|
|
THE UNIT
| # | Target Area | Date | Target | Lead Crew | Command Pilot | Ordinance | B-17s Lost | Claims |
| 218 | Duren, Germany | 16-Nov-44 | Troop Support | Lt. C.E. Rohr | Col. J.A. Moller | 979 x 260lb Fragmentation 10 Containers Leaflets |
0 | 0-0-0 |
By mid-November, with General Patton still entangled in the Vosges area, the Supreme Command attempted an all-out effort to breach the last vestiges of the Siegfried Line facing the American Army.
This break-through, designed on the scale of St. Lo, was to be localized in the area between Aachen and Duren. The immediate objective was to establish a winter line along the Rhine River.
As with all break-throughs, the aerial arm was to be the decisive factor. The Eighth Air Force in strength was to lead off, followed by the Royal Air Force and the Ninth Air Force. It was to be the greatest number of bombers dispatched on one area since D-Day. Leading this armada was the Third Division, and a happenstance decreed that the 390th Group should be Division leader.
All navigational aids, including a flak safety line, were pressed into service. It was imperative that this great force of bombers have an orderly traffic pattern, to get over the desired area, and to get out of the way. Targets included field gun positions, strong points, and troop concentrations.
Encountering thick cloud and haze, the 390th guided Eighth Air Force's 1,204 planes to the desired spot. Only 4 of these planes were lost (none from the 390th).
Over 4,100 tons of bombs cascaded over the enemy positions. General Hodges of the First Army wired his congratulations for the accuracy of the attack, saying that not one America soldier was injured... unprecedented in area bombings.
By St. Lo standards, the First Army could have walked to the Rhine. However, by bitter experience, the Germans had learned how to deal with these saturation raids. They pulled their troops back from the bombing area, and when fire had ceased, rushed back into their former positions. Hence, Duren's brilliance was lost in the resumption of static warfare.
In the days that followed Duren, American infantrymen inched forward, pushing through their greatest obstacles of the war. The Eighth Air Force went back to work at its old task of disrupting supply to the German lines.