PORTLAND, Ore. -- This is the second installment of a series examining the military campaigns which the 142nd Wing is credited for, on the 80th anniversary of these events in the Second World War. It examines the role of the 371st Fighter Group, today’s 142nd Wing, in the Normandy Campaign.
The Normandy military campaign commenced on June 6, 1944 with D-Day, the “Day of days” in the liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe, as commemorated in many places and many ways on the recent 80th anniversary. The Allied effort to secure and expand a beachhead from which operations into the interior of France could be made then continued through July 24, 1944.
Here, on the 80th anniversary of the successful completion of that campaign, is a look back at the 142nd Wing’s service and sacrifice to help achieve victory in a key phase in the liberation of western Europe from Nazi occupation. Lest we forget.
D-Day Missions
On the day of the landing assaults on the five beaches of Normandy, the 371st Fighter Group (371st FG), commanded by Col. Bingham T. “Bing” Kleine, was called upon to perform air-to-ground missions to interdict German fire and movement toward the landing beaches. The group flew 112 sorties dropping over 68 tons of bombs and firing nearly 50,000 rounds of .50-caliber machine gun ammunition. One P-47 was lost to anti-aircraft fire, the 404th Fighter Squadron (FS) pilot, 2nd Lt. Joseph E. Larochelle, becoming the unit’s first prisoner of war. These
missions are described in more detail “The 371st Fighter Group in Operation Overlord: Remembering Normandy at 75,” at: https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1868126/the-371st-fighter-group-in-operation-overlord-remembering-normandy-at-75/#:~:text=The%20142nd%20Fighter%20Wing%2C%20then%20designated%20as%20the,the%20landings%20and%20in%20the%20following%20Normandy%20Campaign
Although many people have the impression that the Luftwaffe was largely absent from D-Day and days after, this is not true, as the 371st FG would soon find out. There were many more sorties beyond the two by Oberstleutnant (Lt. Col.) Josef “Pips” Priller and his wingman depicted in the book and movie “The Longest Day.” The Germans flew over 300 sorties on D-Day against the landings. But against some 8,700 Allied sorties of all aircraft types on D-Day, the German response was ineffective. Still, as the Germans moved in 200 more fighters in the next 36 hours, and another 100 by June 10, a robust Allied combat air patrol presence over the landing areas was essential to protect the Allied beachheads on the European continent.
The Days After D-Day
On June 7, the 371st FG escorted C-47 transports and gliders bringing supplies to the paratroopers behind the beaches in support of their efforts to secure lines of communication to help the landing forces make inroads off the beaches. The group also conducted further interdiction missions against German forces trying to reach the beach areas.
Danger lurked in the battlespace in France, but also back at home station. One mission caused a severe injury at Bisterne to the Group Armament Officer, Lt. Glenn O. Menter, when he examined the fuse of a bomb which was brought back to the field from a dive-bombing mission. He was evacuated for treatment at a nearby field hospital.
On June 8, the 371st was assigned top cover (combat air patrol) over the landing beaches and engaged the enemy in several aerial combat actions for the first time against an aggressive foe. In morning and afternoon clashes, the day’s tally was five German fighter planes (four Focke Wulf FW-190 and one Messerschmitt Me-109) shot down with four more probably shot down (all FW-190s) by pilots of the 404th and 406th squadrons.
But in exchange the group lost four pilots and aircraft, with another pilot, 2nd Lt. Willis R. Brown (404th FS) wounded. Two pilots, Flight Officer (F/O) Wesley R. Izzard and 1st Lt. Harry W. Hohl (both 404th FS), parachuted behind enemy lines but ultimately evaded captivity. Another, Lt. Robert R. Meade (406th FS) ditched in the English Channel and was rescued by a British warship. F/O Edwin S. Humphreys, Jr. of the 404th FS, however, remains missing in action (MIA) to this day. He is remembered on the Tablets of the Missing at the Cambridge American Cemetery in England. The aerial battles of this day are detailed at “First Blood in the Air,” at: https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Features/Display/Article/864380/first-blood-in-the-air/
The unit flew from dawn to dusk and beyond on the 8th, something that became typical in the summer of 1944. The 405th FS history recorded that “…it was quite dark when the planes of the 405th completed their last landings of the day. Navigation lights winked on wing tips as the ships “peeled off” over the traffic pattern and came in on the light-marked landing strip. There were tense eager (moments) as some of the ships bounced on the matting, rose a bit then settled as they roared down toward the far end of the runway with spurts of
flame emitting from their exhausts. But skilled hands guided the Thunderbolts and all of the squadron ships came to a halt safely, and taxied to the hard stands where mechanics waved them in with their flashlights. And from the Intelligence Office a tiny light winked where a weary officer stood waiting to interrogate the pilots.”
