29 January 1945

MONDAY, 29 JANUARY 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 811: 1,158 bombers and 700 fighters are dispatched to hit
industrial plants at Kassel and rail targets in C Germany; the attacks were
made using H2X radar; they claim 6-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 B-24 and 2 P-51s
are lost:
1. 415 B-17s are sent to hit rail centers at Niederlahnstein (110) and
Siegen (144); 104 hit the secondary, the Mosel marshalling yard at Koblenz;
37 hit the marshalling yard at Bad Kreuznach, a target of opportunity; 4
B-17s are damaged beyond repair and 7 damaged. Escorting are 235 of 254
P-51s; they claim 1-0-1 aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost and 1 damaged beyond repair;
1 pilot is KIA.
2. 386 B-17s are dispatched to hit the Henschel oil plant at Kassel (93);
154 hit the secondary, the Kassel marshalling yard; targets of opportunity
are the Bielefeld marshalling yard (76), Koblenz (35) and other (2); 2 B-17s
are damaged beyond repair and 28 damaged; 18 airmen are KIA and 1 WIA. The
escort is 207 of 224 P-51s; they claim 4-0-1 aircraft; 1 P-51 is damaged
beyond repair.
3. 357 B-24s dispatched hit secondary targets, the marshalling yards at
Munster (206) and Hamm (124); 9 others hit the Soest marshalling yard, a
target of opportunity; 1 B-24 is lost and 18 damaged; 9 airmen are MIA. 173
P-47s and P-51s escort; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-51 is
lost (pilot MIA).
4. 23 of 27 P-51s fly a scouting mission without loss.
Mission 812: 1 B-17 and 8 B-24s drop leaflets in Germany and the
Netherlands during the night.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS

First Tactical Air Force (Provisional): Brigadier General Glenn O Barcus
becomes Commanding General XII Tactical Air Command.

Ninth Air Force: 364 A-20s, B-26s, and A-26s bomb rail bridges, supply
and communications centers, and defended areas in W Germany; fighters escort
the bombers, fly armed reconnaissance and patrols and support US Third Army
units at points along the frontlines from S of Saint-Vith, Belgium to the
bridgehead area around Saarlautern, Germany.