This day in the war in Europe 65 years ago

12 April 1944

EASTERN FRONT: The 3rd Ukrainian Front continues to drive into Romania, unhinging the southern flank of the German lines on the eastern front. Hitler, now desperate for troops, belatedly orders the evacuation of the Crimea. The only route out of the Crimea now available was by sea out of Sevastopol.

In a secret session, the Finnish Parliament rejects the Soviet terms for peace.

GERMANY: US Eighth Air Force Mission 300: 455 bombers and 766 fighters dispatched to bomb industrial targets at Schweinfurt, Zwickau, Oscheresleben, Schkeuditz, Halle and Leipzig are forced to abandon the mission because of haze and multilayer clouds; Luftwaffe fighter opposition is concentrated over N France and the bombers claim 10-6-7 fighters; 6 B-17s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged; 25 B-24s are damaged; casualties are 12 KIA, 16 WIA and 56 MIA. Escort is provided by 124 P-38s, 449 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s and 193 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; they claim 18-1-3 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 1-0-8 on the ground; 3 P-38s and 2 P-51s are lost, 2 P-47s are damaged beyond repair and 3 P-38s, 17 P-47s and 1 P-51 are damaged.

39 RAF Mosquitos carried out a harassing raid on Osnabrück without loss.

WESTERN FRONT: 231 B-26s and 20 A-20s of the US Ninth Air Force attack railroad, shore batteries, radar installations, airfields, and V-weapon sites at Dunkirk and Courtrai/Wevelghem, France; Coxyde/Furnes, De Pannes-Bains, Saint Ghislain and Ostend, Belgium; and points along the coast. 70+ P-47s dive-bomb military installations in N France.

RAF Minor operations: 2 Mosquitos on Serrate patrols, 40 Halifaxes and 10 Stirlings minelaying in the Frisians and off Heligoland, 21 aircraft on Resistance operations, 11 OTU sorties. 2 Stirlings lost on Resistance operations.

While landing his Bf 109G at Rouvres-Etain airfield, Major Mietusch of III./JG 26 - newly returned from a hospital stay - hit a bomb crater and overturned in his aircraft. His injuries put him back in the hospital for 3 weeks.

MEDITERRANEAN: US Twelfth Air Force medium bombers bomb rail lines approaching the Monte Molino bridge and at a nearby junction to the Viterbo line, railroad and road bridges S of Orvieto and at Certaldo, tracks approaching a bridge at Impeda, and railroad bridges over the Var River and at Albenga; light bombers pound the Zagarolo supply dump; fighter-bombers and fighters (some operating with British aircraft) hit communications (mainly railroad bridges), vehicles, supply dumps at various places, including Arezzo, the island of Elba, Orvieto, NE of Grosseto, NW of Bracciano, Civita Castellana, Montalto di Castro, between Piombino and Viterbo, in the Castiglioncello area, NW of Montepescali and S of Cecina.

Bad weather lifts, permitting US Fifteenth Air Force bomber operations; almost 450 B-17s and B-24s attack targets in Austria and Yugoslavia; the B-17s hit aircraft factories at Fischamend Markt, Austria and Split, Yugoslavia; the B-24s hit the industrial area at Wiener Neustadt and Bad Voslau, Austria and the marshalling yard and air depot at Zagreb, Yugoslavia; 200+ P-38s and P-47s provide escort; the bombers and fighters claim 30+ enemy aircraft shot down; 8 US airplanes are known lost and several more fail to return.

King Victor Emmanuel announces his plan to retire when the Allies enter Rome, and appoints Crown Prince Umberto lieutenant of the realm.

US freighter 'Horace H. Lurton', steaming in convoy west of Algiers, is damaged by shell fired by nearby ship, injuring five men of the 44 merchant sailors and 28-man Armed Guard. Destroyer 'Breckinridge' (DD-148 ) provides medical assistance.

UNITED KINGDOM: A Norwegian Spitfire pilot on a training flight from Eshott airfield in Northumberland, was killed in a mid-air collision, over the airfield, with a USAAF Thunderbolt attached to the Flight Leaders School based at Milfield airfield near Wooler.

13 April 1944

EASTERN FRONT: The Red Army captures Simferopol. Soviet forces continue to sweep through the Crimea as the 17.Armee begins to disintegrate into a routed mob heading for the dubious safety of Sevastopol. Feodosia and Simferopolo both fall.

WESTERN FRONT: US and RAF tactical bombing forces begin attacks on coastal defenses in northern France in preparation for the cross-channel attack, now seven weeks away. The US Ninth Air Force dispatches 121 B-26s and 37 A-20s to attack a marshalling yard, coastal batteries, airfields and V-weapon sites at Namur, Chievres and Nieuport, Belgium; Le Havre, France; and along the northern coast of France in general; nearly 175 other aircraft abort missions mainly because of weather; and 48 P-47s also dive-bomb V-weapon sites.

During Eighth Air Force Mission 302, 4 B-17s drop 800,000 leaflets on Amsterdam, The Hague and Eindhoven at 2235-2252 hours without loss.

Britain and America demand that Sweden stop exporting ball bearings to Germany.

MEDITERRANEAN: US Twelfth Air Force B-25s attack Terni and a bridge at Marsciano while B-26s bomb Ancona marshalling yard and a nearby railroad bridge; fighter-bombers again strike mainly at communications, the town of Itri, Cesano station, a factory at Fontana Liri, a railroad overpass at Fara in Sabina, Anguillara, and bridges, trucks and other targets at points throughout central Italy.

535 US Fifteenth Air Force heavy bombers (largest bomber mission to date) bomb targets in Hungary; 163 B-17s bomb an aircraft plant and depot at Gyor while 324 B-24s bomb an aircraft factory at Budapest and air depots at Budapest, Tokol and Vecses; fighter opposition and AA account for 14 US bombers and 1 fighter shot down; 40 enemy fighters are claimed shot down and 120+ aircraft destroyed on the ground. The Hungarian fighters include sixteen Hungarian-made Me-210Cs, but these failed to shoot down any American aircraft, but lost several of their number including at least one to Hungarian anti-aircraft fire, which knocked out one of its engines. Casualties amount to 1,073 killed and about 500 injured, prompting a mass evacuation of 100,000 people from the city (mostly children, elderly and pregnant women).

GERMANY: The US Eighth Air Force flies Mission 301: 626 bombers and 871 fighters are dispatched to hit targets in Germany; the bombers claim 22-13-34 Luftwaffe aircraft and the fighters claim 42-8-10 in the air and 35-0-21 on the ground; 38 bombers and 9 fighters are lost; the bombers also drop 5.2 million leaflets on Germany; this mission is flown in conjunction with a raid on Hungary by 500+ Fifteenth Air Force bombers. 154 B-17s hit the industrial area at Schweinfurt and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 14 B-17s are lost. 207 B-17s bomb aviation industry targets at Augsburg and 20 hit the city of Augsburg; 18 B-17s are lost. 93 B-24s hit Lechfeld Airfield; 60 bomb aviation industry targets at Oberpfaffenhofen; 29 hit Lauffern and 2 hit targets of opportunity; 6 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 134 P-38s, 504 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts and 233 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; 3 P-38s, 2 P-47s and 4 P-51s are lost.

29 RAF Mosquitos were dispatched to Berlin but observation of bombing results was not possible because of the glare of massed searchlights. No aircraft lost. 6 Mosquitos to Düren and 3 to Dortmund, 10 Stirlings and 6 Halifaxes minelaying off Cherbourg, Le Havre and La Pallice. No losses.

UNITED KINGDOM: General Dwight D Eisenhower formally assumes direction of air operations out of the UK at 0000 hours (though he began informal exercise of this authority in late March 2944). This assumption of authority gives Eisenhower direction over the Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF) consisting of the RAF 2nd Tactical Air Force and the USAAF Ninth Air Force; RAF Bomber Command; and US Strategic Air Forces in Europe (USSTAF) consisting of the USAAF Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces (the Fifteenth Air Force retains some degree of independence) along with the US 1st Army Group, British 21 Army Group, and Allied Naval Forces.

14 April 1944

MEDITERRANEAN: US Twelfth Air Force B-25s attack Viterbo Airfield and Leghorn marshalling yard, B-26 Marauders strike at Poggibonsi, Certaldo, Cecina and Magra, attacking mostly rail facilities and hit Arezzo bridge and viaduct and Bucine viaducts; fighter-bombers also concentrate on rail lines and bridges and hit many supply dumps, gun positions and factories, generally located northeast of Rome.

Three US motor torpedo boats and two British Fairmile "D" patrol craft brave intense German shore battery fire to carry out two torpedo attacks on north-bound German F-lighters off San Vincenzio, Italy. No hits are observed.

EASTERN FRONT: General Nikolai F Vatutin, injured on 29 February, dies of his wounds.

The Red Army has reconquered the Crimea in a lightning campaign which lasted just six days. Only the southern tip around Sevastopol is holding against Marshal Tolbukhin's Fourth Ukrainian Front. The attack was launched following the liberation of the Black Sea port of Odessa from which the Germans supplied General Jaenecke's 17th Army in the Crimea. Now the Germans and their Romanian allies have no choice. They have to fall back on the "Gneisenau Line" covering Sevastopol. Thousands of German and Romanian non-combatant personnel and Russian auxiliaries are being evacuated from the Crimea to Constanta. Moscow radio today broadcast this order:

"Sailors and airmen. Don't allow them to escape! Destroy their ships! Shoot down their planes! Don't allow a single enemy to escape retribution!"

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1st and 2nd Ukrainian Fronts drive into the Carpathian Mountains, forcing the inappropriately named and newly formed Army Groups Northern and Southern Ukraine to retreat in different directions opening a wide gap in the German lines.

WESTERN FRONT: In the North Atlantic, Royal Canadian Navy frigate 'Swansea' and Royal Navy sloop 'Pelican' sink German submarine 'U-448'. 9 dead and 42 survivors.

15 April 1944

EASTERN FRONT: The 1st Ukrainian Front ends the siege of Tarnopol as the German garrison is overrun while attempting to breakout. One of the principal cities of Eastern Galicia, across the former Polish border,Tarnopol, traditionally a part of Poland, then part of the Soviet Union, had become German-occupied territory in the great German offensive eastward in June 1941.

Clearing weather again permits US Fifteenth Air Force bomber operations. 448 B-17s and B-24s attack marshalling yards; B-17s hit Ploesti, Romaniaand Nis, Yugoslavia; B-24s hit Bucharest, Romania; 150+ fighters provide escort. The attacks were part of the Allied air assault on Nazi communications with the southern front and has brought US bombers within 140 miles of the Russian spearheads in eastern Romania. The Germans adopted new tactics by sending rock-firing Do-217 nightfighters against the Liberators attacking Bucharest. The Luftwaffe lost 13 aircraft in the day's battles, while the Americans lost ten bombers and four fighters. The raids were followed by RAF Wellingtons which carried 4,000-pound bombs in their first raids on Romania. Their target was Turnu Severin, a railway town on the north bank of the Danube, on the main line to Bucharest from Budapest and Belgrade. The crews of the last wave of Wellingtons said that they could see the glow from fires 60 miles away. They went in low, machine-gunning flak barges on the Danube and shooting up an airfield before dropping their bombs on the railway yards.

A special group, led by Lieutenant Colonel Louis A Neveleff, flies from US Fifteenth Air Force HQ at Bari, Italy to Medeno Polji, Yugoslavia and from there the group proceeds to Marshall Tito's HQ at Drvar, where Colonel Neveleff confers with Tito and spends several days laying the groundwork for the evacuation of downed US airmen in Yugoslav hands. Also, much information is gathered regarding the military organization and political trend of the partisan movement. The mission returns to Italy on 2 May and 122 men, mostly US Fifteenth Air Force airmen, are also evacuated.