While the fighting was going on in the skies over Normandy, back on the ground at Bisterne the group prepared for expeditionary deployment to France and in the second week in June underwent the scrutiny of the IX Tactical Air Command Inspector General (IG) Division, and passed with no major discrepancies found by June 15. Although a formal inspection might seem ludicrous in a time of war, this was likely a serious and important event. The 371st would soon be deployed from England to an advanced landing ground (ALG) in France in a great experiment and role for expeditionary airpower.
New Home Construction on the Continent
Meanwhile, across the channel over in France, Army aviation engineers were at work on creating the first ALGs on the Continent. One of these was a mile northeast of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, made famous as the first town liberated in France by the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division and the memorable image of an American paratrooper, Private John M. Steele, hanging from the church steeple in the battle reprised in the movie “The Longest Day.” Between that town and the village of Beuzeville-au-Plan, a reconnaissance under fire took place on June 7 to survey the site of the future Advanced Landing Ground A-6. A-6 was known by several names, including Beuzzeville, Sainte-Mère-Eglise and/or La Londe for the farm area it was built upon.
This particular ALG was carved out of the Normandy fields and hedgerows by the engineers of the 819th Engineer Aviation Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col. Max G. McCrory. Construction on one end of
the field began even as fighting with enemy forces continued on the other end. Reportedly, as construction got underway, seven soldiers were killed in one morning operating a bulldozer as the fighting raged between American paratroopers and German forces in the area. Such was the urgency to bring the ALGs into commission.
But in three-days-time, the 819th’s engineers were able to clear a 5,000-foot runway, 120 feet wide and surface it with Square-Mesh Track in what was considered a record-breaking 72-hours. Further time was needed for taxiways and dispersal areas to properly serve as a forward base for a fighter group.
The first Allied planes landed there on June 10, three Spitfire fighters of a Royal Air Force Polish volunteer fighter squadron (likely from 131 (Polish) Wing of the 2nd Allied Tactical Air Force, composed of Nos 302, 308 and 317 squadrons). But the base was not declared operational until June 14, and soon became known as the first home on the continent for the 371st Fighter Group.
There was no slack back at Bisterne as four days after D-Day the advance echelons of the group prepared to move to France. Those left behind continued to service and operate the group’s P-47 fighters which flew a high tempo of combat operations. On June 10, Lt. Rudolph Augarten of the 406th FS was flying a combat air patrol in P-47D-5 42-76365 over the eastern landing areas of Normandy in Largo Blue Flight. When the formation passed east of Caen and over the town of Lisieux at 6,500 feet in altitude, under an overcast, it was fired upon by German anti-aircraft guns who at first appeared to miss their mark.
Flight leader Capt. Uno A. Salmi recorded in MACR “A few minutes later Lt. Augarten, who was flying number Two, gave me a call on the radio saying his engine was running rough and they there were gas fumes in the cockpit. I instructed him to return to Home Base at once
with Number Four as his escort. At this time Number Four told Lt. Augarten that his ship was on fire and he should bail out. He complied at once for his ship went into a gentle dive and I saw his parachute open at about 4,000’. I circled until he hit the ground approximately four miles east of Lisieux. I dove down to where he landed and saw him running away from his parachute toward a nearby farmhouse waving at me as I went by. I am quite sure Lt. Augarten was uninjured.” (MACR 5686)
Rudy Augarten began a harrowing two-month journey to evade, then he was captured, escaped, was captured again, escaped and evaded again which ultimately brought him back to Allied lines. He would go on to become one of the 406th squadron’s combat leaders, and postwar played an important role in the development of the Israeli Air Force.
