispatched to hit industrial plants at Kassel and rail targets in C Germany; the attacks were made using H2X radar; they claim 6-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 B-24 and 2 P-51s are lost: 1. 415 B-17s are sent to hit rail centers at Niederlahnstein (110) and Siegen (144); 104 hit the secondary, the Mosel marshalling yard at Koblenz; 37 hit the marshalling yard at Bad Kreuznach, a target of opportunity; 4 B-17s are damaged beyond repair and 7 damaged. Escorting are 235 of 254 P-51s; they claim 1-0-1 aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost and 1 damaged beyond repair; 1 pilot is KIA. 2. 386 B-17s are dispatched to hit the Henschel oil plant at Kassel (93); 154 hit the secondary, the Kassel marshalling yard; targets of opportunity are the Bielefeld marshalling yard (76), Koblenz (35) and other (2); 2 B-17s are damaged beyond repair and 28 damaged; 18 airmen are KIA and 1 WIA. The escort is 207 of 224 P-51s; they claim 4-0-1 aircraft; 1 P-51 is damaged beyond repair. 3. 357 B-24s dispatched hit secondary targets, the marshalling yards at Munster (206) and Hamm (124); 9 others hit the Soest marshalling yard, a target of opportunity; 1 B-24 is lost and 18 damaged; 9 airmen are MIA. 173 P-47s and P-51s escort; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA). 4. 23 of 27 P-51s fly a scouting mission without loss. Mission 812: 1 B-17 and 8 B-24s drop leaflets in Germany and the Netherlands during the night. TACTICAL OPERATIONS First Tactical Air Force (Provisional): Brigadier General Glenn O Barcus becomes Commanding General XII Tactical Air Command. Ninth Air Force: 364 A-20s, B-26s, and A-26s bomb rail bridges, supply and communications centers, and defended areas in W Germany; fighters escort the bombers, fly armed reconnaissance and patrols and support US Third Army units at points along the frontlines from S of Saint-Vith, Belgium to the bridgehead area around Saarlautern, Germany. |