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The Mighty Eighth - Monday, 5 March 1945 |
MONDAY, 5 MARCH 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IX Troop Carrier Command): HQ 52d Troop Carrier Wing moves from Cottesmore, England to Amiens, France. STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 3 missions are flown. Mission 865: 429 bombers and 689 fighters are dispatched to hit oil targets in Germany; the primary target for the B-17s is the synthetic oil plant at Ruhland but weather forces them to hit the secondary target; all bombing is with H2X radar; 1 B-17 is lost: 1. 233 of 303 B-17s hit the secondary target, the marshalling yard at Chemnitz; targets of opportunity are Plauen (34) and Fulda (9); 1 B-17 is lost and 15 damaged; 9 airmen are MIA. Escorting are 369 of 420 P-51s; 3 P-51s are damaged beyond repair and 1 pilot is KIA. 2. 120 of 126 B-24s hit the Harburg oil refinery at Hamburg without loss. The escort is 186 P-47s and P-51s without loss. 3. 27 P-51s attack the marshalling yard at Kreuztal; 1 P-51 is damaged beyond repair. 4. 28 P-51s fly a scouting mission. 5. 14 P-51s escort 4 F-5s on a photo reconnaissance mission over Germany. Mission 866: 21 of 24 B-24s bomb the Wiesbaden rail station by PFF markers during the night. Mission 867: 9 of 11 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands, France and Germany during the night. TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 565 B-26s, A-20s and A-26s attack 6 marshalling yards, a communications center, an ordnance depot, a city area and targets of opportunity with the aim of obstructing reinforcements and supplies to German forces being pushed back across the Rhine River; fighters escort the bombers, drop leaflets in the Cologne-Bonn area, and fly armed reconnaissance over the Ruhr and Hamm-Duisburg area. |