EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force):: 2 missions are flown. Mission 941: 1,303 bombers and 913 fighters are dispatched to hit a variety of targets in Germany; 1 B-17 is lost: 1. 445 B-17s are sent to hit the Freiham oil depot (300) and Kraiburg munitions plant (133); secondary targets hit are the munitions depot at Landshut (1) and the marshalling yard at Treuchtlingen (1); 1 B-17 is lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 15 damaged; 1 airman is WIA and 10 MIA. Escorting are 273 of 294 P-51s. 2. 509 B-17s are sent to hit the munitions depot (28) and marshalling yard (82) at Landshut; the airfield (131) and marshalling yard (79) at Ingolstadt; and the marshalling yards at Treuchtlingen (70) and Donauworth (108); no losses or casualties. The escort is 281 of 294 P-51s. 3. 346 B-24s are dispatched to hit Obertraubling Airfield (79), a munitions depot (31) and an oil depot (80) at Regensburg, and the marshalling yards at Neumarkt (71) and Amberg (73); 2 B-24s are damaged beyond repair and 5 damaged; 22 airmen are KIA. 211 P-47s and P-51s escort. 4. 3 B-17s and 28 of 29 P-51s fly scouting missions. 5. 52 P-51s fly a freelance sweep over Regensburg. 6. 28 P-51s escort 10 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions over Germany. Mission 942: 9 B-24s drop leaflets in Germany during the night and 11 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER missions in Denmark.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 689 A-20s, A-26s and B-26s strike marshalling yards at Bernburg, Oschersleben, Zwickau, and Kothen, the Naumburg ordnance depot, Bamberg motor transport plant, and several other targets; fighters escort the bombers, fly patrols, sweeps, a leaflet mission, and armed reconnaissance (claiming 43 aircraft shot down), and support the US 3d and 9th Armored Divisions in the Nordhausen and Ringleben-Sachsenburg-Rothenberga areas, the 2d Armored Division as it reaches the Elbe River S of Magdeburg in a record drive of 57 miles (92 km), the XVI Corps along the Ruhr River at Witten, the XX Corps as it crosses the Saale River at Weimar and overruns the Buchenwald concentration camp and Allied prisoner camp nearby, the XII Corps in the Coburg-Rottenbach area, and the VIII Corps as it approaches the Saale River S of Weimar. Unit moves in Germany: HQ 366th Fighter Group from Assche, Belgium to Handorf Airfield, Munster; the 14th Liaison Squadron, XIX Tactical Air Command (attached to Twelfth Army Group), from Berkersheim to Hersfeld with L-5s; and the 392d and 394th Fighter Squadrons, 367th Fighter Group, from Conflans, France to Eschborn Airfield, Frankfurt with P-47s.