The 371st FG continued operations from Bisterne and flew four missions on the 13th as the Allied air forces kept the pressure on the enemy, with the last aircraft returning after midnight. The group’s warbook, “The Story of the 371st Fighter Group in the E.T.O.”, noted the impact of the increased operations tempo and the heavy combat over France which the unit’s P-47 pilots were now engaged in: “More and more ships were returning riddled with flak holes. In some instances it was difficult for ground crews and pilots to understand how they ever reached home; they resembled sieves more than airplanes. Fire fighters, crash crews, bomb disposal men, and medics met many emergencies when ships or wounded pilots limped in, and it was only through their resourcefulness and swiftness of action that near tragedies were averted.”
Barely more than a week after D-Day, the group’s advance echelons left Bisterne for A-6 early on June 14, and a train section mid-morning. The
404th FS’s air echelon under Capt. Richard H. Parker embarked aboard US Navy tank landing ships LST-50 and LST-502 enroute to Utah Beach. The 405th FS air echelon left the same day a little later, with the convoy commanded by 1st Lt. James T. Emott, Jr., the squadron adjutant. They arrived at the marshalling area near Weymouth, England mid-morning the same day, but did not board an LST until 2100 on June 15. The 406th reported its advanced cadre boarding an LST to cross the Channel to Utah Beach, France on June 15.
A Painful Loss
As the days after D-Day turned into weeks, the Allied beachheads grew into footholds on the continent, but stiff German resistance in the difficult bocage terrain hampered Allied progress. Weather was a factor too, limiting Allied airpower on some days from being able to be applied against the enemy.
For example, on June 16, the morning mission flew as ordered, uneventful, but the afternoon missions were scrubbed due to weather. But in efforts to cover the troops in Normandy, a late mission was added. Capt. Uno A. Salmi of the 406th FS, one of the group’s first aerial victors back on June 8, went MIA in P-47D-20 serial number 42-76526 while on patrol at 2045 hours just south of St. Lo on the last mission of the day.
In Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 6055, 2nd Lt Lawrence D. Damewood reported the following: “I was flying Largo Red TWO, and was on Capt. Uno A. Salmi’s left wing. We were flying at about 2,000’ to 2,500’, the overcast being at 3,000’, when suddenly very concentrated “flak” appeared all around the flights. Capt. Salmi and the element broke to the right and I attempted to follow, but turned back due to flash and tracers between us. I turned left, and then back towards my flight, and at this time entered the overcast. Just before
entering the overcast, I observed a ship making a shallow dive to the left, but I could not determine which flight it came from. I climbed through the overcast and tried to contact Capt. Salmi on the radio, but did not succeed in doing so. I then returned to base alone.”
This was a morale-busting loss as Capt. Salmi had a lot of friends and was well-liked in the group. He remains missing to this day, and is remembered on the Tablets of the Missing at the Cambridge American Cemetery in England.
In the afternoon on the 16th, part of the advanced echelon aboard an LST reached French waters, and then suffered a double blow as first, a submerged anchor tore a 24-foot gash into the hull and then second, the vessel hit a sand bar and stopped. All day long she sat exposed, and as Double British Summer Time hours daylight lingered to nearly 2300 hours the vulnerability seemed that much longer, and it was. The men could hear the distant battle ashore, and much closer on their left the battleship USS Texas (BB-35) fired her 14-inch guns towards enemy targets in the vicinity of Insigny. German aircraft suddenly made an appearance, though the battleship’s anti-aircraft guns in conjunction with those aboard the LST apparently persuaded them to go elsewhere.
On the evening of June 17, the 404th FS was tasked for a patrol over the west area of the Allied beach head where American forces had landed. A dozen P-47s took part, led by Capt. George Pieck, another aerial victor from June 8, to provide cover from 1930 to 2030 hours. The fighters patrolled uneventfully at 12 to 14,000 feet with 10 miles visibility and a haze up to 5,000 feet.
At 2020 hours, near the end of the coverage window, 1st Lt. Glenn O. Banks, an original 404th squadron member, apparently suffered an engine failure while flying P-47D-16 42-76116 near Quettou, France. Shortly after his flight crossed the coast, his element leader, 1st Lt.
