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The Mighty Eighth -Sunday, 15 April 1945 |
| SUNDAY, 15 APRIL 1945 EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO) STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 3 missions are flown. Mission 951: 1,348 unescorted bombers are dispatched to visually attack strongpoints on the French Atlantic coast; the first two forces below make the sole operational employment of napalm bomb by the Eighth AF against German ground installations (pillboxes, gunpits, tank trenches, and heavy gun emplacements); the results are negligible and HQ recommends its discontinuance against this type of target: 1. 492 of 529 B-17s hit four strongpoints and flak batteries in the Royan area; 5 B-17s are damaged. 2. 341 of 359 B-24s hit six strongpoints and flak batteries in the Royan area; 1 B-24 is damaged beyond repair and 3 damaged; 2 airmen are KIA. 3. 442 of 457 B-17s hit 9 strongpoints and flak batteries in the Bordeaux/ Royan, Pointe Grave and Pointe Courbre area without loss. 4. 3 B-17s and 20 P-51s fly scouting missions. 5. 107 of 109 P-51s support Ninth AF B-26s; 1 is lost (pilot MIA). 6. 6 of 7 P-51s escort 6 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions over Royan and Germany. Mission 952: 1 Mosquito and 9 B-24s abort a mission to Lechfeld Airfield during the night. Mission 953: 10 of 11 B-24s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany during the night. TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 258 B-26s and A-26s bomb marshalling yards at Gunzburg and Ulm (primary targets) and several other targets including 3 marshalling yards; fighters escort the bombers, fly patrols and armed reconnaissance, and support the US 3d Armored Division near Dessau and across the Mulde River near Torten, the 9th Armored Division along the Mulde NW of Borna, the VIII Corps along Weisse Elster River between Gera and Plauen, the XX Corps astride the Mulde NE of Chemnitz (where the 6th Armored Division awaits Red Army forces), and the 2d Armored Division on the Elbe River near Magdeburg. Unit moves in Germany: HQ 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group from Venlo, the Netherlands to Gutersloh; HQ 368th Fighter Group and 395th and 396th Fighter Squadrons from Metz, France to Frankfurt-am-Main with P-47s; HQ 406th Fighter Group and 512th, 513th and 514th Fighter Squadrons from Assche, Belgium to Handorf with P-47s; 72d Liaison Squadron, Ninth AF (attached to Sixth Army Group) from Darmstadt to Kitzingen with L-5s; 153d Liaison Squadron, IX Tactical Air Command (attached to Twelfth Army Group) from Marburg to Bad Wildungen with L-5s. |