22 March 1945

THURSDAY, 22 MARCH 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 906: Air attacks in preparation for the lower Rhine River crossing
by Allied ground forces continue; 1,331 bombers and 662 fighters attack
barracks and military encampments in the Ruhr and airfields in Germany
visually; they claim 27-1-12 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 B-17 and 3 P-51s are lost:
1. 99 of 114 B-17s hit Ahlhorn Airfield; 13 others hit the marshalling yard
at Oldenburg, a target of opportunity; 1 B-17 is lost; 9 airmen are MIA.
Escorting are 95 of 99 P-51s.
2. 457 B-17s are sent to hit military camps at Bottrop (36), Dorsten (74),
Barningholten (111), Westerholt (116), Feldhausen N (74) and S (39); 3 B-17s
are damaged beyond repair and 111 damaged; 2 airmen are KIA and 8 WIA. The
escort is 95 of 99 P-51s.
3. 297 B-17s are sent to hit military camps at Hinsbeck (67), Geresheim
(73), Ratingen (75) and Mulheim (74); 114 B-17s are damaged and 3 airmen are
WIA. 48 P-51s escort; they claim 0-0-1 aircraft on the ground.
4. 342 B-24s are dispatched to hit airfields at Kitzingen (168),
Giebelstadt (75) and Schwab Hall (82); 8 others hit Wurzburg, the secondary
target; 1 B-24 is damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged; 8 airmen are KIA. The
escort is 138 of 153 P-51s; they claim 3-0-1 aircraft in the air and 13-0-7
on the ground.
5. 109 of 113 B-17s hit the Rhein Main Airfield at Frankfurt; 31 B-17s are
damaged. Escorting are 56 P-51s.
6. 6 B-17s fly a screening mission.
7. 19 of 22 P-51s escort 19 of 22 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions
over Germany; they claim 11-1-3 aircraft in the air.
8. 2 B-17s and 31 of 32 P-51s fly a scouting mission.
9. 150 of 153 P-51s escort Fifteenth AF bombers from Italy.
Mission 907: 9 of 10 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands and Germany.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, nearly 800 A-20s, A-26s,
and B-26s bomb 9 communications centers and a marshalling yard E of the Rhine
River (plus 7 towns, flak positions, and a target of opportunity) as part of
the interdiction program to impede the movement of supplies and troops;
fighters escort the bombers, attack railroads and other assigned targets, fly
patrols and armed reconnaissance, support the US 1st and 9th Infantry
Divisions SE of Honnef and along the Wied River, cooperate with the XII Corps
as it begins crossing the Rhine River in the Mainz-Oppenheim areas and with
the XX Corps which begins an attack on Ludwigshafen. HQ 69th Tactical
Reconnaissance Group and the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron arrive at
Nancy, France from the US with F-6s; HQ 474th Fighter Group moves from
Florennes, Belgium to Strassfeld, Germany; the 31st Tactical Reconnaissance
Squadron, Ninth AF [attached to 9th Tactical Reconnaissance Group
(Provisional)], arrives at Maastricht, the Netherlands from the US with F-6s;
the 72d Liaison Squadron, Ninth Air Force (attached to Sixth Army Group),
moves from Buhl to Sarreguemines, France with L-5s.