Mission Date: February 6, 1945
BOHLEN-OIL CLOUDED OVER
100th BG Mission #: 256
Mission Summary
ON THIS DAY...FEBRUARY 6, 1945
On this day, the boys were briefed for their Primary target - gas generating plant in the synthetic oil plant of Braunkohle-Benzin, A. G., near Leipzig with a Secondary target of the railway junction in the center of Dresden. Chemnitz, would be their designated Target of Last Resort with various Targets of Opportunity.
Lead by the 390th, the 13th Wing would fly the 95th as its ‘B’ group and the 100th as its ‘C,’ flying last in the Division line. Leading the 100th, would be the 349th’s Major Charles A. Martin flying as Command pilot with the Donald Jones crew. The High Squadron's formation would be led by the 349th’s John Williams lead crew and the Low squadron by the 418th’s LT Blanding flying with Captain Albrecht.
That morning, thirty-eight crews waited nervously through an hour weather delay, eventually departing the base between 0700-0730 hours in "p--- poor" conditions. As the ships formed up in the crowded and clouded sky, at 6000 feet they would witness a B-17 from the 490th crash head on with a B-17 from the 388th.
Due to the poor visibility, the Wing’s assembly over Buncher 28 was dropped to 8500 feet. Many of the pilots were praying to receive the secret mission recall password, “Out of Coal.” In fact, visibility was so difficult that the 390th was unable to see the 95th or 100th’s formations and departed the English coast, flying in between two formations from the 4th Combat Wing.
The 100th’s formation encountered their first of seven flak areas as they crossed the Dutch Coast at Ijmuiden and again at Zwolle. Fortunately, the cloud coverage allowed for inaccurate gunning from below but before the 100th had reached the Initial Point of its first bomb run, three of its pilot’s had already left the formation: LTs Gay and Kodas from the Lead Squadron and Calder from the High.
Encountering their third round of flak at Leipzig, the Primary target was completely covered, so the Rally Point was used to set up a bomb run for the Secondary target, where the formation again ran into flak at Dresden. With the “Mickey”s out at the Secondary, all three squadrons made a run on Chemnitz, flying through their fifth round of flak. Unable to get an accurate fix on this target, the Lead and High squadrons bombed Zwickau as a target of last resort while the Low squadron, able get a break in the clouds, sited on Chemnitz and bombed its marshaling yards.
Flying in the 100th’s Low squadron on their #24 mission was the 350th’s Edward H. Hansen Crew. Their Top Turret/Engineer, SGT Leroy Edwards remembered, "…We tried to climb over the storm. At the first target we went to 31,000 feet. It was 68 degrees below zero. Boy was it cold, Brr! Then we went on to the target of last resort at Chemitz, Germany. Of course, we then let down to 24000 ft. It was considerably warmer since we were also out of the storm area. It was a good thing we didn't run into any fighters as I didn't have a very big hole to sight through. The reason was due to frost from my breath inside the upper turret. The turret was operating Okay, but frost was so thick I could not see out very good…I didn’t have a very big hole to sight through…Our plane, ole 437, was using a little extra gas. As we were coming back we could see that we were going to be short on gas…"
Shortly after leaving the Rally Point, the Groups received radio instructions from Division that the formation’s return route had been changed. As reported later in the Wings Tactical Report, "Due to length of message considerable time was expended in deciphering it. The Division Leader acting on these instructions altered course and skirted the Sweinfurt Defenses. Due to the error in transmutation the Division had proceeded to a point south of Darmstadt before the correction was received. The Groups made a northerly course to the vicinity of Geissen at which point the Division altered course to intercept the briefed course just south of Coblenz." The formation hit flak over Frankfurt and again over Koblenz, where the flak was reported to be accurate with the 100th’s Low Squadron taking the brunt of it.
Ten hours after take-off, only sixteen ships came into the field to land that day and five of those ships returned with battle damage from flak. Later, seven additional pilots reported in safely, damaged but landing elsewhere: DeWeeerdt, Morasco, Evans, Mikesh, Talmage, Hansen and Wilson. Nine additional ships were reported as still “outstanding” when the Wing’s report was completed and feared lost : Wood, Akers, Fellows, Garrison, Jacobs, Kane, Bucklew, Doyle and Presthold. Fortunately though, they were all heard from and all were safe.
