Army Air Forces in World War II: Volume 3

Main Objectives of “Big Week” Operations – The CROSSBOW Network, January 1944 – Organization of the Ninth Air Force, 6 June 1944 – Tactical Disposition Ninth Air Force, 6 June 1944 – Airborne Operation NEPTUNE, 5–6 June 1944 – D-Day Air Dispositions and Principal Targets Assigned in the Assault Area – The Battle Area, June–September 1944 – Interdiction, May–August 1944 – Principal Oil Targets Bombed by the Strategic Air Forces – Twelfth Air Force, 29 January 1944 – Allied Strategy in Italy, January 1944 – The Anzio Landing and the Initial Expansion of the Beachhead – Central Italy Principal Rail Lines and Roads – Fifteenth Air Force, 15 June 1944 – Principal Rail Lines, Southern France – Twelfth Air Force, 31 August 1944 – Principal Rail Lines, Northern Italy – MAAF, 1 November 1944 – Balkan Area Served by AAF Special Operations – Status of U.S. Airfields in Western Europe, 8 May 1945 – Headquarters IX Air Force Service Command – Navigation Diagram for Operation MARKET – Operations in Holland, 17 September–3 December 1944 – Operation MADISON – Sixth Army Group Operations, 5 November–16 December 1944 – Railways in Germany Bombed by Allied Air Forces – German Preparation for the Ardennes Counteroffensive – Battle of the Bulge – Interdiction Operations, 23 December 1944 to 31 January 1945

List of Illustrations

Over Berlin: Radar Bombing Through 7/10 Cloud – Little Brothers: P-38, P-51, P-47 – Big Week: Regensburg–Prüfening – Big Week: Regensburg–Obertraubling – V-1 – Launching V-2 – V-Weapon Site in Normandy – Before D-Day: Low-Level Reconnaissance of Beach Defenses – Normandy Beachhead Under P-38 Cover – Isolating the Battlefield – Normandy Rail Cuts – Loire Bridge at Saumur – Ninth Air Force Communications – Headquarters Installations – Tank to Fighter-Bomber – Strafing Motor Transport in France – Von Rundstedt’s Headquarters After a Visit by XIX TAC – Camera Guns Record Victories – Attack on Me-109 – Strafing FW-190 – Direct Hit on Ammunition Truck – Berlin Flak Destroys B-17 – B-17 Belly Wound Not Fatal – Fifteenth Air Force Wrecks Ploesti Oil Fields – Stella Romana – Concordia Vega – Eighth Air Force Attacks Oil Refineries – Merseburg–Leuna – Harburg – FRANTIC: B-17’s En Route to Russia – Fifteenth Air Force Ruins Airdrome at Neuberg, Austria – Monte Cassino: The Abbey in Ruins – Cassino: The Town Under Attack – All Roads Lead to Rome – Briefing Pilots of 332nd Fighter Group in Italy – Air Drop for DRAGOON – Run In – Bail Out – Broken Bridges in Italy – Bressanone – Piazzola – Ponte di Piave – Nervesa – Maquis Receiving Supplies in CARPETBAGGER Mission – Direct Hit on Highway Bridge in Italy – Cathedral and Bridge: Rouen – Cathedral and Bridge: Cologne – B-25 Hits Bridge at Brixlegg – Hauling Gas for Patton’s Tanks – Emergency Air Strip in the Normandy Hedgerows – Airfield Construction – Square-Mesh Track – Pierced-Steel Plank – Airfield Construction: Hessian Mat – Battle of the Bulge: Ninth Air Force Hits St.-Vith – Battle of the Bulge: Bombed-out Panzer – Marshalling Yards – Linz – Dasburg – Salzburg – Nazis Watch as Eighth Air Force Bombs Factory at Kassel – VARSITY Line-up 24 March 1945 – Eighth Air Force Bombs Dresden – Berlin Factories Hit by Eighth Air Force – Death of the Luftwaffe – Strafing Attack by 353rd Fighter Group, 16 April 1945 – Bad Abling Airdrome, May 1945

United States Air Force Historical Advisory Committee

(As of May 1, 1983)

Lt. Gen. Charles G. Cleveland, USAF Commander, Air University, ATC

Maj. Gen. Robert E. Kelley, USAF Superintendent, USAF Academy

Mr. DeWitt S. Copp, The National Volunteer Agency

Dr. Joan Kennedy, Kinnaird Trinity College

Dr. Warren W. Hassler, Jr., Pennsylvania State University

Mr. David E. Place, The General Counsel, USAF

Dr. Edward L. Homze, University of Nebraska

Gen. Bryce Poe II, USAF, Retired

Dr. Alfred F. Hurley, Brig. Gen., USAF, Retired North Texas State University

Dr. David A. Shannon (Chairman), University of Virginia

Army Air Forces in World War II: Volume 3

Europe: ARGUMENT to V-E Day, January 1944 to May 1945

Prepared under the editorship of

Wesley Frank Craven, Princeton University,

James Lea Cate, University of Chicago.

By Air Historical Group United States Air Force

Wilfred J. Paul, Col, USAF, Director

Albert F. Simpson, Air Force Historian

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Charts

List of Illustrations

United States Air Force Historical Advisory Committee