6 January 1945

SATURDAY, 6 JANUARY 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 783: 816 bombers and 622 fighters are dispatched to hit rail and
communications targets in W Germany; all but a few attacks are made using
Gee-H and H2X; they claim 14-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground; 1 B-17 and
2 P-51s are lost:
1. 258 B-17s are dispatched to hit marshalling yards at Worms (62) and
Kaiserslautern (34); 64 hit a secondary target, the marshalling yard at
Ludwigshafen; targets of opportunity are Annweiler (31), the marshalling yard
at Kusel (22) and other (29); some targets are bombed visually; 2 B-17s are
damaged beyond repair and 55 damaged; 5 airmen are KIA and 2 WIA. Escorting
are 109 of 121 P-51s; they claim 14-0-1 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-51 is
lost (pilot MIA) and 2 damaged beyond repair (1 pilot KIA).
2. 422 B-17s are sent to hit the Cologne South rail bridge (71) and Cologne
North highway bridge (35) and the communications center at Kempernich (72);
secondary targets are the Kalk marshalling yard at Cologne (183) and the
highway bridge across the Rhine River at Bonn (38); 3 others hit a target of
opportunity; 1 B-17 is lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 17 damaged; 1 airman
is WIA and 10 MIA. Escort is provided by 219 of 229 P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost
(pilot MIA) and 2 damaged beyond repair (1 pilot KIA).
3. 31 of 130 B-24s hit the highway bridge across the Rhine River at Bonn;
95 hit the secondary target, the Mosel marshalling yard at Koblenz; 1 hits a
target of opportunity; 1 B-24 is damaged beyond repair and 17 damaged. The
escort is 172 of 181 P-51s.
4. 6 of 6 B-17s fly a screening mission.
5. 36 of 60 P-47s attack the marshalling yard at Siegen.
6. 23 of 23 P-51s fly a scouting mission.
7. 8 of 8 P-51s escort 4 F-5s on a photo reconnaissance mission over W
Germany.
Mission 784: 6 B-17s drop leaflets over Belgium and the Netherlands during
the night.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS: (Ninth Air Force): 26 bombers of the 9th Bombardment
Division strike Prum, Germany. Bad weather prevents all fighter operations.