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

August 7. Patton kept moving his headquarters
close to the head of his columns.
But 19th 'I',\C headquarters had communi.
cations troubles. The farther it moved in.
land, the farther it \\'as from its airbuses.
Cencral \\'e\Lmd, however, flc\\' up to
confer with Ceneral Patton ncarlv cvcrv
day, and operations continued lmccasingh:.
Planes blasted enemy armor and guu povi
tions, fle\\' over areas that the Third Army
might move into, bombed and strafed tar.
gcts thcv found there ami wutchcd O\Tr the
supph' rontcs.
Vvhcn the Germans used our color rccognition
panels on their tanks, the 'L\C pilots
would fly low and look O\Tr the vcluclcs as
carefully' as a six.mile.a.minnte speed would
permit. Then thcv'cl zoom upward, circle
and come back clown to pelt the cncmv with
horn bs and lJ\lllets, Thc Ccrmans had to usc
horscclr.twu equipment nuuh of the time,
and our fivers killed a lot of horses, some.
thiug \\'hie'h bothered them couvidcrnhlv
more t h.m killing Ccnu.mv, wl«: needed it.
Durmg the action wliicl: closed thc Argcntan
trap, some of the I CJth's 'Ih nndcr
bolts pounccd upon a coutcutr.rt iuu of ncar.
lv 1.000 cucmv vehicle, and dcxtrovcd at
l~ast half of thc:lu, .
.\t this stage of the campaign, cncinv
gronnd troops beg,m surrendermg to the
T.\C flvcr-; One unit of .ibout --100 Ccrmans
",'l\Td wlut c flags at a lIghter squadron
which \\'as lining up for a stralmg attack,
The squadron reported the location of the
troops to hghter Control and w.ntcd arouud
until some ground soldiers rounded np the
Bochcs. An 1S'lcar,old bov among the prisoucrs
said the field kitchen of his outfit had
been bombed and that he h.ulut had .mvthing
to eat for four clavs. Our planes then
dropped leaflets ontlining the aell'anLlgcs of
\ iclding and thousands of Cerman troops
capitulated volunt.u ilv.
Germau couccntr.rt ions were falling one
1)\' one, and on .\ngnst 1S there \I'as a liarvest
of 7,000 jammed vohiclc.. Because
most of thc cncmv cquipiucnt \I':IS in the
British sector. the 1'Jth \I'as denicd the Jack,
pot. \\'Inle the .vurcr icau flvcr« were creelitcd
with a fe\l' hunched t ruckx, some tanks
.md r.ulro.rd rolling stock, the score of the
R,\]o"s 2nd Tactlctl COIIlII1l11H! \I:IS 1,1 'i C )
motor t r.m-port s dcstrovcd and 1,-;-24 dam.
aged; 124 tallks destTO\ed .u«l ')(, c!:;;Il::gccl.
\lcall\lhile, the .\Ihes h.«! landed in
Southeru I"rance am! \lTre :;1) ulilcs inLind,
The Cemlans \n'lC \'ell" unh:IPP\',
I.ate III the month a cold front cnt clO\\'Il
flling time, :Ulel on seH'lal d:ll's the Third
\lIll;' sent its o\ln :umorn! p:ltrols :i1ong its
Iii;ht' Ibnk on the lim' of the Loirc, There
\las little cLillger, though, hce'llise the 1'Jth
I ,\C h:ld LIken e:lrc' of Ihc elillil' :,11 :iJong
that 41111mile streilh. \\hell the p::lnc.s
\I ere fllillg, t hnc \I:IS cithn 110 :Iir oJlposi.
tiou or pic-utI' of it. thc c'ueUII' plclcrrlllg
to jUlllp om I' :;..,s, I' 4-s '1:lel 1':, I, \lhcu
it h:lel :11l ciglil or teuto onc :1l11::ul:l'~C,
()m semcs 1lS11:i1h LIU about, fom C1ICIll\'
craft dcst l\)' cli to O;\C of oms Ic"t. Oil onc
oecisioll, c'ight I' :;1s elisperseduHHc Ih,lu SO
(;nllI:11I plallC'S, ,\nother d:1\' ci:~ht P,4-:-s,
jmuJlcel h\ t\lehe \ll-:l()l)s :md t\l'C'ntl'
1-'\\ I ')11" got six :11,,1 el'UII:lgcel ouc fm all
,\mcric:ul lehs of t 1\0 pLillCS anel pilots, In a
56
broadcast to its troops, the Ccnn.m high
command declared that the Luftwaffe while
outnumbered, realk wns doing something,
even thongh Gcrman soldiers "tied to a
single front" might not rc.rli:«. it.