Although many thought it a “holiday,” the ships making forced landings elsewhere most likely had flak damage and or were running low on gas. The 350th Squadron’s Diary noted, “A/C 48503, Baby Bunty flown by LT Tom Fellows - missing. A Couple of days later they showed up on the field, having had one of those Belgium vacations for a breather, while repairs and refueling are carried out.” Additional forced landings in Belgium were made by the Wood and Doyle Crews. Landing at a P-37 base in Belgium, Wood’s Ball Turret Gunner, SGT Frank Volk notes on this mission revealed, “Had to land in Brussels, Belgium because of fog. Drank beer all night in Brussels. Germans bombed the field at night.” And from the diary of LT Thomas Williams, we know that the Doyle Crew also landed in Belgium. Williams recorded, ”took a run on all 3 targets and finally bombed CHEMNITZ Salvo - then started the tour of Germany - boy what fun — all the « mickey » was out and nobody knew where we were — finally broke out over Belgium - let down thru the overcast right over Florenz a P-38 airfield — they sent us up to Gosselies A-87 a P-51 base — we landed there somewhat hectically - were put up in the pilot’s billets right in town — ate — sure were a good bunch of boys — had some beer & cognac — shot the bull all evening — changed our money in the morning to Francs.”
Days later, the Group would learn about the 351st’s Jerome Garrison Crew. Flying in a borrowed 349th B17 named “Scrooge’s Stooges” on their #1 combat mission, they lost an engine on the way to the target. After bombs were away, they were hit by flak causing their ship to leak gas. Descending into the undercast they became lost and the twenty-three year-old Garrison gave the order to bail out. Radio Operator, twenty-three year-old SGT Steve Kowalski, later told a reporter, ”We were out of gas and with thick, soupy clouds below, there was nothing to do but jump.“ Waist Gunner, SGT George Miller remembered, « We were finally ordered to bail out, but we did not have the slightest idea where we were. Fortunately for us, we were in a liberated area of France. Ball Turret Gunner, nineteen year-old William H. Andrews who had flunked French twice in High School wished he had studied harder when after landing, had difficulty convincing the French civilians he was not a German paratrooper. He stated, “Late that night, I was finally taken to the Gendarmes in a nearby village where I found other members of my crew and my pilot, Lieutenant Garrison. Some of the boys even had a rougher time than I because the French FFI were about to shoot three of them when somebody stepped in and stopped the shooting just in time.” Amazingly, after the entire crew had bailed out, their unmanned B-17 flew on by itself, making a perfect belly landing in Fontaines, in the Department of Saone-et-Loire in the Bourgogne Region.
The Hansen Crew, low on gas, had made it back over to England but ran into difficulties. Their Top Turret/Engineer SGT Leroy Edwards tells us, "We finally did find and came right over the field we were trying to find…Just as we were coming over the field, one engine ran out of gas and on the other side of the field was the town of Rochester, England…I told the pilot, Ed Hanson, I didn’t want to be scattered in the town and to get it out in the country. Of course, I was sure we were going to crash. I don’t know about the rest of them but I was scared…And with the crews in crash positions, we hit the muddy hillside. This field was planted in wheat…I don’t suppose we slid any more than a city block, but we sure tore up a wheat field…We either had a lot of luck or someone up there was looking after us…We finally arrived back at the 100th base, four days after we took off for Germany" Although safe, their Navigator, LT Kretzschmar, was injured in the crash
Flying in ‘Lucky Lassie’, the 418th’s LT Francis Mikesh Crew took a direct flak hit to their #3 engine just after the bomb run and could not control the windmilling of the propeller. Limping westward, they barely made it to an emergency landing field in Reims, France. The pilots blew the right tire upon landing in Reims and LT Mikesh removed and carried the Norden bombsight along with him as he and the crew took a train to Paris, eventually making their way back to Thorpe Abbotts, eleven days later.
Bombing Results
Bombing Results:
Aircraft Lost: 0
Crew Lost: 0
Claims of Enemy Losses (CLS): 0
Aircraft Returned:
