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The Mighty Eighth - Sunday, 11 March 1945 |
| SUNDAY, 11 MARCH 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown. Mission 881: 1,256 bombers and 814 fighters are dispatched to make H2X radar attacks on U-boat yards at Kiel and Bremen and the shipyard and refinery area at Hamburg, Germany; 1 B-17 and 4 P-51s are lost: 1. 344 of 352 B-24s attack the Krupp Germania U-boat yard at Kiel; 2 B-24s are damaged. 232 P-47s and P-51s escort; 1 P-51 is lost. 2. 469 of 485 B-17s hit the Wilhelmsburg oil refinery at Hamburg; 1 other hits a target of opportunity; 1 B-17 is lost and 41 damaged; 3 airmen are WIA and 10 MIA. Escorting are 252 of 265 P-51s; 2 are lost. 3. 406 of 413 B-17s hit the Deschimag U-boat yard at Bremen; 9 B-17s are damaged. 237 of 255 P-51s escort; 1 is lost. 4. 6 B-17s fly a screening mission. 5. 18 P-51s escort 6 F-5s and a Spitfire on photo reconnaissance missions over Germany. 6. 27 of 29 P-51s fly a scouting mission. Mission 882: 11 of 12 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands and Germany during the night without loss. TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 696 A-20s, A-26s, and B-26s, hit 4 airfields, 3 communications centers, 2 ammunition filling plants, and several city areas and other casual targets; these attacks are to obstruct air operations and supply and troop movements in general; fighters fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, escort the bombers, support the US 9th Infantry Division push at the Remagen bridgehead and fly cover over the area, and support the XX Corps E of Trier and Saarburg. HQ 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group and the 160th and 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadrons (with F-6s) and HQ 373d Fighter Group move from Le Culot, Belgium to Venlo, the Netherlands; the 72d Liaison Squadron, Ninth AF (attached to Sixth Army Group), moves from Epinal to Buhl, France with L-5s. |