RagTag
Airman
I am new here so I hope this is the right place to post this. I just felt it was appropriate today (16th) to remember 75 years ago the Battle of the Bulge started, and the heroic veterans who remain and their comrades who resisted the German onslaught to ultimate success. It seems the Bulge does not quite get the attention in the media other significant dates like Pearl Harbor or D-day get, but the sacrifices and bravery were no less.
I have an entry in my Dad's mission logbook I thought I'd share on this occasion, as Lt. Lawrence M. Hohlaus he flew a mission as a B-26 1st Pathfinder Squadron co-pilot on December 18, 1944, the only mission he actually flew during the Bulge itself:
"[Mission] 18. December 18, 1944. [aircraft serial number] #308. [Target] Schleiden, Germany, troop concentrations and strongpoints. Led [the] 409th A-26 and A-20's. No flak - 10/10 clouds up to target - Saw artillery flashes in open spot in front. Good mission. Regular crew. P-47's everywhere - day after German breakthrough.
4 x 500 lbs. [bomb load]. 4:15 [mission time]."
It looks like Schleiden was in the marshaling area for the 6th Panzer Army just beyond the border and northeast of Malmedy on the northern front of the Bulge. The flight line from Beauvais would have taken him over the north edge of the Bulge, still all socked in, although the groups forming up to the Pathfinders might not have been in that straight line path. I always thought the comment about P-47s was interesting - not as escorts as he would normally note but free ranging perhaps looking for targets they could not find under the cloud cover.
He flew no more missions until after the Bulge collapsed, but many after that. He may have gone on leave, and did say they were dropping practice bombs when I asked him once about this time period. (retraining on new Oboe equipment back in England?). Wish I could ask him more about it now I know more. Maybe others can post here stories from this time of battle.
I have an entry in my Dad's mission logbook I thought I'd share on this occasion, as Lt. Lawrence M. Hohlaus he flew a mission as a B-26 1st Pathfinder Squadron co-pilot on December 18, 1944, the only mission he actually flew during the Bulge itself:
"[Mission] 18. December 18, 1944. [aircraft serial number] #308. [Target] Schleiden, Germany, troop concentrations and strongpoints. Led [the] 409th A-26 and A-20's. No flak - 10/10 clouds up to target - Saw artillery flashes in open spot in front. Good mission. Regular crew. P-47's everywhere - day after German breakthrough.
4 x 500 lbs. [bomb load]. 4:15 [mission time]."
It looks like Schleiden was in the marshaling area for the 6th Panzer Army just beyond the border and northeast of Malmedy on the northern front of the Bulge. The flight line from Beauvais would have taken him over the north edge of the Bulge, still all socked in, although the groups forming up to the Pathfinders might not have been in that straight line path. I always thought the comment about P-47s was interesting - not as escorts as he would normally note but free ranging perhaps looking for targets they could not find under the cloud cover.
He flew no more missions until after the Bulge collapsed, but many after that. He may have gone on leave, and did say they were dropping practice bombs when I asked him once about this time period. (retraining on new Oboe equipment back in England?). Wish I could ask him more about it now I know more. Maybe others can post here stories from this time of battle.