40 Jewish prisoners working as a "Blobel Commando" digging up and incinerating massacre victims buried at Ponar Woods escape; 25 are shot dead.

With today's round-up of Jews in the German-occupied areas of Ruthenia and Croatia, Hungary is no longer a safe refuge for Jewish people. The Hungarian government has hitherto stood up to German demands for the 767,000 Jews to be deported for "special treatment" in Poland. Miklos Kallay, who was premier until 22 March, refused to take any measures against the Jews, refusing German pressure to institute ghettoes and badges for them. Meanwhile, at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the guards chuckle that "soon we'll be eating Hungarian salami". Engineers are checking and overhauling the gas chambers and crematoria. They are clearly expecting some big transports to arrive soon.

GERMANY: The US Eighth Air Force flies Mission 303: 616 fighters are dispatched on strafing sweeps of central and western Germany, airfields being the primary objectives; 132 P-38s claim 7-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft, 11 P-38s are lost; 262 P-47s claim 20-1-23 aircraft, 7 P-47s are lost; 222 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s claim 30-0-10 aircraft, 15 P-51s are lost. Major Anton Hackl, Geschwaderkommodore of JG 1, was badly wounded in combat against P-47s.

IV(Sturm)./JG 3 completed its formation as a Sturmgruppe at Salzwedel and led by Major Wilhelm Moritz, became operational. The Gruppe flew Bf 109Gs but soon switched to Fw 190s. Among its pilots were Willi Maximowitz, Werner Gerth, Gerhard Vivroux and Siefried Muller.

MEDITERRANEAN: The French take San Giorgio as the German Gustav Line starts to crumble.

US Twelfth Air Force B-25s and B-26s strike a marshalling yard at Leghorn and a tunnel and railroad bridges in central Italy; P-47 Thunderbolts attack rail lines, bridges and ammunition dumps northeast of Rome with good results; other P-47s, P-40s and A-36 Apaches hit numerous targets, including rail lines, motor transport shop, vehicles, tanks and gun positions, in central Italy and in the US Fifth Army battle areas.

2(F)./122 flew a mission from Perugia with an Me 410. The aircraft was shot down at 07.30, 7 kms south of Ortona, when flying northwards over the Adriatic. The crew - Uffz Albert Allrich (pilot) and Uffz. Erwin Lehmann (Observer) were both KIA.

UNITED KINGDOM: Two Handley Page Halifax bombers crashed while attempting to land at Dishforth Aerodrome. Halifax EB203 crashed into a haystack near Ripon at approx. 23.25 hours and burned. The crew as listed were all killed.

Sent out on a routine training flight, Halifax EB 205 encountered bad weather. At one point, the crew were ordered to stand down but later ordered to fly above the storm that was due to hit the area later that day. The flight went well and they could see the storm gathering below. On returning to base at approx 2300 hrs they hit the full force of the storm. As they were preparing to land at Dishforth, both port engines had cut. The pilot radioed ahead, and he was given priority to land. Cloud cover was down to 500ft over Dishforth, on breaking cloud cover they realised they had overshot. The pilot decided to put down at the nearby Topcliffe aerodrome and was approaching there with a 10mph tailwind. As a precaution the crew were ordered to take up crash positions. The MUG John Tynski came down from his position and laid down on the floor with his parachute over his head . The aircraft careered off the end of the runway and into the railway cottages close to the road. Five crew and three civilians were also killed, one of those a James MacNulty was killed, as he was cycling by at the time. The occupants of the house Mr and Mrs Stone were also killed. John Tynski having been knocked unconscious, came to trapped by all the building rubble. On fire, and fearing for his life, his first thoughts were to gather the ammunition that had spilled from the containers and move it away from the fire. At risk of being burned alive he then made up a makeshift wall from the brick rubble that lay all around to shield him from the heat. At this point he could hear help arriving from local farmers Rooke and Starr, who eventually dragged him to safety. It was later discovered by an accident investigation team, that the Flight Engineer had inadvertantly turned the fuel off on the port engines thus contributing to the accident.

16 April 1944

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet General Eremenko's Independent Maritime Army has taken Yalta in the Crimea. This is the last port apart from Sevastopol through which the Germans can escape the Crimea. Sevastopol's airfield at Kacha has also been captured and, as fighting rages across the old battlefields of Balaklava and Inkerman, the position of Germany's 17th Army looks hopeless. A terrible toll is being taken of the Germans as they try to escape. A German correspondent describes how "bombers, dive-bombers and fighters in endless procession are raining their bombs on our ships and riddling them with cannon fire." Sevastopol harbour is choked with sunken ships and the bodies of drowned men.

In the Ukraine, Marshal Rodion Malinovsky's troops cross the Dniester at Tiraspol. The 3rd Ukrainian Front establishes several bridgeheads over the Dniester River. German forces launch immediate counterattacks that fail to dislodge the Soviet troops.

MEDITERRANEAN: US Twelfth Air Force B-25s bomb approaches to Ficulle and Todi railway bridges; A-20 Havocs hit fuel supplies; P-40s, P-47 Thunderbolts and A-36 Apaches hit the Capranica viaduct, town of Zagarolo, railway at Spigno Monferrato, marshalling yard at Orte-Terni, tunnel at Capranica and tracks, vehicles, railway cars, ammunition dump, bridge, and targets of opportunity at various points in central Italy.

432 US Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s hit targets in Romania and Yugoslavia; B-17s bomb the industrial area at Belgrade, Yugoslavia and an aircraft plant at Brasov, Romania; B-24s hit marshalling yards at Brasov and Turnu Severin, Romania; 90+ fighters fly escort while 50+ others, failing to rendezvous with the bombers, strafe trains on the Craiova line east of Turnu Severin. The Belgrade Zemun airdrome was bombed by Allied forces for the 3rd day in a row. The bombing was carried out by the 414th Bomb Squadron stationed at Amendola, Italy.

German submarine 'U-407' attacks convoy UGS 37 about 17 miles off Derna, Libya, torpedoing US freighters 'Meyer London' and 'Thomas G. Masaryk'; the latter, out of control at one point, nearly rams 'Meyer London'. There are no casualties on board either ship (including the 27-man Armed Guard in each freighter). French-manned British corvette HMS 'La Malouine' rescues 'Meyer London's' crew; another escort vessel rescues the other ship's complement. British rescue tug HMS 'Captive' later tows 'Thomas G. Masaryk' and beaches her in Maneloa Bay, Libya, where the damaged ship is subsequently written off as a total loss. 'Meyer London' sinks.

WESTERN FRONT: The armed U.S. tanker SS 'Pan Pennsylvania', in United Kingdom-bound convoy CU 1, is torpedoed by German submarine 'U-550' 150 miles (241 km) east of Ambrose Light, New York. Later, destroyer escort USS 'Gandy' (DE-764) is damaged when she intentionally rams 'U-550' off Nantucket Shoals, and teams with destroyer escorts USS 'Peterson' (DE-152) and USS 'Joyce' (DE-317) to sink the U-boat. Twelve of the 56-man U-boat crew survive. During the action, shells from the destroyer escorts set afire 'Pan Pennsylvania's' abandoned wreck.

NORTH AMERICA: The U.S. Navy's last battleship, USS 'Wisconsin' (BB-64), is commissioned at the US Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

GERMANY: The Operations Staff of the Luftwaffe completed a top secret report, titled 'The Operational Possiblities of Mistletoe'. The paper discussed the effects of a new weapon to use against the Allies. Plain and simple, the project took a fighter plane and piggy-backed it on the back of a bomb-laddened bomber - most often a Bf 109 on top of a Ju 88. The Ju 88 was filled with explosives or had the crew cabin removed and an impact bomb installed. Flown together to a target, the fighter pilot aimed the whole contraption at the target then released the bomber and zoomed away. Using an auto-pilot, the bomber flew into the target, exploding and hopefully destroying the object. Tested since 1943 with promising results, the combination awas finally judges ready for operations. The report suggested that out of the 3 targets chosen for the first Mistletoe operation - Gibraltar, Leningrad or Scapa Flow - only one was feasible; the Royal Navy at Scapa Flow. The report read;

"In the target area, the very strongest of defenses may be expected. Exactly how strong is not known, for our radio monitoring service is not effective north of the Wash. Department Ic (Intelligence) estimates that on the airfields between the Firth of Forth and the north of Scotland, there are 160 to 200 aircraft of the types Spitfire, Hurricane, Mosquito and Beaufighter. In addition there is a belt of radar stations giving gap-free cover out to the sea..."

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The nearest airfield which the bombers were to use was Grove in Central Denmark, about 480 miles from Scape Flow. Suggestions on the operation were made along with an order of 15 Mistletoe combinations to be ready by mid June. The first unit to receive the planes was 2./KG 101, led by Hptm. Horst Rudat.

17 April 1944

WESTERN FRONT: The US Eighth Air Force flies two mission. Mission 304:14 of 15 US Eighth Air Force B-24s of the 93d and 467th Bombardment Groups (Heavy) bomb the primary target, V-weapon sites at Wizernes, France without loss. Escort is provided by 33 P-47 Thunderbolts. Mission 305: 5 B-17s drop 1.48 million leaflets on Rennes, Brest, Nantes, Lorient and St Nazaire at 2248-2258 hours without loss.

The German submarine 'U-986' is sunk southwest of Ireland by depth charges from the RN destroyer HMS 'Swift' and the USN subchaser USS PC-619. All 50 crewmen on the U-boat are lost.

Royal Navy and Air Force elements begin to sew minefields in the English Channel in preparations for the Normandy invasion. The minefields are being laid to prevent German naval units from interfering with the invasion forces.

British government imposes a ban on diplomatic pouches leaving the UK, except US and USSR, to help prevent information being leaked about the invasion of Europe.

2 RAF Mosquitos to Le Mans railway yards, 2 Serrate patrols, 14 Halifaxes and 6 Stirlings minelaying in Kiel Bay and the Frisians, 4 OTU sorties. 1 Halifax minelayer lost.

Hptm. Hans Ehlers took over as Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 1 from Hptm. Rudolf-Emil Schnoor.

MEDITERRANEAN: US Twelfth Air Force B-25s attack bridges north of Orte and at Monte Molino, while A-20s pound a fuel dump NE of Rome; P-40, P-47 and A-36 Apache fighter-bombers hit motor transport stores and gun positions north of Anzio, bomb Fara in Sabina station, hit tracks, trains and guns in the Orte and Narni area and at other points north of Rome.

US Fifteenth Air Force B-24s bomb the marshalling yard at Sofia. About 35 Bf 109s and Macchi 202s made passes at the bombers. US Fifteenth Air Force B-17s bomb the industrial area, air depot and marshalling yard at Belgrade.

GERMANY: 26 RAF Mosquitos to Cologne; none lost.

18 April 1944

EASTERN FRONT: German and Hungarian forces begin limited counterattacks against the 2nd Ukrainian Front between Buchach and southward to the Pruth River. The attacks made little impression, but the Red Army forces were nearing the end of this latest offensive in any event.

General Feodor Tolbukhin's 4th Ukrainian Army reaches the outskirts of Sevastopol and takes Balaklava, scene of the charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War. The 17th German-Romanian Army is trapped in Sevastopol and awaiting evacuation by ship.

Hitler forbids all exports of weapons to Finland. This comes as a further retaliation for the Finnish peace feelers earlier in this year, even though Finland just recently decided to reject the Soviet terms for peace.

JG 52 made some command changes. Gunther Rall and Walter Krupinski were transferre to Reich defense duties in the West. Oblt. Willi Batz replaced Rall, who was sent to command II./JG 11 and Hptm. Erich Hartmann replaced Krupinski as Operations Officer.

