19 April 1945

THURSDAY, 19 APRIL 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 961: 605 B-17s and 584 P-51s are dispatched to make visual attacks
on rail targets in SE Germany and NW Czechoslovakia; they claim 18-1-5
Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 B-17s and 2 P-51s are lost:
1. 284 B-17s are sent to hit the marshalling yards at Elsterwerda (135) and
Falkenberg (143); 27 are damaged. Escorting are 191 of 204 P-51s; they claim
5-0-0 aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).
2. 321 B-17s are dispatched to hit the railroad industry and rail bridge at
Pirna (115) and Karlsbad (87) and the marshalling yard at Aussig (109); they
claim 6-1-2 aircraft; 5 B-17s are lost and 13 damaged; 46 airmen are MIA. The
escort is 197 of 206 P-51s; they claim 7-0-3 aircraft.
3. 138 of 154 P-51s fly a freelance mission in support of the B-17s.
4. 14 P-51s fly weather reconnaissance missions.
5. 6 P-51s escort 7 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions over Germany; 1
P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).
During the night of 19/20 Apr, 11 of 16 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions to
Norway; 2 B-24s are lost.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, the 9th Bombardment
Division hits marshalling yards at Ulm, Neu Ulm, and Gunzburg (primary
targets), the city of Donauworth and a target of opportunity at Schelklingen;
weather prevents 70+ of the 450+ dispatched aircraft from bombing targets;
fighters fly escort to the bombers, carry out patrols and armed
reconnaissance, bomb a radio station, and cooperate with the US VII Corps in
the Halle-Dessau area, the XII Corps attacking SE from S of Bayreuth, the XX
Corps in the Bamberg-Nurnberg area, preparing to drive toward Austria, and
the XIX Corps along the Elbe River in the Magdeburg area. The 31st Tactical
Reconnaissance Squadron, Ninth AF [attached to 9th Tactical Reconnaissance
Group (Provisional)], moves from Maastricht, the Netherlands to Wiesbaden,
Germany with F-6s.