SATURDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 1944

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 635: 178 P-47s and 149 P-51s are dispatched to bomb and strafe the
Hannover-Bremen-Osnabruck areas and bomb Ahlhorn Airfield and the Mannheim-
Kaiserslautern area, all in Germany; they claim 6-0-1 aircraft on the ground;
1 P-51 is lost and 10 damaged; 1 pilot is MIA.
Mission 636: 7 of 9 B-17s drop leaflets in France, Germany and the
Netherlands during the night.
32 B-24s and C-47s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER missions; 1 B-24 is lost.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In the Netherlands, 150+ B-26s and
A-20s, escorted by fighters, attack the Bath dike and Arnemuiden road and
rail embankment. In France, fighters fly sweeps, and armed reconnaissance
over Rastatt, Germany and Haguenau, and support the US Third Army's XII and
XV Corps in repelling counterattacks in NE France; HQ IX Bomber Command is
redesignated 9th Bombardment Division (Medium); the 353d Fighter Squadron,
354th Fighter Group, moves from Gael to Orconte with P-47s; the 404th Fighter
Squadron, 371st Fighter Group, moves from Beuzeville to Perthes with P-47s;
the 493d Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, moves from Villacoublay to
Cambrai/Niergnies with P-47s; and the 596th Bombardment Squadron (Medium),
397th Bombardment Group (Medium), moves from Gorges to Dreux with B-26s. In
Belgium, HQ 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group and the 107th Tactical
Reconnaissance Squadron move from Toussus le Noble, France to Gosselies with
F-6s; the 153d Liaison Squadron, IX Tactical Air Command (attached to First
Army), moves from Ham to Stree with L-5s; and the 422d Night Fighter
Squadron, IX Air Defense Command, moves from Chateaudun, France to Florennes
with P-61s;