FRIDAY, 25 AUGUST 1944

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Four missions are flown.
Mission 570: 1,191 bombers and 708 fighters make visual bombing attacks
against aircraft component plants, Luftwaffe experimental stations and the
synthetic oil industry; 18 bombers and 7 fighters are lost; numbers in
parenthesis indicate number of bombers attacking the target:
1. 435 B-24s are dispatched to hit aircraft component plants at Rostock
(116), Schwerin (106), Wismar (91) and Lubeck (81); 11 others hit
Grossenbrode Airfield and 4 hit targets of opportunity; 5 B-24s are lost, 2
damaged beyond repair and 55 damaged; 5 airmen are WIA and 64 MIA. Escort is
provided by 243 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 11-2-3 aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost.
2. 380 B-17s are dispatched to the Rechlin Experimental Station (179) and
oil refinery at Politz (169); 6 others hit targets of opportunity; 8 B-17s
are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 182 damaged; 10 airmen are WIA and 64
MIA. Escort is provided by 215 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 4-0-2 aircraft on
the ground; 4 P-51s are lost.
3. 376 B-17s are dispatched to the Peenemunde Experimental Station (146),
Neubrandenburg Airfield (108) and Anklam Airfield (73); 21 others hit Parow
Airfield and 5 hit targets of opportunity; 5 B-17s are lost and 75 damaged; 1
airman is KIA, 9 WIA and 45 MIA. Escort is provided by 171 P-47s and P-51s;
they claim 36-0-28 aircraft on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.
Mission 571: 10 of 10 B-24s fly an Azon glide bomb mission to Moerdijke,
the Netherlands but the target is missed. Escort is provided by 36 of 36
P-47s without loss.
Mission 572: 107 bombers and 172 fighters are dispatched to make visual
attacks on liquid oxygen and ammonia plants in Belgium and N France:
1. 31 of 38 B-17s hit Henin Littard without loss.
2. 69 B-24s are dispatched to hit Willerbroeck (18), Tertre (17), Tiller/
Liege (12) and La Louviere (10); 4 others hit St Trond Airfield and 1 hits a
target of opportunity; 24 B-24s are damaged and 4 airmen are WIA.
Escort for Mission 572 is provided by 152 P-38s and P-51s without loss.
Mission 573: 6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets on France and Belgium during the
night.
1 C-47 flies a CARPETBAGGER mission during the night.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, about 240 A-20s and B-26s
attack various enemy strongholds in and around Brest supporting the ground
forces' attempt to capture Brest harbor; fighters provide air cover for 5
divisions, fly armed reconnaissance along the Seine River, and sweeps in wide
areas around Paris which is liberated; fighters of the IX Tactical Air
Command raid, and set afire with napalm tanks, the reported HQ of Field
Marshall Walter Model (Commander-in-Chief West) and Verzy; HQ IX Air Defense
Command moves from Ecrammeville to Rennes; HQ 394th Bombardment Group
(Medium) moves from Holmsley, England to Tour-en-Bassin; the 14th Liaison
Squadron, XIX Tactical Air Command (attached to Third Army), moves from
Dampierre to Courcy with L-5s; the 34th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron,
10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance), moves from Rennes to Chateaudun
with F-5s; the 153d Liaison Squadron, IX Tactical Air Command (attached to
First Army), moves from Couterne to Maillebois with L-5s; and the 390th
Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group, moves from Pierre du Mont to Dreux
with P-47s. The 303d Troop Carrier Squadron, 442d Troop Carrier Group, that
has been operating from Follonica, Italy with C-47s, returns to base at
Weston Zoyland, England.