Louis A. Scott reported “I noticed a large amount of black smoke coming from the turbo of Lt. Banks’ plane just as we crossed the coast, however he seemed to be in no trouble and continued on.
“Next time I looked to check his position I could not see him but when looking to my left and back I could see his ship in a turn heading back toward the coast.
“At that time I heard him say that something was wrong with his prop then he said his engine was cutting out and that he would try to make one of our landing strips on the beach. I called my flight leader telling him I was going back with Lt. Banks. We were at approximately 2,500 feet. Lt. Banks got lost in the haze and I could not see his plane then.
“About the time Lt. Banks called saying he was bailing out. I never saw the ship until it crashed and started to burn. At that time I was about a mile from the crash. I did not see any chute in the air and since I was not in sight of his plane at the time he called saying he was leaving his ship I can’t say if he bailed our ore not.” (MACR 6058)
This occurred near Quettou, about 16 miles east of Cherbourg, on the northeast coast of the Cotentin Peninsula. Eighty years later, Lt. Banks’ final resting place remains a mystery to the unit. If any readers might know of his ultimate fate, we welcome the information to help complete our records from the war.
On the day Lt. Banks was lost, the 404th’s advance echelon arrived in Normandy and disembarked from LST-50 and LST-502 on Utah’s Sugar and Red beaches. The LST the 405th was aboard described above, unable to beach on the 16th due to hull damage and grounding on a sand bar, delayed the men until the 17th to disembark. They offloaded at noon, went to a de-waterproofing station and stripped their vehicles of extra accoutrements, then headed for A-6, arriving about 1500. The
406th advance echelon also arrived on June 16, but due to rough sea conditions waited to unload at Utah beach until the 17th.
Thus, the group’s advance echelons arrived in Normandy and moved inland. They made a seven-mile drive/march to get to A-6 and dug in upon arrival. With the risk of snipers still present, as well as stragglers trying to escape the area, double guards were posted.
Targets of Opportunity
On June 18, the group sent up four armed reconnaissance patrols in support of the push on Cherbourg. Between 0830 and 0930, a dozen P-47s of the 404th FS led by Capt. Pieck caught a German convoy trying to escape out from Cherbourg south through Bricquebec on the last open road. They strafed the exposed German vehicles and personnel and showered them with 24 clusters of parachute fragmentation bombs and estimated they had inflicted 500 enemy casualties.
Subsequent missions on the day inflicted additional damage to the enemy but saw losses too. Capt. Luther R. Canup led 13 P-47s of the 405th FS on an armed reconnaissance (armed recce) over enemy-held territory on the Cotentin Peninsula between 1010 and 1130 hours.
At 1115, 1st Lt. Anselm J. Dees (405th) plane caught fire from possible enemy anti-aircraft fire. He bailed out at 1,500 feet near Montaigu southeast of Cherbourg; his chute was seen to open before he descended into woods in the area while his aircraft then crashed and burned.
Maj. Rodney E. Gunther led a dozen of his 404th FS P-47s on an armed reconnaissance mission in the early afternoon, over the target area from 1230 to 1330. F/O Robert L. Marks crash-landed in enemy
territory near Cherbourg and was MIA due to enemy anti-aircraft action.
F/O Marks is shown on a roster as assigned to the 405th FS but apparently flew with the 404th this day. We presume he was either captured, then liberated within a couple of weeks as German forces capitulated on the Cotentin Peninsula, or that he successfully evaded capture and reached friendly lines - the unit official histories do not seem to have detailed his eventual status. (He did return to flying in the 405th FS again, and in fact was shot down and captured near the end of the war, a POW for only a short time.)
Five P-47s from this mission then proceeded to land at A-6 to refuel before returning to England. These were perhaps the first 371st FG aircraft to land at A-6, if only for gas. Another 404th FS P-47D flown on a later mission that day by Lt. William G. Bunce landed at A-6 in the evening for refueling on the way back to Bisterne.