WESTERN FRONT: Invasion stripes are ordered for Allied aircraft. These stripes are to be applied to all aircraft except four-engined bombers, transports (not troop carriers), gliders, night fighters and sea planes.

The US Eighth Air Force flies Mission 306 Part 2: 12 B-24s hit V-weapon sites at Watten; escort is provided by 36 P-47 Thunderbolts without loss. 277 US Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders, including 24 dropping Window, and 37 A-20 Havocs bomb gun positions and marshalling yards at Dunkirk, Calais, and Saint Martin Airfield at Charleroi.

During US Eighth Air Force Mission 307, 5 B-17s drop 2.56 million leaflets on Stavanger, Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim between 2336-0041 hours without loss.

273 RAF Lancasters and 16 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 3 and 8 Groups to Rouen. No aircraft lost. Bomber Command claimed a concentrated attack on the railway yards, with much destruction. 202 Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of No 5 Group with 3 Oboe Mosquitos of No 8 Group to railway targets at Juvisy. 1 Lancaster lost. The attack appeared to be completely successful. 181 aircraft - 112 Halifaxes, 61 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos of Nos 6 and 8 Groups to railway yards at Noisy-Le-Sec. The Mosquitos also operated against Tergnier. 4 Halifaxes lost. The local report describes results which were typical of these railway-target raids. The marshalling yards, the engine-sheds and the railway workshops suffered great damage. Approximately 200 delayed-action bombs continued to explode in the week after the raid. A through line was established several days later but the marshalling yards were not completely repaired until 6 years after the war. In addition to this railway damage, however, the bombing area was measured as 6km long and 3km wide. 750 houses were destroyed and more than 2,000 damaged. 464 French people were killed and 370 injured. 171 aircraft - 139 Halifaxes, 24 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos of Nos 3, 4 and 8 Groups - to Tergnier. 6 Halifaxes lost. 50 railway lines were blocked but most of the bombing fell on housing areas south-west of the railway yards. Total effort for the night: 1,125 sorties, 14 aircraft (1.2 per cent) lost. The total number of sorties on this night was a new Bomber Command record.

Minelaying Operation: 168 RAF aircraft - 88 Halifaxes, 44 Stirlings, 36 Lancasters - to Swinemünde, Kiel Bay and to the Danish coast. 2 Stirlings and 1 Halifax lost.

GERMANY: The US Eighth Air Force flies Mission 306 Part 1: 776 bombers and 634 fighters are dispatched to hit airfields and aviation industry targets; they claim 33-5-19 Luftwaffe aircraft; 19 bombers and 5 fighters are lost; due to poor weather, several units bomb targets of opportunity in the Berlin area: 275 B-17s hit aviation industry targets at Oranienburg, Perleberg Airfield, Wittenberge and targets of opportunity; 3 B-17s are lost. 210 B-17s hit Oranienburg, Brandenburg, Luneburg Airfield, Rathenow and targets of opportunity; 14 B-17s are lost. 248 B-24s hit Brandenburg, Rathenow, Cuxhaven, Wittenberge and targets of opportunity; 2 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 119 P-38s, 296 P-47s and 219 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51 Mustangs; 1 P-38, 1 P-47 and 3 P-51s are lost. Major Friedrich-Karl Muller, Geschwaderkommodore of JG 3 claimed 3 B-17s destroyed.

24 RAF Mosquitos went to Berlin, 2 to Osnabrück and 2 to Le Mans, 9 RCM sorties, 32 Serrate patrols, 46 OTU sorties. No aircraft lost.

At Erfurt, two Ta 154 'Moskitoes - Ta 154V-9 and Ta 154V-12 - of EKD 154, crashed due to a failure of their undercarriages.

MEDITERRANEAN: US Twelfth Air Force P-47 fighter-bombers cut several rail lines in the Florence and Arezzo areas and strafe trains and motor transport; P-40s and P-47s hit Itri and a rail bridge and fuel dumps as the campaign against communications continues. US Fifteenth Air Force P-38s and P-47s strafe Udine and Aiello Airfields and targets of opportunity in the Basiliano, Sant' Andrea Island, and Cervignano del Friuli areas and in Golfo di Panzano; other fighters fly cover for the strafing missions.

UNITED KINGDOM: The last German bombers appeared over London as the "Little Blitz" comes to an end. In this raid, 125 bombers including 5 He 177s of I./KG 100 were aimed at the city, of which 53 dropped their load on the target, Fourteen were shot down. The Heinkels climbed as high as they could before diving to their target, making it difficult for defending Mosquito fighters to catch them.

Even stricter rules regarding communications out of England were put in place in preparation for the cross-channel attack. Coded radio and telegraph messages were outlawed and all diplomatic bags were subject to inspection.

19 April 1944

WESTERN FRONT: Railway links and river crossings throughout northern and western France - vital for Germany's defence against an Allied invasion - are being attacked with unprecedented fury by RAF and USAAF bombers. In 36 hours some 7,000 tons of bombs have been dropped. Pilots are ordered to pick their targets with care to ensure that French casualties are kept to a minimum. The US Eighth Air Force flies Part 2 of Mission 308 27 B-24s bomb V-weapon sites at Watten; 1 B-24 is lost; escort is provided by 47 Ninth Air Force P-47s without loss.

TBF (VC 13) from escort carrier 'Tripoli' (CVE-64), in TG21.4, attacks German submarine 'U-543' with rockets and depth bombs in the face of heavy antiaircraft fire; 'U-543' escapes.

Hptm. Gunther Rall arrived from the Eastern Front to take command of II./JG 11 as Gruppenkommandeur.

After several weeks of instruction, a IX Air Forces Services Command training exercise (Operation BOOMERANG) in waterproofing and landing motor vehicles gets under way. This exercise, in preparation for a cross-channel movement lasts several weeks and involves 55 units, over 650 vehicles, and more than 2,500 men.

GERMANY: The US Eighth Air Force Mission 308. During Part 1 of this mission: 772 bombers and 697 fighters are dispatched in 3 forces; they claim 17-1-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; 5 bombers and 2 fighters are lost. 271 B-17s hit the Kassel area, Eschwege Airfield, Limburg and a target of opportunity; 5 B-17s are lost. 243 B-17s hit Lippstadt and Werl Airfields and a target of opportunity without loss. 230 B-24s bomb Paderborn and Gutersloh Airfields, Soest, Koblenz, Buren and targets of opportunity without loss. Escort for the three forces above is provided by 127 P-38s, 439 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts and 131 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; they claim 16-1-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 2 P-51s are lost.

USAAF tactics summary for Operation No. 308.:

"Me-109's and FW-190's participated in the only interception of the day, An estimated force of 50 fighters, protected by an additional 50 flying as top cover, made attacks which persisted for only about eight minutes on one Combat Wing. One mass attack was made head-on as the enemy aircraft dived through the formation in large Groups without taking any evasive action. After this one pass at the entire Combat Wing, the fighters directed their efforts at stragglers and the trailing elements. In these instances, the enemy aircraft attack in Groups of three astern, coming in level from the six o'clock position and closing to about 600 yards before breaking away."

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The US Ninth Air Force dispatches 350+ B-26 Marauders and A-20s to bomb marshalling yards, city areas, and targets of opportunity at Gunzburg, Ulm, Neu Ulm, Donauworth, and Schelklingen; fighters fly over 1,200 sorties against a variety of targets in northwestern Europe.

Hptm. Thierfelder's EKdo 262 recieved its first operational, fully armed jet when Me 262V-8 Wk Nr '130003' was delivered to the unit at Lechfeld. By the end of April Hptm. Thierfeld's Gruppe had 2 operational Me 262s and a few pre-production models with which to train on.

MEDITERRANEAN: US Twelfth Air Force B-26s hit the Cecina railroad bridge and Ancona marshalling yard while B-25s hit a marshalling yard at Piombino; P-47s hit railroad tracks, a marshalling yard, junction, and railway cars between Pontedera and Empoli and between Figline Valdarno and San Giovanni Valdarno.

EASTERN FRONT: The Red Army battles for Sevastopol. Action along the Soviet front subsides as spring mud and floods make movement impossible. The exception is the Crimea, where Tolbukhin's 4th Ukrainian Army is closing on Sevastopol. Soviet Black Sea Fleet ships bombard Sevastopol as the German 17.Armee continues its desperate attempt to evacuate the Crimea. Elements of 4th Ukrainian Front and the Independent Coastal Army continue to press the Germans back.

20 April 1944

WESTERN FRONT: The US Eighth Air Force flies Mission 309: 842 bombers and 388 fighters are dispatched to hit V-weapon sites in France; 24 of 33 sites briefed are hit; 9 bombers and 2 fighters are lost: 438 B-17s hit sites in the Pas de Calais and Cherbourg areas; 19 others hit targets of opportunity; 7 B-17s are lost. 113 B-24s hit sites in the Pas de Calais area; 2 B-24s are lost. Escort is provided by 89 P-38s, 211 P-47 Thunderbolts and 88 P-51 Mustangs; they claim 4-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 4-0-0 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.

The US Ninth Air Force dispatches almost 400 B-26 Marauders and A-20 Havocs to attack gun positions at Etaples, Bazinghen, Villerville, Gravelines and Fecamp, the airfield at Poix, and V-weapon sites and targets of opportunity in the Pas de Calais area; nearly 140 P-47s bomb marshalling yards at Creil and Mantes-La-Jolie.

A raid on railway yards at La Chapelle just north of Paris was the first major test for the new RAF No 5 Group marking method, with the group employing not only No 617 Squadron's low-level markers but the three Pathfinder squadrons recently transferred from No 8 Group. A few regular No 8 Group Mosquitos were also used to drop markers by Oboe to provide a first indication of the target's location for the main No 5 Group marking force. 247 Lancasters of No 5 Group and 22 Mosquitos from 5 and 8 Groups dispatched. 6 Lancasters lost. The bombing force was split into two parts, with an interval between them of 1 hour, and each part of the force aimed at different halves of the railway yards. There were a few difficulties at the opening of the attack, with the markers of the Oboe Mosquitos being a fraction late and with communications between the various controlling aircraft being faulty, but these difficulties were soon overcome and both parts of the bombing force achieved extremely accurate and concentrated bombing.

196 RAF aircraft - 175 Halifaxes, 14 Lancasters, 7 Mosquitos from Nos 4 and 8 Groups despatched to Ottignies, some 35 miles south-west of Brussels. No aircraft lost. The southern half of the railway yards was severely damaged. 175 aircraft - 154 Halifaxes, 14 Lancasters, 7 Mosquitos of Nos 6 and 8 Groups in an accurate attack on railways at Lens. 1 Halifax lost. 14 Stirlings, using the G-H blind-bombing device, to bomb a railway depot at Chambly but only 4 aircraft bombed and 1 was lost.

8 RAF Mosquitos to Berlin, 14 RCM sorties, 25 Serrate and 8 Intruder patrols, 30 Stirlings and 8 Halifaxes minelaying off French ports, 2 aircraft on Resistance operations, 27 OTU sorties. 2 Serrate Mosquitos and 1 OTU Wellington lost.

MEDITERRANEAN: B-25s and B-26s of the US Twelfth Air Force score hits on a marshalling yard and 3 fuel dumps at Leghorn and near misses on Cecina and Certaldo bridges and Arezzo viaduct; fighter-bombers hit railroad lines and fuel dump in the Florence area; bridges, dump, rail lines and train cars near Civitavecchia and Zagarolo, at Sezze, near Ladispoli, southwest of Stimipliano and north of Monterotondo; and guns south of Albano Laziale; in the battle area around Cassino fighter-bombers blast several gun positions and hit bridges, trucks, troops and other targets, at several points, including Falconara, Recanati, San Benedetto de Marsi, and the Fondi-Itri and Orte-Orvieto areas.

