Subject: B-17 Boomerang Barbara, mission 9
From: [email-masked] (Michael Fitch)

B-17 Boomerang Barbara, mission 9.

        From William J. Watson's diary:

January 7       Ninth raid - Target Ludwigshafen - No flack or
                fighters. Very good escort. Almost got over
                "Happy Valley" but stayed out of range. Long
                raid and very surprising.

        From Albert Sorian's memoir's:

Mission         No. 9                   Date    Jan. 7, 1944
Target          Ludwigshafen, Germany
Time            12:59 hrs               Trip    6:30 hrs
Altitude        23,800                  Temp.   (C) 43 below
Damage          One big flak hole in bomb bay doors and several
                small holes thru-out the ship.
Memo            This was one of the best bombing thru cloud cover
                that I have ever seen. When we left the target, you
                could see smoke comming out of the clouds, thirty
                miles away.

        Two articles from a local British newspaper:

                 Reich Gas Center Is 'Wiped Out'
                                -----
        Neutrals Cite Effect Of Big U.S. Blow At Ludwigshafen
                                -----
        Ludwigshafen, heart of Germany's war chemical and poison gas
industry, was "completely flattened out" by the massed American heavy
bomber raid in daylight Friday, according to reports from neutral
sources yesterday.
        Eighth Air Force headquarters offically announced only that
targets in southwestern Germany were bombed in Friday's operations,
when 12 bombers and seven fighters were lost out of one of the largest
formations ever to strike the Reich. The attack was made through heavy
clouds, presumably with the new secret bombing technique, and no target
will be announced officially until photographic reconnaissance has
confirmed bomb hits.
        Meanwhile, however, reports from half a dozen neutral sources
agreed that Ludwigshafen was one of the prime objectives of the raid, 
and virtually all of them reported heavy damage. Heavy bombs and  
incendiaries cascaded through the cloud cover onto the highly 
inflammable network of factories and plants turning out military
chemicals, Stockholm newspapres said. Mannheim, Ludwigshafen's twin
city but more a center of engineering works and transport, also was
reported hit.
                Third Heavy Attack in Week
        For the USAAF Friday's was the third heavy bomber attack in a
week. Nine days before the heavies also had been to southwestern
Germany, and no specific targets have yet been announced for that
operation, although the neutral sources, and even German radio, said
Mannheim and Ludwigshafen were hit.
        Ludwigshafen and Mannheim have been heavily and steadily
bombed at night by the RAF since early in the war. The principle
targets include the huge, sprawling I.G. Farbenindustrie Badische
Anilin works, some of which manufacture poison gas and which were the
core of the German-controlled chemical and dye world cartel of
peacetime.
        In Ludwigshafen, and extending for nearly three miles along
the western bank of the Rhine, are the Oppau nitrogen works which
turn out chemicals, plastics, dyes, sulphric acid, synthetic oil and
various synthetic acids and fertilizers. Much of the Wehrmacht's
research into ersatz war materials and explosives is carried out
between the two cities.
        In addition, both Mannheim and Ludwigshafen house large 
industries turning out Diesel engines for tanks, trucks, submarines
and heavy airplanes.
        In the last raid on southwestern Germany, some continental
radios put out reports -- which may have been fictitious -- declaring
that hundreds of persons in Ludwigshafen had been gassed when chemical
works there were bombed.
        On top of the neutral reports of the devastation in Ludwigshafen
came stories from Stockholm that Kiel harbor, which was hit by the
USAAF the day before the southwestern Germany raid, was left in a mass
of flames which swept through much of the city's center and along the
harbor. A large number of ships in harbor at the time also were damaged
or destroyed, according to the story told in Stockholm by sailors.
        Friday's heavy bomber attack, in which 40 enemy planes were
claimed as destroyed, was carried out while hundreds of RAF and USAAF
medium and light bombers were continuing their pounding of military
targets along the French invasion coast near the Pas de Calais.
        RAF Mosquito bombers kept up their intrusion attacks over the
weekend, stinging objectives in western Germany on Saturday night for 
the loss of one plane, the Air Ministry reported. It was the seventh
seventh consecutive night of wailing sirens for the western Reich.

                                U.S. BOMBERS
                                   ------
                         MAKE LUDWIGSHAFEN A SEA OF FIRE
                                   ------
        According to reports from neutral countries the great I. G.
Farben chemical works at Mannheim-Ludwigshafen were the main target
for "a great mass" of American Fortresses and Liberators which raided
south-west Germany on Friday.
        Employing the new R.A.F. "blind bombing" technique, hundreds
        of American bombers devastated their unseen targets through 
        dense cloud.
        Many formations crowded over the factories and then simultane-
ously crashed down their huge bomb tonnage.
        Yesterday's German communique admitted "heavy damage" at
Mannheim-Ludwigshafen.
        A Swiss report describing the attack said:
        "Huge fires transformen Ludwigshafen into a sea of flame,
and the city, which was bombed so heavily some weeks ago, is believed
to have received its coup de grace in this latest raid."
        Long-range American fighters worked in relays to protect the
bombers all the way to the target and back -- a round trip of 800 miles.
        R.A.F., Dominion, and Allied fighters assisted in covering the
withdrawal.
        There were a number of furious combats, but the operation
ended in another victory for the attacking force.
        This is evident from the fact that 42 German aircraft were
destroyed, whereas only 12 bombers and six fighters were lost.

=======================================================================
E-mail:         [email-masked]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 DO SOMETHING!!!  Lead, follow, or GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!                   
 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 E-mail:        [email-masked]