21 January 1945

SUNDAY, 21 JANUARY 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 803: 912 bombers and 523 fighters are dispatched to hit industrial
and rail targets in C Germany using PFF methods with some visual bombing;
they claim 8-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; 8 bombers are lost:
1. 379 B-17s are sent to hit the marshalling yard (257) and oil plant (66)
at Aschaffenburg; targets of opportunity are the Pforzheim marshalling yard
(24) and military vehicle plant at Mannheim (3); Gee-H and H2X are used; 2
B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 4 damaged; 18 airmen are KIA and
2 MIA. Escorting are 112 of 139 P-51s.
2. 382 B-17s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard (254), Lanz
military vehicle factory (21) and highway and rail bridges (16) at Mannheim;
targets of opportunity are the Pforzheim marshalling yard (16), Speyer (4) and
other (3); bombing is by Micro H and H2X; 6 B-17s are lost, 3 damaged beyond
repair and 53 damaged; 3 airmen are KIA, 12 WIA and 55 MIA. The escort is 138
of 150 P-51s; they claim 2-0-0 aircraft on the ground.
3. 152 B-24s are sent to hit the marshalling yard at Heilbronn (68) using
H2X; targets of opportunity bombed visually are the marshalling yard at
Pforzheim (11), the communications centers at Arnbach (14) and Mannheim (1)
and Reutlingen (1); 4 B-24s are damaged beyond repair and 2 damaged; 3 airmen
are WIA. Escort is provided by 120 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 6-0-1 aircraft
on the ground.
4. 26 of 26 P-51s fly a scouting mission.
5. 6 of 7 P-51s fly an armed photographic mission over Politz.
6. 22 of 23 P-51s escort 4 F-5s on a photo reconnaissance mission over
Germany.
Mission 804: 2 B-17s and 9 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands, France
and Germany during the night without loss.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 166 A-26s, A-20s, and
B-26s hit a rail junction and bridge at Euskirchen and marshalling yard and
defended positions at Mayen; fighters fly armed reconnaissance, escort
bombers, bomb bridges, and support the US 7th Armored Division.