300+ US Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack targets in Italy; the B-17s bomb marshalling yards at Ancona, Castelfranco, Padua and Vicenza and Venice harbor installations; the B-24s hit marshalling yards at Mestre, Reviso and Fano, Venice harbor, Monfalcone dockyards and Trieste; 180+ other heavy bombers dispatched against communications targets in northern Italy are forced to abort due to bad weather; about 250 fighters provide cover for the bombing raids.

German torpedo planes and submarine 'U-969' attack the 87-ship convoy UGS-38 in the Mediterranean off the coast of Algeria. The destroyer USS 'Landsdale' (DD-426) is sunk by aerial torpedo; the survivors are rescued by two destroyer escorts. The US freighter SS 'Paul Hamilton' is struck by an aerial torpedo and disintegrates; the 47-man merchant crew, the 29-man Armed Guard and 504 troops aboard are all killed. Coast Guard cutter 'Taney' (WPG-37), destroyer escort 'Lowe' (DE-325) and Dutch antiaircraft cruiser 'Van Heemskerk', however, escape torpedo attacks. Illuminated by the explosion, freighter 'Stephen F. Austin', is torpedoed and abandoned. Reboarded, the ship receives assistance from British rescue tug HMS 'Hengist' and proceeds to Algiers under her own power. By contrast with the disaster that has befallen her sistership 'Paul Hamilton', there are no casualties on board 'Stephen F. Austin'.

EASTERN FRONT: Soviet planes, destroyers, submarines and torpedo boats attack German and Romanian ships evacuating the 17.Armee from Sevastopol. During the next three weeks, the Soviets will sink 10 Axis ships, but the sea lift will rescue more than 42,000 troops.

GERMANY: The so-called British Free Corps of the Waffen-SS holds its inaugural parade at the Haus Germanien in the St Michaeli Kloster, Hildesheim. Present are a small German staff and fourteen assorted British renegades including the senior NCO, SS-Oberscharfuehrer Thomas Cooper, a former concentration camp guard and veteran of 'aktions' in the Warsaw and Cracow ghettoes. After a brief speech from the German commanding officer and the formal presentation of rank insignia and side-arms, the British traitors are despatched to begin recruiting at POW camps throughout the Reich.

357 RAF Lancasters and 22 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups attack Cologne. 4 Lancasters lost. This concentrated attack fell into areas of Cologne which were north and west of the city centre and partly industrial in nature. 192 industrial premises suffered various degrees of damage, together with 725 buildings described as 'dwelling-houses with commercial premises attached'. 7 railway stations or yards were also severely damaged.

Hptm. Martin Becker of 2./NJG 6 was awarded the Ritterkreuz for achieving 26 night-fighter victories.

Lt. Werner Gerth was appointed Staffelkapitaen of 11(Sturm)./JG 3.

UNITED KINGDOM: Hull was the target for another one hundred and thirty Luftwaffe bomber raid, but as in the previous attack on the 19th/20th March 1944, none of the 49 tonnes of bombs found their target. Despite German claims that Hull was heavily bombed, and although many flares were dropped nearby, Hull was untouched, a little damage was caused in the area bounded by Scarborough - York - Peterborough - Cromer. Of the many German aircraft taking part in this raid, eight were shot down. Three Junkers Ju 188s were known to have crashed on land in the Continent, a Dornier Do 217 and three Junkers Ju 88s failed to return and a Heinkel He 177 was intercepted and shot down, 40 miles E of Spurn Head by a Mosquito of 264 Squadron.

21 April 1944

WESTERN FRONT: 236 US Ninth Air Force B-26 Marauders and 34 A-20s attack gun positions, coastal defenses and V-weapons sites at Etaples, at Berck-sur-Mer, near Doullens, and in the Saint-Omer, Abbeville, and Amiens area; 4 B-26s are lost. The Sacrè Couer at Montmarte is damaged in an air raid. 175+ US Ninth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts dive-bomb marshalling yards and concentrations at Montignies-sur-Sambre, Hasselt, Namur, and Haine-Saint-Pierre.

RAF Bombers continue to pummel rail yards in preparations for the Normandy Invasion, dropping 4500 tons of bombs on Cologne, Paris, Lens, and Brussels. 4 RCM sorties, 40 Halifaxes and 18 Stirlings minelaying off Brest and Lorient and in the Frisians, 9 aircraft on Resistance operations, 11 OTU aircraft and 4 Stirlings on leaflet flights to France. No aircraft lost.

MEDITERRANEAN: US Twelfth Air Force A-20s blast an ammunition dump while P-47s attack train, rail lines, and motor transport behind enemy lines; other P-47s, along with P-40s and A-36 Apaches, attack railway lines and trains between Rome and Terni, between Rome and Tivoli, and between Orte and Attigliano; hit a motor transport concentration northeast of Rome; and attack several bivouac areas and gun positions in the battle areas.

EASTERN FRONT: German Colonel-General (Generaloberst) Ferdinand Schorner begs Hitler to evacuate the 17.Armee from Sevastopol. Once again, Hitler ignores a top military commander. He orders "Fortress Sevastopol" to hold out for eight weeks to discourage Turkey from joining the Allies. Hitler doesn't know that the Turks have already decided to remain neutral.

100+ US Fifteenth Air Force B-24s bomb marshalling yards at Bucharest; all 17 bomb groups dispatched are recalled due to bad weather but 7 groups fail to receive the recall signal; 150+ P-38s and P-51s are dispatched as escort; 40+ rendezvous with the B-24s and battle some 30 enemy fighters that attack the bomber force; the other fighters, failing to meet the bombers, engage about 40 enemy fighters; the bombers and fighters claim 35 aerial combat victories; 10 US aircraft are shot down.

GERMANY: 24 RAF Mosquitos bombed the Cologne area through complete cloud cover. No aircraft lost.

22 April 1944

WESTERN FRONT: The US Ninth Air Force dispatches 400+ B-26s and about 90 A-20s to fly two missions against V-weapon sites in the area of Saint-Omer and Hesdin.

During the night, the US Eighth Air Force flies Mission 312: 5 B-17s drop 1.44 million leaflets on Orleans, Tours, Paris, Nantes, Lille, Reims, Chartres and Rouen.

Frigates HMCS 'Matane' and 'Swansea' sank 'U-311' Kptlt Joachim Zander CO. Of the crew of 51 there were no survivors. Escort Group 9, commanded by A/Cdr Layard, was operating independently when ordered to join a nearby RAF 'Wellington' patrol a/c that had gained a radar contact on a probable U-boat. A deliberate search by 'Matane' and 'Swansea', supported by the frigate 'Stormont' and corvette Owen Sound, produced a firm ASDIC contact. The U-boat was moving rapidly right as Matane closed for a deliberate 'Hedgehog' attack (indicating close range) when a periscope was sighted at only 200 yards on 'Matane's' starboard bow. The Hedgehog attack was abandoned and an urgent depth charge attack was carried out. 'Swansea' followed with a deliberate d/c attack, after which contact was lost. It was not until the mid-1980's that record reconstruction proved that 'U-311' had been sunk in this engagement.

181 RAF aircraft attacked the Laon railway yards - 69 Halifaxes, 52 Lancasters, 48 Stirlings, 12 Mosquitos - of Nos 3, 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 9 aircraft - 4 Lancasters, 3 Stirlings, 2 Halifaxes - lost, 5.0 per cent of the force. The attack was carried out in 2 waves and severe damage was caused. The aircraft of one of the Master Bombers, Wing Commander AGS Cousens of No 635 Squadron, was shot down; Wing Commander Cousens was killed.

GERMANY: The US Eighth Air Force flies Mission 311: 803 bombers and 859 fighters are dispatched to hit a marshalling yard at Hamm; the bombers claim 20-6-8 Luftwaffe aircraft and the fighters claim 40-2-16; 15 bombers and 13 fighters are lost: 459 B-17s bomb the primary, 20 hit Bonn, 19 hit Soest, 15 hit Hamm City and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 8 B-17s are lost. 179 B-24s hit the primary, 50 hit Koblenz and 36 hit targets of opportunity; 7 B-24s are lost. The escort is 132 P-38 Lightnings, 485 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts and 242 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; 2 P-38s, 5 P-47s and 6 P-51s are lost.

596 RAF aircraft attacked Düsseldorf - 323 Lancasters, 254 Halifaxes, 19 Mosquitos - of all groups except No 5. 29 aircraft - 16 Halifaxes and 13 Lancasters - lost, 4.9 percent of the force. 2,150 tons of bombs were dropped in this old-style heavy attack on a German city which caused much destruction but also allowed the German night-fighter force to penetrate the bomber stream. The attack fell mostly in the northern districts of Düsseldorf. Widespread damage was caused.

238 Lancasters and 17 Mosquitos of No 5 Group and 10 Lancasters of No 1 Group despatched to Brunswick. Few German fighters were attracted to this raid and only 4 Lancasters were lost, 1.5 per cent of the force. This raid is of importance to the history of the bombing war because it was the first time that the No 5 Group low-level marking method was used over a heavily defended German city. The raid was not successful. The initial marking by No 617 Squadron Mosquitos was accurate but many of the main force of bombers did not bomb these, partly because of a thin layer of cloud which hampered visibility and partly because of faulty communications between the various bomber controllers. Many bombs were dropped in the centre of the city but the remainder of the force bombed reserve H2S-aimed target indicators which were well to the south. RAF bomber command used their new "J" liquid incendiary bomb for the first time in the raid on Brunswick. German night-fighters, hidden by friendly radar echoes, followed the bombers home, attacking and claiming 20 bombers. Hptm. Dietrich Puttfarken of 5./KG 51 claimed 2 bombers but was shot down, his Me 410 crashing near Cambridge.

17 RAF Mosquitos on diversion raid to Mannheim and 2 more to a flying-bomb store at Wissant, 10 RCM sorties, 19 Serrate and 7 Intruder patrols, 19 aircraft on leaflet flights. No aircraft lost.

Hitler and Mussolini met at Obersalzburg.

MEDITERRANEAN: US Twelfth Air Force B-25s bomb a bridge and tracks south of Ficulle and a bridge north of the town; other B-25s and B-26s attack San Stefano al Mare harbor, the northern section of Orvieto, Chiusi railroad bridge, viaducts south and west of Arezzo and Bucine, Certaldo railroad bridge, bridge approaches at Incisa in Valdarno, a bridge near Siena and viaduct at Poggibonsi; A-20s hit Valmontone ammunition dump and Sonnino; P-47s hit a railroad, trains, and tunnels in the Florence area and west of Chiusi, marshalling yard at Siena, a vessel south of Savona, railroad lines south of Orte and the town of Gaeta; and P-40s attack gun positions north of the Anzio beachhead and bomb the Ferentino dump area and towns of Fondi, Terracina and Formia.

The Greek naval commander-in-chief, Vice-Admiral Petros Voulgaris, is preparing to board five warships whose refusal to obey orders sparked a virtual strike by 12 April of all Greek navy seamen in Egypt. The First Division of the Greek Army has also rebelled against its officers. Britain is keeping an eye on developments. The mutiny's causes are confused, but seem to stem from dissatisfaction with the Greek government in exile.

Tito's forces land on the Island of Korcula, capturing the German garrison of 800 men.

The 352nd Yugoslav squadron RAF was formed on this day at Benina, Libya. The squadron was joined mostly by the ex-Royal Yugoslav Air Force personnel from the Middle East which decided to join the new Yugoslav Partisan Air Force same as indigenous partisans. This squadron was formed as the part of No 212 group RAF and under command of wing commander John Ernest Proctor (1913-1991). Proctor's deputy was squadron leader Mileta Protić. After training programme on Lete airfield performed on Harvards and Hurricane Mk IICs, the squadron recieved 16 Spitfire Mk Vs (painted with Yugoslav partisan insignia) in June 1944 and operational deployment began on 18th August 1944. (info courtesy of imalko)

23 April 1944

EASTERN FRONT: German forces launch limited counterattacks at Narva (Heeresgruppe Nord) in an attempt to stabilize the deteriorating situation on that front.