:\s the cncmv tried to cross the Seine
before the fall 'of Paris, the Thunderbolts
made things miserable for him. There were
practically no bridges left standing. and some
of the Germans were tr\'ing to swiu: across
the river. "lost of them were using ferrics,
and the 19th, making things worse. put de.
laved action bombs in the fern' slips,
Pressing ever onward, the .\mericans
skirted Paris on two sidcs, leaving the 2nd
French Annorcd Divixiou to occnp\' the en,
circled citv after the French Forccs of the
Interior I;ad a field dav ronting Ccrm.ms
out of their fine billets.
On .\ngmt 2:;, the Luftwaffe took a tcrr
ific bcating, \ Imtangs and Thunderbolts
of the 19th and of the 9th Tactical .\ir
Command of the 9th .\ir Forcc dcvt rovcd
-;--;- cucmv pl.mc-, in the air .mcl :;lI on 'the
grouncL got 11 probnblcs .md eLnnaged :;:;,
The total .vnu-r ican loss I\':IS 2-; .urcr.rft.
Over Cellnal1l, Sth .Vir j"orcc lIghters .mcl
bombers accollllted for 11 in the .nr and 411
on the ground, The Ccnn.m« bllnchcd a
fe\l' jctpropcllcd rr.ift which tr.rvcllcd like
hell but never got .mvwlnr« ncar om pl.mc«.
The 19th's assignml'llt after the fall of
Paris was a tongl; one, calling for wiclclv
dit1uscd action, l'ut ton \I':IS I.rr across I-'LIIKe
and the T.\C \I'as supporting him, .Vt thc
s.uu« time it \\,:IS bombing Brcst .mcl other
c ncmv targcts in \\'cstern Fr.nuc. \\'hen
these coastal invt.ill.it ion-, [innllv capitulated,
Vvcvland \I:IS 'Ible to clcvot« hi~ Full strcngth
to the canlpaign in t hc List,
In September things bcgall to slo\l' dO\I'lI.
althongh in the middle of the month the
1()th herded in 2l1,ililIJ CClIuallS to xuncnck-r
in one of the oddcst actions of the war.
These troops lidded to wlut .nnounrcd to a
couple of platoons of inf.uitrv .mc] a bat.
t.ilion of \IPs bronght np for the pmpme,
.\ \'onng inf.mt rv officcr arrangcd t lu. sm.
icndcr after cl.ivx of ncgoti'ltions wlun he
t hrc.itcucd. :Imong other things, to h.ivc
some circling p.4-s couu in .n«l bomb the
Crnn.rus. The Thuudorbolt-, bad been at.
t:lcking t liciu for \lTcks and t hcv clicln't w.mt
another minute of it.
Crounduir lOOJlCLltiOlI hctwrcn the 19th
T\C ami tl«: Third .Vriuv relchcd :\1\ all.
t iinr high a fe\l' \lTCk.s :Igo." if Ion e:m go for
the f:mt:Jsti,' stem' thc\' tell :It T,\C he:lel.
ciu:lrters, It's llb,iut a ;'oung :nrJIllm, :1 hen.
kn'lllt eoloncl. \lho \\,:IS fmccd to b:li] ont
bchind thl' Cerln:m lines, .\ecording to the
Llk, I,c 11id in a to\1'l1 for t\l'O d:l\s. \I':liling
for Plltton's colllnlns to :Ippro:lcl; the :lrc,:l.
\fter :1 l.'rcnclun:1l1 h:ld SIW:lkc,d hilll :llTOSS
the lim's, the I'o]onc] rc;wh('(1 Thirel \nll\'
hC:ld'llJ:lrtcrs, \I'hclc hc dc'slTlbcd thc Cllc'ml'.
helel to\l'n :llId its defcnscs :llId sllggested
th:lt it bc LIKen inlnlc'di,rtc!l',
"Cill' mc :1 fmh' lilT :11\('11"11 t:JKC it Ill\'.
',ll£," t hc' tller is "lJ(1 to h:II'e ,01ulltl'crcd,
The co]n",'] 's cut 11I1Si;\SIlIis supposcd to
1,an' so pk'l'cd thc h\oglln nlllny to \I'hom
llc \I'llS rl'porting, t lut h:IH :U\ hom bttT.
