9 November 1942

Monday 9 November 1942

Lieutenant General
Carl Spaatz, Commanding General Eighth Air Force, in a memo to Lieutenant
General Dwight D Eisenhower, agrees that any increase in air commitments to N
Africa must necessarily be made at the expense of US forces in the UK as US
forces in other theaters are considered irreducible.
Mission 18: 31 of 33 B-17s and 12 of 14 B-24s attack the U-boat base at
Saint Nazaire, France from reduced altitude; only 1 of the 12 B-24s bombing
from 17,500 to 18,300 feet (5,334 to 5,578 m) suffer AA damage, but 31 B-17s
at 7,500 to 10,000 feet (2,286 to 3,048 m) lose 3 of aircraft and have 22
damaged by AA fire, 1 airman KIA, 11 WIA and 32 MIA; this ends the experiment
with low-level attacks of heavy bombers, against submarine bases.