WESTERN FRONT: 114 RAF aircraft - 70 Halifaxes, 30 Stirlings, 14 Lancasters - to lay mines in 5 areas of the Baltic. 4 Halifaxes and 1 Stirling lost. 12 G-H Stirlings bombed a signals depot at Brussels without loss. 2 RCM sorties, 4 Serrate patrols, 10 aircraft on Resistance operations, 6 OTU sorties. No aircraft lost.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 313: 382 fighters attack airfields and other targets in N France, Belgium and NW Germany; results are generally good: 136 P-38s attack Laon, Tours and Chateaudun Airfields, France using Droopsnoot aircraft; they claim 1-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground; 2 P-38s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 2 damaged; 2 pilots are MIA. 166 P-47s attack Leningen, Le Culot and Chievres Airfields, Belgium and Denain/Prouvy and Hagenau Airfields, France; they claim 7-0-22 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground; 5 P-47s are lost and 19 damaged; 5 pilots are MIA. 80 P-51s hit unknown targets; they claim 3-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground; 2 are damaged; no losses.

9 US Eighth Air Force B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER operations.

307 US Ninth Air Force B-26s and 57 A-20s attack NOBALL (V-weapon) targets, gun positions and marshalling yards in the Pas de Calais, France area and in an adjacent area of Belgium. Around 1,000 P-47s and P-51s dive-bomb numerous targets throughout France and the Low Countries.

GERMANY: 25 RAF Mosquitos carried out a harassing raid on Mannheim without loss.

Weather clears and bombers can resume operations. 500+ US Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack aircraft factories and airfields in Austria; the B-17s hit the Wiener Neustadt industrial area; the B-24s hit industrial areas at Schwechat and Bad Voslau and an air depot at Wiener-Neustadt; close to 300 fighters provide support; many enemy fighters attack fiercely, downing 12 bombers and 1 fighter; the bombers and escorts claim 40+ air victories.

MEDITERRANEAN: In Italy, US Twelfth Air Force B-25s hit bridges and approaches at Attigliano; B-26s attack Incisa in Valdarno viaduct and bridge, Cecina marshalling yard and attack, but fail to hit, Poggibonsi viaduct; P-47s, A-36s, and P-40s hit rail lines and bridges NE of Rome and along the E coast in several areas including points around Orvieto, Orte, Tivoli and Capronica.

UNITED KINGDOM: The harbour installations at Bristol were again the target on the night of April 23rd, while in parallel an attack against night fighter airfields in the Bristol area was also to be carried out by the Me 410's of I/KG 51. The raiders, probably drawn from I, II and III/KG 2, I, II and III/KG 6, II and III/KG 30, I and III/KG 54, I/KG 66, I/KG 100, together with the Ju 88's of the operational training unit IV/KG 101, were to converge on Guernsey before making for the Initial Point at the mouth of the River Usk, and the second turning point near Chepstow. From here the final approach to Bristol was to be from the north, the target being marked by a square of red and white flares at the start of the attack. Over the target area there was a 16 kph south-west wind and 5/10th's cloud at 900 metres, but ground mist reduced visibility to 800 metres. To aid navigation during the raid the pathfinders of 1/KG 66 employed Y-Verfahren which was operational from 23.45 to 02.45 hrs from St.Valery. In addition the Knickebein transmitters at Cherbourg West, Caen, and Morlaix were also in use, and Düppel was dropped in an attempt to jam the British Radar system. It first fell at about 01.25 hrs over the coast near Portland, but eventually built up overland forming extensive areas of about 20 miles radius. A total of 117 aircraft were dispatched, of which 93 reported over the City, claiming to have dropped 59.3 tonnes of H.E.'s and 79.4 tonnes of I.B's on target. Once again, however, not one bomb actually fell on Bristol, the majority being scattered throughout, Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire, and East Somerset, the nearest to Bristol having landed at Batheaston at 02.05 hrs. German losses for this attack were again very high. A total of 10 aircraft failed to return resulting in the deaths of 39 crewmen, with 3 more being taken prisoner, 2 of them injured. In addition a further 4 aircraft crashed in France killing 5 and injuring another 6 men.

24 April 1944

WESTERN FRONT: Rescue tug HMS 'Zoder Zee' torpedoed and sunk by a German MTB off Dungeness.

In the mid-Atlantic, a Royal Canadian Air Force Sunderland plane from 423 Squadron extensively damages German submarine 'U-672'.

4 RAF G-H Stirlings to Chambly railway depot, 18 Halifaxes minelaying off Channel ports and in the Frisians, 7 aircraft on Resistance operations. No aircraft lost.

38 US Ninth Air Force B-26s dispatched against targets in France are recalled because of bad weather. 32 P-47s dive-bomb the Louvain, Belgium marshalling yard with good results.

8 US Eighth Air Force B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER operations.

GERMANY: 637 RAF aircraft were sent to Karlsruhe - 369 Lancasters, 259 Halifaxes, 9 Mosquitos - of all groups except No 5 Group. 19 aircraft - 11 Lancasters, 8 Halifaxes - lost, 3.0 per cent of the force. Cloud over the target and a strong wind which pushed the Pathfinders too far north spoiled this attack. Only the northern part of Karlsruhe was seriously damaged and most of the bombs fell outside the city. Mannheim, 30 miles to the north, recorded a raid by approximately 100 aircraft on this night and Darmstadt, Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg were also hit by aircraft which failed to find the main target.

234 RAF Lancasters and 16 Mosquitos of No 5 Group and 10 Lancasters of No 1 Group in another No 5 Group method raid on a major German target, Munich. 9 Lancasters were lost, 3.5 per cent of the force. The marking and controlling plan worked well and accurate bombing fell in the centre of the city. The intense flak and searchlight defences did not prevent the low-flying Mosquito markers from carrying out their task properly and none was seriously damaged.

165 RAF OTU aircraft carried out a diversionary sweep over the North Sea to a point 75 miles off the German coast. 23 Mosquitos bombed Düsseldorf; 6 Lancasters of No 617 Squadron dropped flares and target indicators over Milan as a diversion for the Munich raid; No 100 Group flew 11 RCM, 21 Serrate and 8 Intruder sorties. 2 Wellingtons were lost from the OTU sweep.

A Mosquito VI, piloted by Wg./Cdr. G. L. "Leonard" Cheshire VC, of No. 617 Squadron is used to carry out the first low-level target-marking during a raid on Augsburg.

British air force bombers hammered a former Jesuit college housing the Bavarian Academy of Science. Anton Spitaler (1910-2003), an Arabic scholar at the academy, later lamented the loss of a unique photo archive of ancient manuscripts of the Quran. His story however was a lie, and the collection survived hidden in his hands.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 315: 754 bombers and 867 fighters are dispatched to bomb airfields, aircraft production industries and targets of opportunity in Germany; the bomber claim 20-1-36 Luftwaffe aircraft and the fighters claim 124-6-58 fighters; 40 bombers and 17 fighters are lost; details are: Of 281 B-17s dispatched, 109 hit Erding Air Depot, 84 hit aviation industry targets at Oberpfaffenhofen, 57 hit Lansberg Airfield and 18 hit targets of opportunity; 27 B-17s are lost and 112 damaged; casualties are 4 KIA, 22 WIA and 260 MIA. 243 B-17s are dispatched to bomb aviation industry targets at Friedrichshafen/Lowenthal (98 bomb) and Friedrichshafen/Manzell (58 bomb), industrial areas at Friedrichshafen/Manzell (58 bomb) and Neckarsulm (15 bomb); 3 also hit targets of opportunity; 9 B-17s are lost and 119 damaged; casualties are 7 KIA, 4 WIA and 71 MIA. 230 B-24s are dispatched to bomb airfields; 120 hit Gablingen Airfield, 98 hit Leipheim Airfield and 1 hits a target of opportunity; 4 B-24s are lost and 26 damaged; casualties are 1 WIA and 40 MIA. Escort is provided by 131 P-38s, 490 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s and 246 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s: P-38s claim 4-1-0 Luftwaffe aircraft, 1 P-38 is damaged beyond repair and 7 damaged; P-47s claim 2-1-0 aircraft in the air and 36-0-16 on the ground, 5 P-47s are lost and 15 damaged, 5 pilots are MIA; P-51s claim 64-4-2 aircraft in the air and 21-0-20 on the ground, 12 P-51s are lost and 8 damaged; 12 pilots are MIA. Elements from JG 1, JG 3, JG 26, JG 11, JG 27 and even JG 5 intercepted the bomber formations. Fw. Heinrich Bartels of 11./JG 27 claimed 3 P-51s, Hptm. Hermann Staiger of 12./JG 26 claimed 4 B-17s and Major Walther Dahl of Stab III./JG 3 claimed two bombers and a P-51. Lost were Uffz. Franz Schwaiger of 2./JG 3, Oblt. Joachim Hincklemann of 3./JG 3, Ofw. Hans Juppner of 1./JG 11, Fw. Heinz Gasch of 5./JG 27 and Fw. Heinz Gosemann of 8./JG 3.

MEDITERRANEAN: 520+ US Fifteenth Air Force bombers attack targets in Rumania, Yugoslavia, and Italy; B-17s bomb a marshalling yard at Ploesti, Rumania, an aircraft factory in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and the Ancona-Rimini railroad line (this is the first Azon mission by 5 B-17s); the B-24s bomb marshalling yards at Ploesti and Bucharest, Rumania; 250+ fighters fly support for the bombers.

US Twelfth Air Force medium bombers attack railroad bridges N and S of Orvieto, at Arezzo, at Grosseto and N and S of Incisa in Valdarno; A-20s hit a dump at Valmontone; P-40s, P-47s and A-36s hit shipping off Leghorn, Avezzano station, Orvieto and Terni marshalling yards, Canino landing ground, railroad tracks at numerous points S of Orvieto and rail lines, truck parks and targets of opportunity N of Rome.

25 April 1944

EASTERN FRONT: 'U-18' was attacked in the Black Sea by German aircraft BV 138 and suffered slight damage.

WESTERN FRONT: 'U-289' landed espionage agents Sverrir Matthiasson and Magnus Guðbjörnsson in Iceland.

4 RAF Mosquitos to Cologne, 25 Stirlings minelaying off the French coast, 9 OTU sorties. No losses.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 317 Part 2: 27 of 28 B-24s bomb V-weapons sites at Wizerenes, France without loss. Escort is provided by 40 P-47s.

240 US Ninth Air Force B-26s and 69 A-20s bomb V-weapon sites in the coastal area of France and gun positions at Le Treport, Vareneville-sur-Mer, Fontenay-sur-Mer/Crisbec, Ault, Fecamp, Houlgate and Saint-Pierre-du-Mont, France. About 150 P-47s dive-bomb airfields in France and Belgium. Around 175 B-26s are forced to abort missions because of bad weather.

MEDITERRANEAN:German mining operations commence off Capreira, Italy; minelayer TA 23 sinks after striking a mine. TA 26 and TA 29 battle U.S. motor torpedo boats PT-202, PT-213, and PT-218. A Royal Navy patrol of a cruiser (Black Prince) and three Canadian destroyers ran into the German patrol. The resulting action sunk the German Flottentorpedoboot T-29.

In Italy, around 150 US Fifteenth Air Force B-24s bomb an aircraft factory at Turin, marshalling yard and bridge at Parma, marshalling yard at Ferrara and several targets of opportunity; 300+ B-24s and B-17s are forced to abort missions due to bad weather; 100+ fighters escort the bomber missions into N Italy.

