10 February 1945SATURDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 1945
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 825: 9 of 164 B-17s carry
out the first DISNEY mission (Royal Navy
rocket-boosted concrete piercing bombs) against the U-boat pens
at Ijmuiden,
the Netherlands visually; 140 hit the secondary target, the oil
storage depot
at Dulmen, Germany using Micro H; and 1 hits Lingen, a target of
opportunity;
5 B-17s fly a screening mission; 5 B-17s are damaged. Escorting
are 102 of
106 P-51s without loss. 3 of 6 P-51s fly a scouting mission and
20 of 21
P-51s escort photo reconnaissance aircraft over Germany. 102 of
104 P-51s fly
a strafing mission in the Steinhuder Lake area but abort because
of bad
weather; 2 P-51s are lost.
Mission 826: 1 B-17 and 11 of 12
B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands and
Germany during the night; 1 airman is KIA.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 320+ bombers
of the 9th
Bombardment Division attack communications centers at Kempen,
Horrem, and
Euskirchen, vehicle center and depot at Munstereifeland at Berg-Gladbach,
and
several casual targets including rail bridge at Bullay; fighters
escort the
bombers, fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, bomb bridges,
attack railroad
cars and other targets, and support the US VIII and XII Corps in
the Prum
area on the Prum River and in the bridgehead area E of the Sauer
River NW of
Echternach, Luxembourg. In France, HQ 416th Bombardment Group
(Light) and the
668th and 670th Bombardment Squadrons (Light) move from Melun to
Athies
Airfield, Laon with A-26s; the 39th Photographic Reconnaissance
Squadron,
Ninth AF, based at St Amand with F-5s, sends a flight to operate
from Jarny
(another flight is at Le Culot, Belgium).
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