WESTERN FRONT: The fighting in the Ardennes continues; a German counterattack near Bastogne is repulsed by troops of US 3rd Army. There are attacks by US 8th and 3rd Corps and by the British 30th Corps. Some of the units of the 6.SS Panzerarmee (Dietrich) are withdrawn and sent to the Eastern Front. US troops capture Malempre in the Ardennes. In Alsace, the German attacks in the Bitche area continue.
(US Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
Mission 779: 1 B-17 and 2 B-24s drop leaflets in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany during the night; 1 B-24 is lost.
Mission 780: 10 of 12 B-24s dispatched to hit the Coubre Point Coastal battery near Bordeaux, France hit the target using H2X radar. The transfer of HQ VIII Fighter Command from Bushey Hall, England to Charleroi, Belgium begins; the HQ is to provide administrative and operational support for fighter groups operating with the Ninth AF on tactical support missions.
HQ 324th Fighter Group moves from Tavaux to Luneville, France.
(US Ninth Air Force): All combat operations, except a defensive patrol by 4 fighters, are cancelled because of bad weather. The 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group, ceases operating from Conflans, France and returns to base at Le Culot, Belgium with F-6s.
The Royan Raid: 347 RAF Lancasters and 7 Mosquitos of Nos 1, 5 and 8 Groups. 4 Lancasters were lost and 2 more collided behind Allied lines in France and crashed. This was a tragic raid with a strange - and disputed - background. Royan was a town situated at the mouth of the River Gironde in which a stubborn German garrison was still holding out, preventing the Allies from using the port of Bordeaux. The task of besieging the town had been given to 12,000 men of the French Resistance commanded by Free French officers appointed by General de Gaulle. The commander of the German garrison recognized the Resistance units as regular forces and the normal rules of warfare were observed. The French, lacking artillery, made little progress with their siege. The German commander gave the inhabitants of the town the opportunity to leave but many preferred to stay in order to look after their homes. It is believed that there were 2,000 civilians at the time of the raid.
On 10 December 1944, a meeting took place at the town of Cognac between French officers and an American officer from one of the tactical air force units in France. After a meal, at which much alcohol is supposed to have been consumed, the American officer suggested that the German garrison at Royan should be 'softened up' by bombing. He was assured by the French that the only civilians remaining in the town were collaborators - which was not correct. The suggestion that the town be bombed was passed to SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force), which decided that the task should be given to Bomber Command: 'To destroy town strongly defended by enemy and occupied by German troops only.' It is said that SHAEF ordered a last-minute cancellation because of doubts about the presence of French civilians but the order, if issued, was not received by Bomber Command in time.
The attack was carried out by 2 waves of bombers, in good visibility conditions, in the early hours of 5 January. 1,576 tons of high-explosive bombs - including 285 'blockbuster' (4,OOOlb bombs) - were dropped. Local reports show that between 85 and 90 per cent of the small town was destroyed. The number of French civilians killed is given as '500 to 700' and as '800' by different sources. Many of the casualties were suffered in the second part of the raid, which took place an hour after the first and caught many people out in the open trying to rescue the victims of the first wave of the bombing trapped in their houses. The number of Germans killed is given as 35 to 50. A local truce was arranged and, for the next 10 days, there was no fighting while the search for survivors in wrecked houses continued.
There were many recriminations. Bomber Command was immediately exonerated. The American air-force officer who passed on the original suggestion to SHAEFwas removed from his command. The bitterest disputes took place among the Free French officers and accusations and counter-accusations continued for many years after the war. A French general committed suicide. De Gaulle, in his Memoires, blamed the Americans:
'American bombers, on their own initiative, came during the night and dropped a mass of bombs.'
The German garrison did not surrender until 18 April.
MEDITERRANEAN: Canadian troops capture a bridgehead west of the Granarolo River.
(US Fifteenth Air Force): In Italy, 370+ B-24s and B-17s bomb marshalling yards at Verona, Bronzolo, Vicenza, Padua, Trento, and Bolzano, and station sidings at Trento; 200+ fighters accompany the bombers; 54 P-38s attempt high-level bombing of Cismon del Grappa but fail to hit the target. 9 B-24s drop supplies in Yugoslavia. P-38s and P-51s fly reconnaissance and escort operations.
(US Twelfth Air Force): In Italy, medium bombers hit bridges at Lavis and Calliano; fighters and fighter-bombers interdict Po Valley communications and hit an ammunition dump at San Felice del Benaco; during the night of 3/4 Jan, A-20s successfully hit a stores dump and bridge near Mestre, and destroy or damage 50+ vehicles. The 416th Night Fighter Squadron, 62d Fighter Wing, based at Pisa, Italy with Mosquitoes, sends a detachment to operate from Etain, France attached to the 425th Night Fighter Squadron.
GERMANY: 66 RAF Mosquitos to Berlin and 7 to Neuss, 2 Halifax RCM sorties. No aircraft lost. Some of the Light Night Striking Force (No 8 Group) Mosquitos which attacked Berlin on this night flew 2 sorties each. These Mosquitos took off in the early evening, bombed Berlin returned and changed crews, and then flew to Berlin again. This method of augmenting the Mosquito campaign against Berlin was used several times during the long nights of midwinter.