Another aircraft from an unidentified 371st FG squadron, possibly Lt. Richard W. Stoddard of the 404th who too off late for this mission and was unable to overtake his squadron enroute to France, returned to Bisterne carrying its two racks of M1A1 fragmentation bombs beneath the wings (one M1A1 rack carried a cluster of six M41 fragmentation bombs). Unfortunately, at least some of the bombs exploded during the landing and either seriously damaged or destroyed the aircraft. There’s no indication in the available unit records of a pilot or ground casualty in this incident.
In the last mission of June 18, an evening go flown by 11 P-47s of the 406th FS led by Lt. Donald Ross and again carrying clusters of fragmentation bombs, the 406th hit a time over target between 18650 and 2000 hours. They strafed and dropped on gun emplacements, dozens of trucks in separate locations and on hundreds of troops in a
wooded area which resisted with heavy, intense and accurate anti-aircraft fire up to 7,000 foot altitude.
The guns on the ground hit 1st Lt. John H. Shepard’s P-47D with little time for him to react - a chute was seen near the plane but appeared not to have opened in time as his aircraft crashed and burned near St. Saveur, about 17 miles southeast of Cherbourg. (Note: The 371st FG post-mission Operations Report indicated Lt. Shepard came down at grid coordinate vT2095 in the Modified British System, French Lambert Zone 1, the coordinate system used during the war, a point known today as St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte.)
After the war, Lt. Shepard was buried at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, at Plot E, Row 28, Grave 38. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters. Lt. Shepard was 23 years old.
While combat raged on the Cotentin Peninsula on the 18th, the group commander Col. Kleine, group executive officer Lt. Col. Frank P. Duggan, 406th FS commander Maj. Edwin D. Taylor, medical officer Maj. Rudolph K. Glocker and other officers flew from Bisterne to A-6 to visit the group’s advanced echelon there, where they found the men had incurred no casualties and were preparing to receive the group’s aircraft and the rear echelon.
On June 19, a bad storm hit the English Channel area wreaking havoc on operations on air land and sea. Due to the foul weather, there were no missions, and pilots passed time “…with the usual bridge, poker, and black jack games.”
Another Battle with the Luftwaffe
The bad weather continued on June 20, but during a brief lull in the afternoon, the group’s three squadrons each sent up planes on armed
reconnaissance missions. The 405th Fighter Squadron got 16 Thunderbolts up and received its introduction into air combat against the Luftwaffe.
Capt. William A. McCormick, Jr. was leading Vincent Green Flight as the top cover flight 2nd Lt. Thomas F. Barton was his Number Two, while 1st Lt. John B. Sullivan led the second element as Three and 2nd Lt. Robert A. Mezzetti was Vincent Green Four on his wing. They covered the others carrying two 500-bombs each as the squadron searched for enemy targets to the east of Normandy.
Near Evreux Airfield (Evreux-Fauville Air Base today, about 55 miles west of Paris, roughly midway between the capital and Normandy) at 1455 hours, heading southwest at 13,000 feet, Capt. McCormick spotted five or six bogies at seven o’clock low, at about 5,000 feet and heading west. He led his flight into a lefthand diving spiral, turning through 180 degrees. As he neared the unidentified aircraft, he confirmed they were enemy, Me-109s with black crosses on the fuselage, and bounced the German formation. Flight leader and element leader opened fire and their wingman quickly found their own targets as airplanes broke to the left, to the right, and the swirling fight quickly descended down to the deck.
By the end of the melee each pilot of Vincent Green Flight had successfully attacked the enemy, dodged return fire and claimed an aerial victory each over four Messerschmitt Me-109s, which all four were later officially credited with. Thus, the top cover did it job and the rest of the squadron soon went to work in the air-to-ground mode.
At the time, the Luftwaffe’s second group of fighter wing 3 (II./JG 3) was based at Evreux with Messerschmitt Me-109G fighters. But on that very day another unit, II./JG 5 had deployed Me-109G fighters to
Evreux; it’s not clear which group’s Me-109s the 405th FS P-47Ds battled that day.
The squadron’s fighter-bombers obtained good results at 1515 hours about 25 miles to the south southeast when they attacked the railroad marshaling yard at Dreux, diving from 8,000 feet in 60-degree dives, releasing their weapons at 4,000 feet. They placed five bombs on railroad repair shops, a couple of hits on a track intersection and additional bombs on freight and gondola cars in the yard.