US Twelfth Air Force attacks against lines of communications N of Rome continue; A-20s hit storage areas while medium bombers attack Pesaro marshalling yard, dumps at Manoppello and bridges and approaches at Incisa in Valdarno, Arezzo, Asciano, Magra, Ficulle and Orvieto; viaducts at Incisa and Calafuria are attacked with poor results; P-40s and P-47s hit roads, gun positions, railroads, ammunition dump and trucks N of Rome, near Ficulle, Orte and Orvieto; and P-47s also damage destroyers off Elba Island.

417th Night Fighter Squadron, US Twelfth Air Force (attached to RAF No. 337 Wing), moves from La Senia, Algeria to Borgo, Corsica with Beaufighters; the ground echelon has been at Borgo since Feb 44.

UNITED KINGDOM: The Luftwaffe's main target was Portsmouth on this night, however a variety of targets along the South coast were struck. 1(F)./122 lost two Me 410s on sorties to photograph Portsmouth. One Me 410, shot down by a Mosquito of RAF No. 85 Sqdn, crashed into the sea off Portsmouth. Oberlt. H. Kroll (St Kap.) Killed and Ofrich. W Mayer POW.

GERMANY: US Eighth Air Force Mission 317 Part 1: 554 bombers and 719 fighters are dispatched to hit marshalling yards and airfields in France and Germany; 7 bombers and 2 fighters are lost; the bombers make no Luftwaffe aircraft claims. 199 B-24s are dispatched to the marshalling yard at Mannheim, Germany; 7 bomb the primary, 16 bomb the marshalling yard at Landau, Germany and 8 hit targets of opportunity; 5 B-24s are lost and 26 damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 4 WIA and 49 MIA. 229 B-17s are dispatched to Nancy/Essay Airfield (42 bomb) and Metz/Frascaty Airfield (98 bomb), France and 2 hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-17s are lost and 33 damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 3 WIA and 20 MIA. 121 of 126 B-17s hit Dijon/Longvic Airfield, France; 29 B-17s are damaged; 2 airman are WIA. Escort is provided by 177 P-38s, 296 P-47s and 246 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; the fighters claim 5-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 29-7-42 on the ground; details are: P-38s claim 5-0-9 aircraft, 1 P-38 is damaged beyond repair and 2 damaged, no casualties; P-47s claim 5-0-8 aircraft; 3 P-47s are damaged; 1 pilot is KIA; P-51s claim 24-7-26 aircraft, 2 P-51s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 1 damaged, 2 pilots are MIA.

26 April 1944

GERMANY: 493 RAF aircraft - 342 Lancasters, 133 Halifaxes, 18 Mosquitos - from all groups except No 5 despatched to Essen. 7 aircraft - 6 Lancasters, 1 Halifax - lost, 1.4 per cent of the force. The Bomber Command report states that this was an accurate attack, based on good Pathfinder ground-marking.

206 RAF Lancasters and 11 Mosquitos of No 5 Group and 9 Lancasters of No 1 Group to Schweinfurt. 21 Lancasters lost, 9.3 per cent of the force. This raid was a failure. The low-level marking provided for the first time by Mosquitos of No 627 Squadron was not accurate. Unexpectedly strong head winds delayed the Lancaster marker aircraft and the main force of bombers. German night fighters were carrying out fierce attacks throughout the period of the raid. The bombing was not accurate and much of it fell outside Schweinfurt.

A Victoria Cross was awarded after the war to Sergeant Norman Jackson (b.1919), RAFVR, a flight engineer in a Lancaster of No 106 Squadron which was shot down near Schweinfurt. The Lancaster was hit by a German night fighter and a fire started in a fuel tank in the wing near the fuselage. Sergeant Jackson climbed out of a hatch with a fire extinguisher, with another crew member holding the rigging lines of Jackson's parachute which had opened in the aircraft. Sergeant Jackson lost the fire extinguisher and, as both he and his parachute rigging were being affected by the fire, the men in the aircraft let the parachute go. Sergeant Jackson survived, though with serious burns and a broken ankle received on landing with his partially burnt parachute. The remainder of the crew baled out soon afterwards.

1./JG 400 was officially formed from 20./JG 1 at Wittmundhafen. Formed on paper in February 1944 and with Hptm. Robert Olejnik as Staffelkapitaen, the unit did not recieve a Me 163 until March and it was quickly damaged by airfield flak unfamiliar with the aircraft. Hptm. Robert Olejnik was injured on 21 April when Me 163B 'Number 16' crashed. The unit had 12 pilots and would not have a marginal number of aircraft until June 1944.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 319 Part 1: 589 bombers and 554 fighters are dispatched to targets in Germany; no claims of enemy aircraft are made; 5 fighters are lost: Of 357 B-17s dispatched, 292 hit the industrial area at Brunswick, 47 hit the Hildesheim/Hannover area and 5 hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-17s are damaged beyond repair and 121 damaged; casualties are 9 KIA and 3 WIA. The 238 B-24s dispatched to Paderborn fail to bomb because there were no PFF aircraft in the formation; 18 B-24s were damaged; 1 airman was KIA. Escort is provided by 90 P-38s, 311 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s and 153 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; 1 P-38 and 4 P-51s are lost and 1 P-47 is damaged beyond repair; 1 pilot is KIA and 5 MIA.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 319 Part 2: 62 B-17s are dispatched to Cologne but are recalled at mid-English Channel because of weather; some aircraft carry 2,000 lb (907 kg) glide bombs on external racks. Escort is provided by 43 P-47s and 47 P-51s; the P-47s claim 2-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft.

Around 125 US Ninth Air Force B-26s attack Plattling landing ground, Germany. Fighters fly 750+ sorties against scattered targets in NW Europe.

WESTERN FRONT: HMS "Black Prince" and four destroyers engage three German torpedo boats off Brittany, one is sunk. German destroyer T-29 sinks in the English Channel, after shelling from Royal Canadian Navy destroyer "Haida", and three other British and Canadian ships.

Admiral Moore leads Fleet Carriers "Victorious", "Furious" and Escort Carriers "Searcher", "Striker", "Emporer" and "Pursuer"(Peter Beeston) the battleship "Anson" and 6 cruisers, from the British Home Fleet, to attack the "Tirpitz" anchored in Norwegian waters. Bad weather interferes with the planned raid. A coastal convoy is attacked instead and 3 ships are sunk.

217 RAF aircraft - 183 Halifaxes, 20 Lancasters, 14 Mosquitos of Nos 4, 6 and 8 Groups to Villeneuve St Georges. 1 Halifax lost. Support and 16 Mosquitos to Hamburg, 10 Stirlings to Chambly, 12 RCM sorties, 20 Serrate and 13 Intruder patrols, 16 Halifaxes and 6 Stirlings minelaying off the Dutch coast and in the Frisians, 10 aircraft on Resistance operations, 21 OTU flights. 1 Serrate Mosquito lost.

Destroyer escorts 'Frost' (DE-144), 'Huse' (DE-145), 'Barber' (DE-161), and 'Snowden' (DE-246) sink German submarine 'U-488' in mid-Atlantic.

33 US Eighth Air Force P-38s (including Droopsnoot aircraft), plus escorts, hit Le Mans Airfield, France without loss; 24 P-51s, plus 4 escorts, bomb Cormeilles-en-Vexin Airfield, France without loss.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 320: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 800,000 leaflets on Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Liege and Gosselies, Belgium at 2330-2358 hours without loss.

The Ninth Air Force Tactical Air Plan for Operation NEPTUNE (actual operations within Operation OVERLORD; used for security reasons on OVERLORD planning documents bearing place names and dates) is published, 10 days after receiving formal Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF) directive ordering such a plan.

MEDITERRANEAN: In Greece, General Heinrich Kreipe, the commander of the 22nd Panzer-Grenadier Division in Crete, was being driven home when men appeared on the road waving a red flag. The car door was opened and a polite voice said:

"Please consider yourself a prisoner of war."

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A sub-machine gun was brandished. With the general sitting in the back and a British Guards officer at the wheel, the car headed for a beach 20 miles away. Guards at 22 checkpoints cleared the way and saluted when they saw the two pennants fluttering from the car. The general's hijackers were Major Patrick Leigh Fermor and Captain Stanley Moss of British Combined Forces. Before they left with the general for Cairo, they wrote a note telling the Germans that this was an exclusively British operation and that reprisals against the civilian population would be wholly unwarranted. It ended:

"We're sorry to leave this nice car behind."

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In Italy, bad weather greatly curtails activity; P-47s attack motor transport and railroad tracks and hit a gas dump near Trasimeno Lake, a landing ground at Canino and marshalling yards of Leghorn.

27 April 1944

UNITED KINGDOM: From midnight tonight all travel abroad from Britain will be banned. Exit permits granted to would-be travellers are no longer valid, unless they have been issued during the past week. Some visits to Ireland will be allowed after strict scrutiny. Similar pre-invasion moves are being made by the enemy. Civilians are being removed from coastal areas, and German families evacuated from the Ruhr when the heavy bombing began are being sent back. Vichy France has cut communications with neutral countries in an effort to prevent military and political intelligence from reaching the Allies. In a hunt for Allied sympathisers, diplomatic bags for French military attaches in Madrid, Lisbon and Berne have been seized.

The Martinet aircaft used to train gunners on the Wellingtons were replaced by Hurricanes.

WESTERN FRONT: 'U-803' sunk near Swinemünde, by a mine. 9 dead and 35 survivors.

Submarine HMS 'Untiring' (Lt. Boyd) sinks the German UJ 6075/Clairvoyant.

Disaster strikes the preparations for the Normandy Invasion as Operation "Tiger" goes very wrong. Eight US LSTs escorted by the British corvette Azeala, were to make practice landings on a British beach similar to those found at Normandy, at Slapton Sands on the south coast of England. German reconnaissance aircraft spotted the convoy and two torpedo boat squadrons (9 boats) were dispatched to hit the group. In the engagement, LST 531 is sunk, LST 507 is critically damaged and later abandoned while LST 289 took a torpedo hit, but remained afloat. In all, 197 seamen and 441 soldiers were killed. Because of this incident, Adolf Hitler orders the lower Normandy defences reinforced.

223 RAF aircraft - 191 Halifaxes, 16 Lancasters, 16 Mosquitos despatched to Aulnoye. 1 Halifax lost. Bombing was concentrated and much damage was caused to the railway yards.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 322: 596 bombers and 357 fighters are dispatched to bomb V-weapon sites in the Pas de Calais and Cherbourg areas of France; 4 bombers and 2 fighters are lost; the fighters claim 0-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft on the ground; 307 of 393 B-17s and 169 of 203 B-24s hit the target; 3 B-17s are lost and 227 damaged; 1 B-24 is lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 25 damaged; B-17s casualties are are 7 WIA and 30 MIA; B-24 casualties are 3 KIA, 9 WIA and 10 MIA; escort is provided by 47 P-38s, 262 P-47s and 48 P-51s; 1 P-47 and 1 P-51 are lost; both pilots are MIA.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 323: 486 bombers and 543 fighters are dispatched to bomb airfields, marshalling yards and targets of opportunity in France and Belgium; 4 bombers and 4 fighters are lost. 168 B-17s are dispatched to bomb Nancy/Essay Airfield (103 bomb) and Toul/Croix de Metz landing ground (60 bomb), France; 2 B-17s are lost and 33 damaged; 20 airmen are MIA. Of 120 B-17s, 98 bomb Le Culot Airfield and 20 bomb Ostend/Middelkerke Airfield, Belgium; 2 B-17s are lost and 29 damaged; 1 airman is KIA and 20 MIA. Of 198 B-24s, 118 bomb Blainville sur L'eau marshalling yard and 72 bomb Chalons sur Marne marshalling yard, France; 2 B-24s are damaged beyond repair and 22 damaged; casualties are 24 KIA, 6 WIA and 1 MIA. Escort is provided by 106 P-38s, 283 P-47s and 154 P-51s; the fighters claim 3-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 4-0-5 on the ground; 4 P-47s are lost and 2 P-47s and 1 P-51 are damaged; 3 airmen are MIA.

