31 March 1945

SATURDAY, 31 MARCH 1945

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 920: 1,348 bombers and
889 fighters are dispatched to hit synthetic oil plants, a refinery,
munitions plant and tank factory; they claim 9-3-9 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5
bombers and 4 fighters are lost:
1. 229 B-17s are sent to hit the synthetic oil refinery at Zeitz using H2X
radar; secondary targets hit are the oil plant at Bad Berka (29) and Gotha
(20) visually; targets of opportunity are Erfurt (25) and other (8), hit
visually; 3 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 108 damaged; 1 airman
is KIA; 2 WIA and 30 MIA. Escorting are 117 of 120 P-51s; 1 is lost (pilot
MIA).
2. 294 B-17s are sent to hit Brandenburg (265); targets of opportunity are
Stendal (9) and Salzwedel (9); they claim 0-1-0 aircraft; 1 B-17 is damaged.
207 of 221 P-51s escort claiming 5-0-0 aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).
3. 371 of 385 B-24s hit the secondary target, the marshalling yard at
Brunswick; they claim 3-2-1 aircraft; 2 B-24s are lost, 3 damaged beyond
repair and 3 damaged; 10 airmen are KIA, 1 WIA and 29 MIA. The escort is 253
of 266 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 0-0-7 aircraft; 2 P-51s are lost (pilots
MIA).
4. 369 of 432 B-17s attack the secondary, the marshalling yard at Halle;
targets of opportunity are Leipzig (8), Weimar (36), Aschersleben (7) and
other (1); 37 B-17s are damaged. Escorting are 225 of 233 P-51s.
5. 8 B-17s fly a screening mission.
6. 26 of 30 P-51s fly scouting missions; they claim 1-0-1 aircraft.
7. 19 P-51s escort 8 of 10 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions.

TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In Germany, 550+ A-20s, A-26s and
B-26s hit storage depots at Ebrach, Wurzburg, and Marienburg, the marshalling
yard at Wurzburg, the town area of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and a target of
opportunity; fighters escort the bombers, hit special targets, fly armed
reconnaissance, and support the US 3d and 9th Armored Divisions near
Paderborn, the XII Corps as it charges toward Eisenach, the XX Corps along
the Fulda and Eder Rivers, and the XVI and XIX Corps S of Haltern and NW of
Lippstadt. The 162d Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 363d Tactical
Reconnaissance Group [attached to Reconnaissance Group (Provisional), XII
Tactical Air Command], moves from Azelot to Haguenau, France with F-6s.