,\II\('ri";IU 1111L, ,,,lk'] illt" the tOIl'll. I~'
eet'(hllg' Oil Ildn!111.!li')]1 :m ,\,\1.' olTieer h,,!
obt:1 illcd on fl\\1\g boot rCCOlm:1iSSlmce, {:{
KEY MEN
(Colltinned from Page 22)
operator when someone failed to ask for au,
t licnt icnt ion , The cuciuv is tr ickv enoughdout
fall for his obvious attempts.
It is not the purpose here to level the
tlnger at radio operators and place all the
rcxponxibilitv on their shoulders, :\ lauv
times, the mistakes thcv make can he pre.
vented by cooperation from the rest of the
crew. \\'hen the navigator or pilot receives
a bearing from the radio operator that secms
to be out-of-line, it is their dutv to question
it. Radio operators arc willing to admit their
mistakes, but they Si1\' that too often the
pilot docs not even consider them part of
the crew. One radioman justifi.iblv com
plains, "I made 47 missions with my pilot
and I swear he docxnt even know mv name,"
Pilots should understand the radio opcrators
job .md sec t h.it he attends to it proper",
In the folhm'ing case. the fault \I'as the
radio operator's, hut the pilot could huv«
prcvcutccl it had he t.ilkcd the matter over
\I it h his r.rdiom.m.
;\ B 24 \IllS Ihiug from I talv to .\frica to
get supplies. The radio operator h.icl forgot.
tc n to get the letter of the cl.rv. It \I'as his
Job to get that infmm:ltion, but the pilot
could li.rvr: chcckcd him before the takcotl.
.\s it was, weather forccd the pbne dO\1'l1 to
1.()()() feet and it p:lsscd over a fr icncllv con,
\ 0\', The racho operator reports, "T'hcv
blinked the letter of the d.iv at me and I
couldn't allS\I'C'l. I shot b'lck the colors of
the cl.iv, hut thcv kept after me for the
propcr code letter. I''in.ill,', three planes
look 011 from some habv flat tops and
11Il//ed in to look us O\Tr. \\'e did cvcrv
tlling but sing the Star Spllllgied B:mller to
indicate that we were fricudlv. 'lhcv must
h.ivc been slltislleeL for thcv di~l not shoot at
ux. Hut it \I'as awfu! clo~e and the wliol«
tiling coulrl h.ivc been serious. I was at
[.mlt. of course, but the pilot could han'
:l..keel me .rbout it before \IT left,"
1Zadio operators arc cxt rcuu-lv importunt
men. cspceialh' in 'Ill clllcrgel\l'\", \\'hell II
pl.mc is lost, or is about to go cl0\\'11 , tIre
quick work of a good r.ulio operator call
oft en save the lives of the crew. ,\s a B.2()
radio opcrator put it. "\\'c thrive Oil a crisis,
\\'hell cvcrvboclv gch ncitl'lL it's the radio
operator vho "hollLl kccp cool :mel get thc
pwpcr Illc",',:lges thronglI. \\'elL one timc I
\I :IS tltc gl1\' \I'lto got ncitcd alld \l'e damn
Ile:n \lcnt into thc oCClm I)('eallse of it, \\'c
\lTre retllrtliug frolll a Illission \I'ith a bad
cngille, Thc pilot \I:lllted to elteck his POSI
tion :(ild :l.skcd me to get a 0'1'1':. In m\'
cxci!enlellt, I lnislllllkrstood h'-;-;I :Illel I got :1
\) J) \ I illSk:lcl. \ \ II h Olle cllgille Ollt. lIlld
tIle dall[~lT of t]IC secolld OIle g()in~. \\"l'
cLdn't !un: :Ill\' tilllC to erllise :mllllld \I'hile
I ree!Jceked all'd got tlte sil;lI:I1 he hOld :J.s!.:c'd
for ill Ille ilrst p!:Iec, I rc:I1;/e 110\1' thllt
\I'!tell lie ::;:I\'C mc his illstl"\]ct lOllS 1 should
h:ll'e repCllted tlIc'll :md h:ld hilll gi\'e me II
l'lml1rmlltinll. B\\t I 1ud o\\C cye Oil th:Jt hill
engine lIlld :mother eye Oil the \1':lter, so I
\I':ISIl't ]l'l\illg much :lttcntioll, I II1l:I1!I' did
get t]le \)'1'1< :Illd \lC got' hick \I,ithout too
Ililleh trouhle, But I lute to think of \lh:i!
might h:IYe ILlppencd if th:lt second enginc
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