The 85 Sqdn left from Swannington at 1945-01-05 at 14:07. Loc or duty Air Test
He flew with a de Havilland Mosquito (type NF.30, serial MV558 , code VY-).
Campaign report of the USAAF:
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS
(Eighth Air Force):: 2 missions are flown.
Mission 781: 1,032 bombers and 584 fighters are dispathed to hit rail targets and airfields in C Germany; they claim 1-0-0 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 4-0-0 on the ground; 1 B-17 and 1 P-51 are lost.
1. 259 B-24s are sent to hit marshalling yards at Neustadt (32), Sobernheim (42), Kirm (18) and St Ingbert (3), the marshalling yard and rail bridge at Cochem (31) and the Pirmasens railroad (39); 51 hit the Neunkirchen marshalling yard, a secondary target; targets of opportunities hit are communications centers at Rheinkirchen (8), Neubrucke (7), Prum (1) and Burg (1); bombing is visual and with Gee-H; 3 B-24s are damaged beyond repair and 51 damaged; 6 airmen are KIA and 1 WIA.
Escorting are 164 of 177 P-51s.
2. 370 B-17s are dispatched to hit marshalling yards at Hanau (57) and Frankfurt (81) and communications centers at Waxweiler (32), Wetteldorf (27) and Pronsfeld (33); 29 hit the secondary target at Kaiserslautern; targets of opportunity are Heilbronn (29) and other (11); bombing is visual and PFF; 1 B-17 is lost, 6 damaged beyond repair and 89 damaged; 13 airmen are KIA, 9 WIA and 1 MIA.
Escort is provided by 194 of 213 P-51s; they claim 1-0-0 aircraft in the air and 4-0-0 on the ground.
3. 379 B-17s are sent to hit airfields at Niederbreisig (70) and Niedermendig (54), communications centers at Dumpelfeld (37), Kall (35) and Mechernich (1), and the the railroad at Heimbach (37); 96 hit the secondary target, the Koblenz marshalling yard; targets of opportunity are communications centers at Pronsfeld (2) and Waxweiler (1) and other (4); bombing is by Gee-H and H2X; 1 B-17s is damaged beyond repair and 20 damaged.
Escort is 109 of 117 P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA) and 1 damaged beyond repair.
4. 24 of 24 B-17s fly a screening mission.
5. 26 of 33 P-51s fly a scouting mission.
Mission 782: 4 B-24s and 1 B-17 drop leaflets during the night over SE Belgium.
TACTICAL OPERATIONS
(Ninth Air Force): The 9th Bombardment Division attacks rail bridges at Ahrweiler, Simmern, and Bullay, Germany and communications centers at Gouvy, Houffalize, and near Durler, Belgium, and Massen, Luxembourg.
Fighters escort the 9th Bombardment Division and VIII Bomber Command, fly armed reconnaissance, attack airfields, communications centers, traffic concentrations, and other targets, and support the US III and VIII Corps W and E of Bastogne and the 2d and 3d Armored Divisions near Manhay, Belgium.
HQ 368th Fighter Group and the 395th, 396th and 397th Fighter Squadrons move from Juvincourt to Metz, France with P-47s.
Campaign report of the RAF:
4/5 January 1945
Royan: 347 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.
66 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.
5 January 1945
160 Lancasters of No 3 Group attacked the railway-yards at Ludwigshafen. 2 Lancasters lost.
1 Hudson flew a Resistance operation.
5/6 January 1945
Hannover: 664 aircraft - 340 Halifaxes, 310 Lancasters, 14 Mosquitos - of Nos 1, 4, 6 and 8 Groups. 23 Halifaxes and 8 Lancasters lost, 4.7 per cent of the force. This was the first large raid on Hannover since October 1943.
131 Lancasters and 9 Mosquitos of No 5 Group attacked Houffalize, a bottleneck in the German supply system in the Ardennes. The target was bombed with great accuracy. 2 Lancasters lost.
69 Mosquitos to Berlin, 8 to Neuss and 6 to Castrop-Rauxel, 58 RCM sorties, 55 Mosquito patrols. 4 Mosquitos lost, 2 from the Berlin raid and 2 from No 100 Group.
Total effort for the night: 1,000 sorties, 37 aircraft (3.7 per cent) lost.
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