Air Force the Official Service Journal - Air Force Historical Studies ...

The 19th Tactical Air Command
covered the flanks of the most
spectacular breakthrough of the war
ducting reconnaissance missions, there \\as the job of protecting
a bottleneck at Avrunchcs, through which the Third
Anny's men and materiel were pouring, and some work to
be done on ships in the harbor at St. 1\ lulo. Pilots were
going on three and sometimes five missions a dar.
Almost daily new groups were being added to the 19th
as its functions were broadened. In the first five davs of the
Third Army's drive, the airmen flew I,OS8 sorties "and lost
only three planes. They knocked out 2::;0 motor vch iclcs,
12 tanks, nine horscdrawn vehicles, four IOCOIllOti\"CS, nine
railroad cars and two naval vcsvcls: cut fiye railroad liuc-;
destroyed 17 gun positions, seven fuel and supply dumps,
i\YO marshalling yards, a gas tank and an cucmv headquarters,
and attacked 21 troop concentrations. All this \\'as
in .ulclition to ceaseless P~1trol and rccouu.r is-.uncc.
The enel11)' \\'ithdre\Y to eoncen tra tion points at Brest,
St. :'-Jalo, Loricut, and on the Painpol I'cu insul.i , and the
Third Armv, finished witl: ::\orIn;lllch'. had overrun Brit-
LillY \\'here'the fields .uid weather \yere better for air operations.
The enemy tried to cut our traffic through Avr.mchc..
.mr! Patton started cu-t in a m ovc thrclteuing the Ccnu.uis
Lleing the U, S, l,'ir,t Army and the Briti,h in the area of
\lortain and Virc,
:'-Jcll1\yhile continuing the Brittany campaign, Patton xct
out to get the river Loire for hi, right fl.mk. The 19th T\C
\\'as as\igned to guard this flank. and dispatches of those days
r.:«] something like the description of a character of Stephen
I ,eaeoek's who jumped on his horse and rode 011 in all dircctions.
'Vord from the Third \yas received at the 19th's
headquarters that "movement cast, south and west bv
ground troops was greatly facilitated."
By the end of the first week of the campaign, the J 9th
I\'as in full strength, and some of the Lufh\'at1e got up to
he knocked cl 0\\'11 , 33 enemy planes being destroyed on
Fighter-bombers at Chartres derailed kcv cars (right) in :\'azi ,np'
ply train so t h.it gronnd troops. clu-e behind. could sall'age cargo.
Sharp-shooting fighters choked off snpphes for '.;'lIi .un uc- with
attacks like this one wh ich ninde locomotive look like uprooted tree,