Aviation Cadets Propaganda Poster 1944XIX TAC – Operation Day by Day
The Brittany Blit August 1944

AUGUST 01-1944

The XIX Tactical Air Command moved its advance headquarters southward from the vicinity of Néhou and pitched its tents in the inevitable Norman apple orchards a mile or so east of the main north-south highway between Lessay and Coutances. Close at hand was 3-A’s advance CP. The time had come to unsheathe Uncle Sam’s ‘secret weapon’ – the 3-A-XIX TAC combination – and at 0001, on August 1, this ground-air team became operational.

It was a psychological moment, pregnant with huge possibilities affecting the entire future course of the war, for US armor was just making its great drive past Avranches, bursting out of the Norman hedgerow country at last into the comparatively open spaces of Brittany. At the Command’s disposal at the outset were three groups of P-47 fighter-bombers – the 365th, 358th, and 371st – operating under 84th Wing. All had previously been under the operational control of IX Tactical Air Command, supporting the 1-A, and all were based in the Normandy Peninsula.

For tactical and photographic recon, this Command had the 10th Reconnaissance Group, whose accomplishments included remarkable low-level photography of the invasion beaches before D-Day. This group, however, was still based in England, except for one squadron which was operating with the 67th Reconnaissance Group from a Normandy base.

4-AD6-ADIn the Command’s first operations order, two of the three fighter-bomber groups were assigned to fly armored column cover for the 4-AD and 6-AD, already rolling southward beyond Avranches. The third group was ordered to fly armed recon over the heart of Brittany, toward which Gen Patton’s spearheads were pointed. Armored column cover was so arranged as to maintain eight fighter-bombers constantly in the air over each armored division, the eight-plane flights being relieved every hour. Theirs was the double duty of preventing attack by enemy air and of knocking out anything which might hold up the armored column.
Planes and tanks worked closely together, talking to each other by VHF radio. Armed recce’s task was the longer-range mission of isolating the battlefield, spotting and breaking up any concentration of strength, keeping the enemy constantly off balance, and interfering with his efforts either to reinforce or to run away. Bridge-wrecking, however, was tabooed from the outset, lest it interferes with the rapid advance of our forces. So swift was the pace that in most cases the enemy had no time to blow his bridges behind him.

XIX TACP-47 fighter-bomber pilots at a rough airstrip near Ste Mère Eglise, June 15, 1944Takeoff of our planes on the first day of operations was delayed until late afternoon by bad weather over the bases, but in the short time remaining sorties dropped 22 they flew ten missions comprising 147 sorties and tons of bombs. No enemy aircraft were encountered and our groups suffered no losses. Hay wagons carrying concealed AAA guns were spotted and bombed by the 358th Group which also dumped high-explosive on the marshaling yard at Lamballe and attacked miscellaneous road and rail traffic.

4-AD6-ADFlying armored column cover to 6-AD, the 365th Group reported 3 88-MM guns knocked out by direct hits with 500-GP bombs. Covering the 4-AD, the 371st Group put 5 500-GP bombs in a field reported to contain gun positions. Other results included the cutting of 3 railroads lines, damage to 2 freight cars, destruction of 22 motor vehicles, 2 armored cars, and damage to 9 more of the enemy’s dwindling motor transport.

Targets attacked included a fuel dump as well as a marshaling yard and 6 gun positions. In this highly mobile form of warfare, the leading armor often outran it’s communications, and the army’s latest information on the location of its spearheads frequently came from recon or fighter-bomber pilots. To make the most of this source of information, our pilots on armored column cover were instructed to in their reports, whenever possible, the point at which the head of the column was last observed.

Ronnie Olsthoorn: Earlier this year I was commissioned to make an artwork for veteran P-51 Mustang pilot Lt William S. 'Tiger' Lyons, who flew with the 357th Fighter Squadron, 355th Fighter Group during WW2

AUGUST 02-1944

On August 2, 1944, another Wing, the 100th, and two more Groups, the 405th and the 363rd were placed under the Command’s operational control. They were needed for Gen Patton’s Armored spearhead, thrusting deep into Brittany, which required constant column cover and extensive reconnaissance ahead and on their flanks. Equally important was the defense of the Avranches bottleneck, where US troops and supplies were pouring over the bridge and where the enemy was beginning to apply pressure in an effort to paralyze the armored finger probing past the Breton capital of Rennes and toward the great port of Brest. Accordingly, in addition to ordering continuous fighter cover over the area by 363rd Group P-51s, Gen Weyland and his Combat Operation Officier Col James Ferguson instructed groups flying armored column cover to make periodic sweeps over the rear element of the columns in the direction of Avranches. As it developed, the 363rd Group was grounded all day by weather, but the other groups were able to operate after about 1000. Among the targets successfully attacked were seven Tiger tanks, destroyed by 500-PGP bombs from the 405th Group P-47s on an armed recon of the north coast of Brittany. The tanks, in a reported assembly area for armor, were endeavoring to hide by a smokescreen.

Our groups on armored column cover were having difficulty contacting ground control. Targets which they succeeded in knocking out, however, included several troublesome gun positions. In one case, the 371st Group P-47s put 16 500-PGP bombs on eight gun positions; all were silenced. Another gun knocked out by planes from the same group had been accurately marked by the ground troops with white smoke. Our armed recon now was reaching out to cover most of Brittany, all the way south to the Loire River, while tactical recon began to extend even farther. Eleven TAC/R missions were flown. P-47s of the 355th Group, flying armed recon of the south and east flank in the Rennes–Nantes–Angers–Laval area, found little to attack, but bombed railroad targets.

