Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
In Italy – (by wireless)
At this airfield, from which A-20 light bombers fly, breakfast is finished at 7:30. But even before that the squadron commanders and operations officers have driven in jeeps around to the other side of the field to get briefs from the group staff on the morning’s mission.
Each squadron in the group lives in a separate area. They form three distinct families, which fuse into one big unit only when they are in the air.
The plane crews assemble around the operations tent immediately after breakfast. They pick up their parachutes and their new flak vests from a nearby tent. They stand around outside zipping on their heavy flying clothes while they await the call to briefing.
Pretty soon it comes and they crowd into the tent and sit on rows of frag-bomb boxes, as in a little school. The squadron intelligence officer gets up on a low platform and starts talking.
They say this officer’s briefings are the best in the group. I’ve attended scores of briefings in England and Africa, and usually they’re repetitious and dull. But this squadron’s briefings are interesting. The intelligence officer is intensely thorough. The crews get a detailed picture of what they’re to do. And above all he is honest.
Briefing includes war news resume
One of the gunners said to me:
Some briefing officers will tell you flatly you won’t get any flak, and then when you get there it just pours up. Now our intelligence officer, he’ll say:
I don’t think you’ll get much flak today, but you know the Germans have mobile ack-ack, and they can concentrate it overnight, so watch out.
One thing in his briefing is a resumé of the war news. This is being done more and more in the Army, and it is important, because any soldier likes to know what is going on around him.
He gives the whole Italian war situation, both ground and air, of the previous 24 hours. He tells them also any news that has come from England or Russia.
Then he goes into the briefing. Behind him are a big map and two big blackboards. The map is of central Italy. He points out the target on the map.
Then on the blackboard is drawn in chalk a detailed map of the target area. This sketch covers an area 40 or 50 miles square. It invariably includes the coastline, so that crews can orient the target with the coast.
‘Blown-up’ sketch of target area
The second blackboard has a “blown-up” sketch of the target area, covering territory only a couple of miles square. It contains full details for helping the crews identify the target when they get there, such as exact towns and roads, little lakes, groves of trees, and even an isolated white farmhouse.
When the intelligence officer is through, the flight leader gets up. Usually that is Capt. Gene Vance from Pueblo, Colorado, who used to be a newspaperman himself.
Capt. Vance tells them what type of bomb they’re carrying, and how many fighters and what kind will be escorting them. He also goes into great detail on just how each flight will “break away” out of the bomb run,” plus a few methods to avoid flak.
He advises what route to take home if anybody gets lost. Sometimes they have to throw out bundles of pamphlets as well as drop bombs, and he advises the exact formation to fly so that the bundle won’t hit the following plane.
At the end, he gives them a time set. Everybody looks at his watch and Capt. Vance says:
It is now 23 seconds till 10 minutes to 9. It is now 20 seconds–15 seconds–10 seconds–5–4–3–2–1. Check. Ten minutes to 9.
The crews, looking sober, file out and get into their trucks.
