23 March 1944

THURSDAY, 23 MARCH 1944

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 275: 524 B-17s and 244
B-24s are dispatched to attack airfields in W Germany and aircraft factories
in the Brunswick area; due to unfavorable weather conditions, only 68 B-24s
hit a primary target and 639 bombers hit secondary targets and targets of
opportunity; the bombers claim 33-8-11 Luftwaffe aircraft; 22 B-17s, 6
B-24s and 4 P-51s are lost; details are:
1. 205 B-17s hit Brunswick and 3 hit targets of opportunity; 16 B-17s are
lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 221 damaged; casualties are 3 KIA, 6 WIA
and 158 MIA.
2. 47 B-17s hit the secondary target at Munster, 83 hit Hamm, 67 hit Ahlen
and 19 hit Neubeckum; 6 B-17s are lost and 56 damaged; casualties are 1 KIA,
3 WIA and 61 MIA.
3. 68 B-24s hit the primary target, Handorf Airfield; 36 hit Achmer City,
21 hit Achmer Airfield, 12 hit Munster, 52 hit Osnabruck and 14 hit other
targets of opportunity; 6 B-24s are lost and 45 damaged; casualties are 1 WIA
and 59 MIA.
Escort is provided by 119 P-38s, 539 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s and
183 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; details are:
1. P-38s: no claims or losses.
2. P-47s claim 4-0-10 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-47 is damaged beyond repair
and 1 damaged.
3. P-51s claim 18-1-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 P-51s are lost and 1 damaged; 4
pilots are MIA.
The fighters also claim 2-0-10 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground.
Mission 276: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 262 bundles of leaflets on Grenoble, Vichy,
Lyon, Toulouse and Limoges, France at 2227-2304 hours without loss.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 220 B-26s on a morning mission bomb
Creil marshalling yard and airfields at Beaumont-le-Roger and Beauvais/Tille;
in an afternoon raid, 146 bomb Haine-Saint-Pierre marshalling yard.
31st Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, III Reconnaissance Command,
arrives at Chalgrove, England from the US with F-5s; first mission is 10 Apr.