25 February 1945

SUNDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IX Troop Carrier Command): HQ 437th Troop Carrier
Group and the 83d, 84th, 85th and 86th Troop Carrier Squadrons move from
Ramsbury, England to Voisins Airfield, Coulommiers, France with C-47s.

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 847: 1,197 bombers and 755 fighters are dispatched to hit tank
factories, airfields associated with jet aircraft, oil depots and rail
targets visually; they claim 34-0-21 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 bombers and 8
fighters are lost:
1. 377 B-17s are sent to hit the Maybach tank factory at Friedrichshaffen
(63) using Gee-H, and the station and marshalling yard (73) and oil storage
tanks and marshalling yard (174) at Munich; 51 hit the secondary target, the
marshalling yard at Ulm; 1 other hit Kenzingen, a target of opportunity; 2
B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 135 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 2
WIA and 18 MIA. Escorting are 136 of 149 P-51s; they claim 1-0-2 aircraft on
the ground; 2 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA).
2. 452 B-17s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard at Munich (315) and
Neuburg (88); targets of opportunity are Kaufbeuren (13), Ludwigsfeldt
marshalling yard (12), Kempten (1), Durladingen (2), Rortwell (1) and other
(5); 3 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 197 damaged; 1 airman is
KIA, 3 WIA and 27 MIA. 140 of 145 P-51s escort and claim 2-0-3 aircraft on
the ground.
3. 368 B-24s are sent to hit the marshalling yard (115) and tank factory
(54) at Aschaffenburg and the airfields at Giebelstadt (96) and Schwabishch
Hall (93); 1 B-24 is damaged beyond repair and 31 damaged; 3 airmen are KIA
and 6 WIA. The escort is 126 of 135 P-51s.
4. 262 P-47s and P-51s fly close escort and area patrols claiming 21-0-4
aircraft in the air and 10-0-12 on the ground; 6 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA)
and 1 P-47 is damaged beyond repair.
5. 8 P-51s escort 4 F-5s on a photo reconnaissance mission over Germany.
6. 32 of 34 P-51s fly a scouting mission.
Mission 848: 12 B-24s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands and Germany
during the night.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, the 9th Bombardment
Division strikes 4 rail bridges, 4 communications centers, a marshalling yard
and 9 targets of opportunity as part of the interdiction campaign against
Germany; fighters escort the bombers, attack assigned ground targets, fly
armed reconnaissance, and support the 8th and 104th Infantry Divisions in the
Duren area, the XIII and XlX Corps E of the Roer River, and the VIII, XII,
and XX Corps along the Prum and Saar Rivers.