11 Feburary 1944

FRIDAY, 11 FEBRUARY 1944

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 218: 94 of 201 B-24s bomb
the Siracourt V-weapon site in France with PFF equipment; the remaining
aircraft were assigned individual targets without PFF and were unable to
locate their targets; 1 B-24 is lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 17 damaged;
casualties are 1 KIA, 1 WIA and 10 MIA; escort is provided by 85 Eighth and
Ninth Air Force P-47's and 41 P-51s without loss. The primary target for 223
B-17s is the marshalling yard at Frankfurt, Germany; 157 hit the primary, 32
hit Ludwigshafen, 19 hit Saarbrucken and 4 hit other targets of opportunity;
they claim 3-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 B-17s are lost, 3 damaged beyond
repair and 124 damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 26 WIA and 51 MIA; escort is
provided by 82 P-38s, 486 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47's and 38 Ninth Air
Force P-51s; they claim 30-2-28 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 2-1-4 on
the ground; 8 P-38s, 4 P-47's and 2 P-51s are lost, 2 P-47's and 1 P-51 are
damaged beyond repair and 2 P-38s and 4 P-47's are damaged; casualties are
14 MIA.
Mission 219: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 250 bundles of leaflets on Ghent, Brussels
and Antwerp, Belgium at 2118-2146 hours without loss.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): Most of the 139 B-26s dispatched to
attack NOBALL (V-weapon) targets in N France are recalled because of bad
weather; 35 manage to bomb the marshalling yard at Amiens.
495th and 497th Bombardment Squadrons (Medium), 344th Bombardment Group
(Medium), arrives at Stansted, England from the US with B-26s; first mission
is 29 Feb.