Bombs AwayIn all, 23 combat missions comprising 223 sorties were flown, and 35-3/4 tons of bombs were dropped, representing a decided increase over the previous day’s activity. There were no claims against enemy aircraft, but two planes were lost to flak. Claims against ground targets included a locomotive destroyed and three damaged, a railroad line cut, a freight car destroyed, 35 motor vehicles destroyed and 24 damaged, 7 Tiger tanks and a half-track destroyed, two gun positions destroyed and one damaged, a gas tank destroyed, a marshaling yard and five troop concentrations attacked.

4-ADDespite the cover afforded, the 4-AD reported it was attacked by enemy aircraft during the day. Most of the enemy’s attack, however, was done under cover of night. By single sortie and small groups, enemy aircraft bombed and strafed roads and bridges in the vicinity of Avranches during the night of August 2/3, beginning at about dusk. But the southward-flowing torrent of troops and supplies continued, undiminished.

German PzKpfw VI Tiger tank overturned during the Allied heavy bombing at the beginning of Operation Goodwood July 1944AUGUST 03-1944

US VIII CorpsUS XV CorpsOver roads filled with Third Army troops and supplies moving up, the Command advanced its headquarters on Aug 3 to the vicinity of Beauchamps, east of Granville and set up alongside Gen Patton’s CP amid the usual hedges and apple trees. The enemy was continuing to withdraw before the armored elements of VIII Corps but was concentrating in the Rennes and St Malo areas and preparing to counterattack west from Mortain to cut the corridor at Avranches. Through the bottleneck, Gen Patton was pouring his XV Corps to face east below Avranches and protect the rear of VIII Corps’ operations in Brittany.

US 79-IDUS 5-ADAccordingly, the air plan for the day provided cover for the XV Corps’ 79-ID and the 5-AD in the vicinity of Fougères and St James, in addition to protection of bridges and roads in the Avranches-Pontauboult area and continued cover for the three armored columns thrusting west through Britanny. Of these spearheads, the 4-AD was in the vicinity of Modelle, southwest of Rennes.

4-AD6-AD The 6-AD, under orders to advance through the center of the Peninsula, had reached the area of Jugon; and Gen Ernest’s Task Force, cutting off the north coast, was some five miles west of Dinan. Units supporting armored columns were directed in the day’s operations order to contact the appropriate ground station when approaching the head of the column.

If no targets were given, and if the area was free of enemy aircraft, they were instructed to sweep ahead of the column for up to 30 miles, attacking any military objectives that might obstruct its progress. This move to increase fighter-bomber effectiveness was made possible by the lightness of opposition put up by the German Luftwaffe. Weather on this date, however, was most unfavorable, with bases non-operational much of the day because of low stratus, nimbo-stratus, and light rain showers. Only six missions, of eight aircraft each, were able to take off, and four were unsuccessful because of weather, all bombs being jettisoned or returned to base.

4-AD6-ADThe other two missions resulted in the destruction or damaging of 40-odd motor and horse-drawn vehicles, including ammunition trucks, in the path of the 4-AD and the 6-AD. Total sorties were 48; tons of bombs dropped, 3-1/4. One aircraft was lost. Twenty-four tactical recon and two photographic recon sorties were flown. Continued night attacks on troops moving through the Avranches area brought a request from the 3-A that night fighter protection be accorded. Since aircraft of the Command do not include night fighters, this request was referred to 9-AAF and the desired protection was afforded by IX Air Defense Command.

AUGUST 04-1944

US XV CorpsThe fourth day, of the 3-A-XIX TAC operations found the enemy still withdrawing south and west before our armored columns in southern and central Brittany and retiring into the defenses of St Malo in the north, but US 83-IDmeanwhile putting pressure on the Avranches corridor from the area of Mortain. XV Corps was now pushing southeast from Fougères while VIII Corps armor continued its Brittanny blitz and the attack on St Malo was begun by Gen Ernest’s armored task force and the 83-ID. Although only four groups were available and low ceilings over bases prevented operations until 1030, the scale of air activity rose sharply on this date to 30 missions comprising 424 sorties.

US VIII CorpsUS 4-ADSeveral air support requests were received through G-3 (Air) of the 3-A and were acted upon by dispatching a mission or, if possible, by vectoring planes already in the air. One urgent request was relayed through VIII Corps because the failure of 4-AD’s VHF prevented direct contact with the covering aircraft. It called for an immediate air attack on a column of enemy tanks in a wood. A squadron of 358th Group was ordered to attack and subsequently reported sixteen 500-pound bombs in the target area, with a good concentration on 15 tanks.

Troops assaulting St Malo were encountering strong concrete pillbox American troops entering the outskirts of Saint-Malo on 9 August 1944US 9-AAFdefenses and were being shelled by ships in the harbor. Requests for bomber assistance in attacking these targets were transmitted to 9-AAF, but in the meantime, the warships were bombed and strafed by our Thunderbolts in the face of intense flak. Besides supporting the attack on St Malo and the advance of the 4-AD and the 6-AD, our aircraft flew armed recces as far south as Angers and eastward to Laval along the route of the swiftly advancing XV Corps.
4-AD6-ADTactical and photographic recon planes were also busy along the flanks and routes of advance. Some aircraft were damaged by flak, but no planes or pilots were lost and there were no claims against enemy aircraft. The four groups in action, the 405th, 365th, 358th, and 371st, dropped 52.5 tons of bombs on targets, and the results of bouncing and strafing include a rail line cut, 6 freight cars destroyed, 57 NT destroyed and 5 damaged, 5 supply dumps and a fuel dump destroyed, an armored vehicle destroyed, a fuel vehicle destroyed, and a naval vessel set a fire. A troop concentration and 15 bivouac areas were attacked.



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