52 P-38s, using the Droopsnoot method, attack Roye Amy Airfield, France without loss. 36 P-38s, using the Droopsnoot method, attack Albert/Meaulte Airfield, France; 6 P-38s are damaged. 17 P-51s dive bomb Cormeilles-en-Vexin Airfield, France without loss.

About 450 US Ninth Air Force B-26s and A-20s and 275+ P-47 and P-51 dive bombers attack gun emplacements, marshalling yards, coastal batteries, airfields and several military installations in France and Belgium.

GERMANY: The Finnish Chief of General Staff jalkaväenkenraali Erik Heinrichs starts his three-day visit in Germany. At Berchtesgaden he meets with the highest German military leadership, and there's some tension because of the recent Finnish peace-feelers. Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel states bluntly, that in Germany there's no mercy for traitors and complainers. Generaloberst Alfred Jodl is more friendly, but demands that Finland give a proclamation ensuring that the weapons Germany has delivered to Finland would not end in Soviet hands.

322 RAF Lancasters and 1 Mosquito of Nos 1, 3, 6 and 8 Groups attack Friedrichshafen. This was a raid with some interesting aspects. The Air Ministry had urged Bomber Command to attack this relatively small town in moonlight because it contained important factories making engines and gearboxes for German tanks. But the flight to this target, deep in Southern Germany on a moonlit night, was potentially very dangerous; the disastrous attack on Nuremberg had taken place only 4 weeks previously in similar conditions. However, Friedrichshafen was further south and on the fringe of the German night-fighter defences; because of this and the various diversions which confused the German controllers, the bombers reached the target without being intercepted. However, the German fighters arrived at the target while the raid was taking place and 18 Lancasters were lost, 5.6 per cent of the force. 1,234 tons of bombs were dropped in an outstandingly successful attack based on good Pathfinder marking; Bomber Command later estimated that 99 acres of Friedrichshafen, 67 per cent of the town's built-up area, were devastated. Several factories were badly damaged and the tank gearbox factory was destroyed. They destroy two-thirds of the Zeppelin works which was building V-2 rocket components. When the American bombing survey team investigated this raid after the war, German officials said that this was the most damaging raid on tank production of the war.

Lt. Wilhelm Johnen, Staffelkapitaen of 6./NJG 5, shot down a Lancaster and then made contact with another over Lake Constance. He attacked the bomber but his Bf 110G-4 was hit setting the port engine alight. Conned by Swiss searchlights and with a dead engine, Johnen landed at Zurich-Dubendorf and he and his crew were interred only to be released a few days later. But the incident was upsetting to German authorities because Johnen's aircraft had the FuG 220 radar system, which was not being jammed by the Allies at the time (the Allies were aware of the FuG 202/212 and were jamming this unit). It also carried the Schrage Musik gun system which the Allies would not acknowledge until Oct. 1944. In exchange for allowing the Bf 110 to be blown up, the Swiss at first demanded 30 Bf 109Gs but later settled for 12 Messerschmitts.

144 RAF aircraft - 120 Halifaxes, 16 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos - to attack railway yards at Montzen on the Belgian-German border. The bombing force, particularly the second of the 2 waves, was intercepted by German fighters and 14 Halifaxes and 1 Lancaster were shot down. Only one part of the railway yards was hit by the bombing. The only Lancaster lost was that of Squadron Leader EM Blenkinsopp, a Canadian pilot of No 405 Squadron who was acting as Deputy Master Bomber. Blenkinsopp managed to team up with a Belgian Resistance group and remained with them until captured by the Germans in December 1944. He was taken to Hamburg to work as a forced labourer and later died in Belsen concentration camp 'of heart failure'. He has no known grave.

159 RAF OTU aircraft on a diversionary sweep over the North Sea, 24 Mosquitos on diversion raid to Stuttgart, 11 RCM sorties, 19 Serrate and 6 Intruder patrols, 8 Halifaxes minelaying off Brest and Cherbourg, 44 aircraft on Resistance operations. 1 Serrate Mosquito lost.

MEDITERRANEAN: In Italy, weather again severely restricts US air operations; P-40s attack a supply dump N of Rome, scoring 7 hits in the target area.

28 April 1944

UNITED KINGDOM: In the aftermath of Operation "Tiger", a number of 'lessons' were learned and post-event recommendations included: using more capable and numerous escort forces; having rescue craft for any landing operation; disseminating quickly enemy contacts reports; introducing standard radio procedures, special circuits, and radio frequencies; reinforcing instructions to avoid looking directly at flares or fires to preserve night vision; limiting the amount of fuel carried in landing ships to that needed for the operation itself to reduce risk of fire; making small arms available to fire on E-boats when main guns cannot depress sufficiently; making life boats and life rafts as ready for lowering as possible; issuing illumination rockets to all large ships; improving fire fighting equipment, including manually operated pumps; providing training in the use of the 'kapok' life jacket and making them the preferred life preserver over the CO2 type; ordering boot laces be loosened when preparing to abandon ship to make it easier to remove them in the water. The casualties were not announced until nearly two months after the Normandy invasion. Full details were not known until 1974. It was the costliest training exercise in all of World War II.

Lt. Wolfgang Wenning of II./KG 51 was killed in a collison with an Oxford near Rugby.

WESTERN FRONT: US Eighth Air Force Mission 324: 116 of 117 B-17s hit Avord Airfield, France; 2 B-17s are lost and 38 damaged; 20 airmen are MIA. Escort is provided by 118 P-47s and 87 P-51s; they claim 0-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 8-0-3 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost and 2 damaged; 2 pilots are MIA. 18 of 106 B-17s bomb the Sottevast, France V-weapon site and targets of opportunity; clouds prevent most B-17s from bombing; 2 B-17s are lost and 47 damaged; 3 airmen are WIA and 21 MIA. Escort is provided by 46 P-47s without loss.

2 US Eighth Air Force fighter-bomber missions are also flown against airfields in France: 34 P-38s using the Droopsnoot method, bomb Tours Airfield; 11 P-38s fly escort; 1 P-38 is lost and 1 damaged; 1 pilot is MIA. 49 P-38s using the Droopsnoot method, bomb Chateaudun Airfield while 3 P-38s fly escort; 1 P-38 is damaged; 32 P-47s, with 4 P-47 escorts, dive-bomb the same target; they claim 1-0-1 aircraft on the ground.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 325: 47 of 47 B-24s bomb the Marquise/Mimoyecques, France V-weapon sites; 1 B-24 is damaged beyond repair and 6 damaged; 9 airmen are WIA. Escort is provided by 50 P-47s without loss. 16 P-47s, with 8 escorts, dive bomb an unidentified airfield near Paris without loss.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 326: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 1.64 million leaflets on 17 towns in Belgium, France and The Netherlands including Antwerp, Brussels, Paris, Tours, Lorient, Nantes, Orleans, Zwolle, Leeuwarden, Turnhout and Amersfoort without loss.

21 US Eighth Air Force B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER missions without loss.

18 US Ninth Air Force B-26s bomb the airfield at Cormeilles-en-Vexin, France as a secondary target. Nearly 250 B-26s dispatched to bomb marshalling yards are recalled because of heavy cloud cover over the targets.

88 RAF Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of No 5 Group attack an explosives factory near at St Médard En Jalles near Bordeaux. Only 26 aircraft bombed the target. Because of haze and smoke from fires started by flares in woods near the factory, the Master Bomber ordered the remainder of the force to retain their bombs. No aircraft lost.

51 RAF Lancasters and 4 Mosquitos of No 5 Group were dispatched and bombed an airframe factory near Oslo. Visibility was clear; the bombing was accurate and no aircraft were lost.

EASTERN FRONT: Stavka, the highest Soviet military command, decides that the fourth strategic strike of the year shall be directed against Finns to eliminate the threat to the security of Leningrad. For that purpose the Leningrad Front is reinforced by the 21st Army from the high command reserve.

GERMANY: 26 RAF Mosquitos to Hamburg, 2 RCM sorties, 40 aircraft on Resistance operations. No aircraft lost.

MEDITERRANEAN: Clearing weather again permits bomber operations; 450+ US Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s attack targets in Italy; 188 B-17s bomb Piombino Steel Works and port; 168 B-24s bomb the port area at San Stefano al Mare; and 108 B-24s bomb the port area at Orbetello; P-38s, P-51s and P-47s provide escort.

In Italy, US Twelfth Air Force medium bombers attack Piombino, railway bridges N of Orvieto, Ficulle, and W of Arezzo, and hit viaducts at Incisa in Valdarno and Piteccio; A-20s score hits on a fuel dump; P-40s and P-47s hit a fuel dump NW of Ferentino, warehouses S of Avezzano, several railway lines and targets of opportunity N of Rome, the Orbetello railroad yards, San Stefano al Mare harbor, rail lines at points between Rome and Avezzano, several gun emplacements, Follonica and Chiusi marshalling yards, and cut railroad lines at several points NW of Rome; fighter-bombers also hit Chiusi marshalling yard, tracks around Castiglione della Valle, Cortona marshalling yard, Grosseto railroad bridge, scattered motor transport and a barge near Follonica.

29 April 1944

WESTERN FRONT: Whilst pursuing German Elbing class torpedo boats T.27 and T.28 which were based at St.Malo, Tribal class destroyer HMS 'Athabaskan' is struck aft by a torpedo which starts a fire and brings her to a standstill. Ten minutes later she exploded either due to a second torpedo hit or a magazine explosion. T.27 is driven aground by HMS 'Haida'on Ile de Vierge and then returns to the site of the sinking to find about 100 of 'Athabaskan's' crew in the water. 'Haida's' motorboat and a number of floats are left to aid the survivors, and then 'Haida' heads for Devonport which is 100 miles away. 'Haida's' motorboat loaded with survivors heads north and is chased by three German minesweepers before being escorted by a couple of Spitfires. Later the motorboat is met by a motor launch which took off the crew and survivors.

68 RAF Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of No 5 Group returned to the explosives factory at St Médard En Jalles and carried out concentrated bombing on it without loss. 54 Lancasters and 5 Mosquitos of No 5 Group attacked the Michelin tyre factory at Clermont-Ferrand accurately and without loss. 8 Mosquitos to Oberhausen and 4 to Achéres railway yards, 5 RCM sorties, 6 Serrate patrols, 34 Halifaxes and 4 Stirlings minelaying off French ports and in the Frisians. 20 aircraft on Resistance operations, 9 OTU sorties. No aircraft lost.

14 B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER missions without loss.

217 US Ninth Air Force B-26s dispatched to bomb marshalling yards in France abort the mission because of heavy cloud cover over the target area.

MEDITERRANEAN: 573 US Fifteenth Air Force B-17s and B-24s, with fighter escort, attack the Toulon, France naval base and 5 B-17s attack the Rimini-Ancona railroad (second Azon mission). During the raid on Toulon, German submarine 'U-421' is sunk in harbor.

In Italy, US Twelfth Air Force B-25s attack the Terni viaduct and Attigliano railway bridge, while B-26s bomb bridges and bridge approaches at Pontassieve and Incisa in Valdarno; A-20s attack a dump NE of Rome; P-40s and P-47s cut rail lines in many places NE of Rome, hit guns N of Anzio and a dump SE of Rome, attack the town of Acquapendente, hit approaches and tunnel S of Arezzo and bridge and trucks in the area, bomb Sinalunga marshalling yard and bridge and approaches at Monte San Savino, and hit docks at San Vincenzo and boats at Follonica.

