12 March 1945MONDAY, 12 MARCH 1945
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 883: 1,355 bombers and 797
fighters are dispatched to hit
marshalling yards in Germany by PFF; they claim 4-0-1 Luftwaffe
aircraft; 1
B-17 and 4 fighters are lost:
1. 220 of 227 B-24s and 441 of 450 B-17s attack the marshalling
yard at
Swinemunde; 1 other hit the marshalling yard at Husum, a target
of
opportunity; all attacks are made with H2X radar; 1 B-17 is
lost, 6 B-17s are
damaged; 1 airman is KIA and 10 MIA. Escorting are 412 of 452
P-51s; they
claim 4-0-1 aircraft in the air; 4 P-51s are lost (3 pilots
MIA).
2. 154 B-24s are sent to hit the marshalling yards at Friedberg
(75) and
Wetzlar (74) using Gee-H; 2 airmen are WIA.
3. 298 B-17s are dispatched to attack the marshalling yards at
Siegen (141)
and Marburg (113); 24 hit the secondary target, the marshalling
yard at
Frankfurt using Micro H; 4 B-17s are damaged.
4. 226 B-17s are sent to bomb the marshalling yards at Betzdorf
(116) and
Dillenburg (110) using Gee-H without loss.
5. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th forces above are escorted by 192 P-47s
and P-51s
without loss.
6. 97 of 108 P-51s fly a sweep to support the bombers without
loss.
7. 10 P-51s escort 5 F-5s and 2 Spitfires on photo
reconnaissance missions
over Germany.
8. 23 of 24 P-51s fly a scouting mission.
Mission 884: 11 of 12 B-24s drop
leaflets in the Netherlands and Germany
during the night and 4 of 10 B-24s fly a CARPETBAGGER mission.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): 9th Bombardment Division
A-20s,
A-26s and B-26s attack 8 marshalling yards, an
ammunition-filling plant, city
areas and targets of opportunity; the attacks on the marshalling
yards are
aimed at blocking troop movements by rail into the Ruhr and
Remagen areas;
fighters escort the bombers, bomb special targets, fly armed
reconnaissance,
cover the Remagen area, and support the US 9th Infantry Division
in the
Kalenborn and Hargarten areas and the XX Corps in the Saarburg
bridgehead
area. The 387th and 388th Fighter Squadrons, 365th Fighter
Group, move from
Juzaine Airfield, Florennes, Belgium to Aachen, Germany with
P-47s; and the
412th Fighter Squadron, 373d Fighter Group, moves from Le Culot,
Belgium to
Venlo, the Netherlands with P-47s.
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