1,500 U.S. bombers strike foe today
Greatest single force in air history hits France, Germany
SHAEF, London, England (AP) –
Fifteen hundred U.S. heavy bombers – the greatest single striking force in air history – attacked France and Germany today in concert with up to 750 U.S. heavies which struck Hungary and Yugoslavia from Italy.
The oil lifelines for Hitler’s thirsty war machine were hit hard, part of the big task force from Britain hitting the oil refinery at Emmerich, Germany, while the Mediterranean force attacked half a dozen oil refineries in Hungary and Yugoslavia – including the Shell Koolaz, five miles south of Budapest, the largest in Hungary.
Other Britain-based Fortresses and Liberators aimed their bombs at six enemy air bases beyond the beachhead in the unrelenting campaign to wipe out nests of German Air Force opposition. Others hit bridges in France and Belgium.
Thousands of flights
Supreme Headquarters announced that in the first seven days of invasion, 56,000 individual flights were made by the Allied air forces with the loss of 554 planes – less than one percent of the attacking force.
In that time, 42,000 tons of bombs were dropped. The 8th Air Force led with about 16,000 sorties and the 9th had 15,500.
The U.S. force aggregating upwards of 1,500 bombers and fighters attacked among other targets the Le Bourget and Creil airfields at Paris, Étampes-Mondesir and Châteaudun in France; Brussels-Melsbroek in Belgium and Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
Attack from Italy
Meanwhile, another U.S. heavy bomber force, the German radio said, surged up from Italy from the south in the Munich area both yesterday and last night.
The air armadas took full advantage of ideal weather in stepping up the assaults on German fighting forces and strategic targets far inland. It was described here as “a marvelous air support campaign getting more satisfactory every day.”
In direct support of troops battling in Normandy, large forces of U.S. Marauders and Havocs and fighter-bombers swarmed across the sun-glistening channel all day. The fighters extended attacks to German shipping while a separate force of U.S. Lightnings patrolled defensively over the Allies’ sea lifelines.