GERMANY: US Eighth Air Force Mission 327: 679 bombers and 814 fighters are dispatched to bomb Berlin, concentrating on railway facilities; they claim 95-33-48 Luftwaffe aircraft; 63 bombers and 13 fighters are lost: 210 of 228 B-17s bomb Berlin; 10 B-17s are lost and 150 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 7 WIA and 100 MIA. 218 B-17s are dispatched to Berlin; 158 hit the primary, 24 hit Magdeburg, 10 hit Brandenburg and 4 hit targets of opportunity; 28 B-17s are lost and 161 damaged; 4 airmen are KIA, 20 WIA and 260 MIA. 212 of 233 B-24s bomb Berlin; 25 B-24s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 121 damaged; 13 airmen are KIA, 11 WIA and 246 MIA. Escort is provided by 117 P-38s, 463 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s and 234 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s; 3 P-38s and 10 P-51s are lost; 1 P-47 is damaged beyond repair; 7 P-38s, 16 P-47s and 7 P-51s are damaged; 1 pilot is WIA and 12 MIA.

This day the pilots of Sturmstaffel 1 would have their greatest success against Allied bombers. Along with Sturmstaffel 1, taking to the air were units from JG 1, JG 3, JG 11, JG 27, JG 53 and even aircraft from Stab III./NJG 3, JG 302 and 3./JGr z.b.V. The Sturmstaffel downed 8 bombers and seperated out a further 4, with Lt. Werner Gerth claiming 2 bombers. Oblt. von Kirchmayr of II./JG 1 claimed the Gruppe's 700th victory and his personal 15th.

Oblt. Heinz Knoke of 5./JG 11 was shot down by a P-47 but as his victor overshot, Knoke pulled his battered machine toward the Thunderbolt and shot him down in turn. Both pilots parachuted to safety. When Knoke awoke from unconsciousness, he found himself in the company of the P-47 pilot, Capt. James Cannon of the US 354th FG/353 FS. Knoke promptly told Capt. Cannon he was Knoke's 25th victim to which Capt. Cannon replied that Knoke was Cannon's 17th.

While trying to land his Bf 110 at Arnhem after combat in the afternoon, Geschwaderkommodore Hans-Joachim Jabs of NJG 1 was bounced by 8 RAF Spitfires. He shot down 2 of his attackers before crash-landing his damaged Messerschmitt.

30 April 1944

WESTERN FRONT: After an early breakfast, Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel and his inspection group board a patrol boat in the port of Royan (north bank of the Gironde River) and travel south-southwest across the estuary. They pass the destroyer Z-37 and circle her once in salutation. Their cars are waiting for them, and they leave southward towards Bordeaux. They pass a large section of coast recently ravaged by a forest fire. This fire had detonated or destroyed five percent of the estimated 200,000 mines laid there. On top of that, the areas is too lightly defended. Rommel holds his tongue. After all, this area is commanded by 1st Army commander Johannes Blaskowitz. Technically, the 1st is directly subordinate to OB West, Field Marshal von Rundstedt, and it is only a matter of time before the 1st and the 19th are combined to form a new army group. Von Rundstedt had proposed it to OKW back in March and had designated that it go to Blaskowitz. OKW had agreed at the beginning of April. Rommel finally reaches Blaskowitz's headquarters at Bordeaux late in the morning. Admiral Ruge (Rommel's Naval Advisor) and the 1st Army staff go into conference, while Rommel and Blaskowitz talk privately for a short while.

Liberty Ship SS 'William S Thayer' sunk by 'U-711' returning from Murmansk, Russia.

143 RAF aircraft - 114 Halifaxes, 20 Lancasters, 9 Mosquitos - of Nos 6 and 8 Groups despatched to Somain, south-east of Lille. 1 Halifax lost.The initial Oboe marking was inaccurate and the Master Bomber ordered the bombing force to wait. Most of the Halifaxes making up the Main Force either did not hear or ignored his orders and their bombs missed the target. Some damage was caused to the railway yards by the remainder of the force.

128 RAF aircraft - 107 Halifaxes, 13 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos - of Nos 4 and 8 Groups attacked the railway yards at Achères, near Paris without loss.The Mayor of this small town reports that the bombing completely destroyed the railway yards and that there were no civilian victims, the Mayor attributing this to the fact that the bombers flew at comparatively low level.

116 RAF Lancasters of No 1 Group attacked the largest Luftwaffe bomb and ammunition dump at Maintenon in Northern France. The marking for this raid appears to have been provided by the No 1 Group Marking Flight, based at Binbrook; the Bomber Command records do not mention any other group taking part. The raid was entirely successful and a spectacular series of explosions were seen on the ground. French houses near by were not hit.

GERMANY: 28 RAF Mosquitos to Saarbrücken and 5 to Düren, 14 RCM sorties, 9 Serrate and 5 Intruder patrols, 48 Halifaxes minelaying off the French coast, 36 aircraft on Resistance operations, No aircraft lost.

General Adolf Galland reported the following;

"Between January and April 1944 our day fighter arm lost more than 1,000 pilots. They included our best Staffel, Gruppe and Geschwader commanders....The time has come when our force is within sight of collapse."

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MEDITERRANEAN: The Schlachtflieger suffered heavy casualties in operations over Italy and I./SG 4's experiences of April 1944 were especially bad with 25 aircraft lost to enemy action.

1 MAY 1944

EASTERN FRONT: The highest Soviet military command, Stavka, formulates the political goals of the strategic strikes of the coming summer:

"...to purge our country of fascist invaders and reach the Barents Sea - Black Sea line".

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WESTERN FRONT: The unescorted 'Janeta' was torpedoed and sunk by 'U-181' about 900 miles SW of Ascension Island. The U-boat misidentified the ship as 'Banavon'. Nine crewmembers and four gunners were lost. The master, 31 crewmembers and three gunners were rescued; the master, the third officer and eight survivors were rescued and landed at Bahia on 14 May. 15 more survivors were picked up by the Swedish MS 'Freja' about 150 miles south of Bahia and landed at Rio de Janeiro. Ten survivors were picked up on 12 May by destroyer escort USS 'Alger' and landed at Bahia.

'U-277' sunk in the Arctic Ocean SW of Bear Island, Norway, by depth charges from a 824 Sqn Swordfish from escort carrier HMS 'Fencer'. 50 dead (all hands lost).

131 RAF Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos of No 5 Group attacked the aircraft assembly factory and an explosives factory at Toulouse. Both targets were hit and no aircraft were lost. 137 aircraft - 89 Halifaxes, 40 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos - of 6 and 8 Groups attacked the railway yards at St Ghislain with great accuracy. 1 Halifax and 1 Lancaster lost. 132 aircraft - 110 Halifaxes, 14 Lancasters, 8 Mosquitos of Nos 4 and 8 Groups attacked railway targets at Malines. 1 Halifax lost. The bombing was scattered, although the locomotive sheds were damaged.

Chambly: 120 aircraft - 96 Lancasters, 16 Stirlings, 8 Mosquitos - of Nos 3 and 8 Groups. 3 Lancasters and 2 Stirlings lost. Chambly, to the north of Paris was the main railway stores and repair depot for the Northern French system which the Allied bombers were trying to put out of action. The local report (provided by the office of the present Chief Engineer at Chambly) shows that the raid was extremely successful. Approximately 500 high-explosive bombs fell inside the railway depot area and serious damage was caused to all departments. The depot was completely out of action for 10 days.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 332: Operation CROSSBOW (operations against German missile launching sites) targets are hit in France in the early morning; 531 bombers and 209 fighters are dispatched but weather causes many aborts and only 3 of 23 V-weapons sites targetted are bombed: Of 161 B-17s dispatched,m 18 hit Poix Airfield, 18 hit Roye/Amy Airfield and 15 hit Montdidier Airfield; 1 B-17 is damaged beyond repair and 20 damaged. 22 of 187 B-17s and 57 of 183 B-24s hit the Pas de Calais area; 1 B-17 and 1 B-24 are damaged beyond repair; 19 B-17s and 15 B-24s are damaged; 5 B-24 crewmen are KIA. Escort is provided by 119 P-47s and 90 P-51s without loss or claims.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 333: In the afternoon, 386 bombers and 558 fighters are dispatched to hit marshalling yards in France and Belgium; 3 bombers and 3 fighters are lost: 110 B-17s are dispatched to Troyes (52 bomb) and Reims (57 bomb), France; 1 B-17 is lost and 52 damaged; 10 airmen are MIA. 125 B-17s are dispatched to Saarguemines (64 bomb) and Metz (42 bomb), France and Brussels, Belgium (13 bomb); 2 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 43 damaged; 20 airmen are MIA. 151 B-24s are dispatched to Brussels (59 bomb) and Liege (40 bomb), Belgium; 21 B-24s are damaged; no losses or casualties. Escort is provided by 120 P-38s, 272 P-47s and 166 P-51s; The P-47s claim 1-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft and the P-51s claim 5-0-2; 2 P-38s and 1 P-51 are lost; 4 P-47s and 1 P-51 are damaged; 4 pilots are MIA.

US Eighth Air Force Mission 334: 5 of 5 B-17s drop 1.55 million leaflets on 25 towns in France and The Netherlands without loss.

25 B-24s are dispatched on CARPETBAGGER operations without loss.

The last of the 11 US Ninth Air Force bombardment groups (8 medium and 3 light) of the IX Bomber Command becomes operational.

450 US Ninth Air Force B-26s and A-20s attack numerous marshalling yards and industrial targets in France and Belgium.

III./KG 3 began converting to a He 111 modified to carry the Fi 103 flying bomb which by the end of the month was in full production.

MEDITERRANEAN: In Italy, medium bombers attack bridges at Albinia Station, NW of Chiusi, in and near Grosseto, near Monte Molino, Calafuria and at Pontedera; also attacked are a viaduct at Monte Catellana and marshalling yards at Florence/Campo di Marte and Florence, with particularly good results at Florence; light bombers hit an ammunition dump at Fara in Sabina; P-40s and P-47s hit rail tracks in the Rome area, Priverno Station, guns N of Anzio, dumps at Frascati, stations at Colleferro and Frosinone, tracks at Orbetello and Orvieto, a bridge and tunnel N of Todi, a road in Canino, a dump and factory at Stimigliono, vessels E of Piombino, a factory E of Cecina, bridge approaches at Grosseto and Arezzo, a dump at Grosseto and a tunnel at Rignano sull Arno; and HQ 79th Fighter Group and 86th and 87th Fighter Squadrons move from Capodichino to Pomigliano with P-47s.

Stab./122 transferred from Perugia to Bergamo-South at the beginning of May and remained there to the end of the war. Bergamo-South was also known as Orio al Serio. 2(F)./122 transferred from Perugia to Bergamo-South in northern Italy at the beginning of May and remained there until August 1944. 2(F)./122 had a mixed stock of Ju 88 and Me 410 aircraft – 8 on strength of which 4 were servicable.

GERMANY: For anti-'Mosquito' operations, the He 219A was stripped down as the A-6 version, attaining 650 kph (404 mph). The He 219A-7 was the next major production version, A-7/R6 having a Junkers Jumo 222A/B engine and was the fastest of the type attaining 700 kph (435 mph). Despite the aircraft's success, Erhard Milch persuaded the RLM to cancel the whole program. He favored instead standardization on the multipurpose Ju 388 and Ta 154 night-fighter, which he thought were easier to manifacture but which in fact never saw combat. Nevertheless, Heinkel continued to produce small numbers of the He 219 at Vienna-Schwechat.

Hptm. Thierfelder's EKdo jet Gruppe recieved 12 more pilots, 6 pilots each from the Gruppenkommandeur's old unit 8./ZG 26 and from 9./ZG 26. Most of the pilots had completed retraining from the Bf 110 to the Me 410 and now had to become familiar with the jet.