Helping the Mighty Eighth
In the afternoon of the 20th, the 371st FG received orders from HQ IX Fighter Command (IX FC) to send its aircraft later that day over to Duxford Airfield, home of the 78th FG (and today’s outstanding Imperial War Museum Duxford and American Air Museum in Britain), in order to participate in an important Eighth Air Force strategic mission the next day. Four “Mighty Eighth” heavy bomber forces escorted by fighters were going to Berlin and the surrounding areas, including one force pressing on to Soviet territory in an Operation Frantic shuttle bombing mission. It was Eighth Air Force’s mission number 428 and 371st FG mission 72.
Eight other Ninth Air Force fighter groups, a mix of P-47 and P-38 units, were also tasked for this mission; altogether IX FC provided some 441 fighters in support. The 371st was assigned radio call sign Balance Three One and charged with withdrawal support at the front end of the third force. The third force was composed of seven combat wings of the 2nd Air Division, with over 300 B-24 Liberator heavy bombers hitting targets in Berlin and surrounding areas.
As it turned out, June 21 was a day of some good news, tempered by some bad news. Lt. Dees of the 405th FS returned to duty after being
MIA as the squadron’s first combat casualty. He arrived at A-6 with an infected hand, a parachute shroud line burn on his neck and a great appetite but was one happy man. Dees told the men of the squadron what he had observed on both sides of the lines, enemy and friendly, in the battle for Cherbourg, as he evaded through enemy-held territory back to friendly lines.
A little more good news was the group’s receipt of a timely letter of commendation from the Ninth Air Force boss, Lt. Gen. Lewis Brereton:
“The highly successful operations of the 371st Fighter-bomber Group on 18 June 1944 have come to my attention. Your group on this day was assigned the mission of conducting reconnaissance in the Valognes-Quettehou area. In the course of these operations the 371st Fighter-bomber Group killed from eight hundred (800) to one thousand (1,000) enemy troops, destroyed ninety-eight (98) motor vehicles, and one (1) flak tower. In addition, extensive damage was done to radar stations, gun emplacements, artillery batteries, railway equipment and barracks.
“The excellent results obtained by the during the operations on 18 June 1944 testify to a high state of combat efficiency and morale. The aggressive spirit and initiative which was exhibited are prime factors in winning the battle. Will you please convey to the officers and men of your command my commendation for the excellence of their performance.
Signed,
Lewis H. Brereton, Lt. Gen., Commanding”
On the flip side was the bad news of another combat loss. The group took off at 0855 to execute the mission tasked the day before, for withdrawal support for the B-24s returning from raids in the Berlin
area. Altogether 1,234 B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers were dispatched on the massive mission, along with 1,269 fighters from both numbered air forces in England, an aerial armada of over 2,500 combat aircraft.
371st FG Deputy group commander Lt. Col. Daley led the mission which sought to rendezvous with the bombers at 23,000 feet about 10 miles SE of Hamburg at 1055 hours. Forty-seven P-47’s launched, though a dozen aborted for engine and drop tank malfunction problems. The heavies didn’t make the rendezvous on time, combat has a way of upsetting prior planned timetables; Lt Col Daley could not contact them on “C” Channel. The group stayed in the area for ten minutes and seeing no bombers and dropping fuel gauges, set a course for home, which all but one reached at 1245.
On the way back, the group encountered enemy flak described as heavy, accurate and intense at Hamburg, Oldenburg and Bremen, probably aided by radar, and flak that was heavy, inaccurate and intense along the route. While crossing over the Ruhr Valley, known by the RAF Bomber Command crews as “Happy Valley,” an oxymoron given the concentration of anti-aircraft guns protecting German industry in the area, the reaching guns finally scored.
Victor L. Unruh, 2nd Lt., in the 406th Fighter Squadron flew P-47D-11, serial number 42-75564 that day as his aircraft was hit by enemy fire. Witness to the event was 2nd Lt. George Gallow, Jr. who reported in MACR 6681: “I was flying line abreast to Lt. Unruh at about 1,000 yards. I first saw a light smoke or gas spray emitting from his plane. I turned toward him to investigate and he notified his flight leader that he was hit. His plane started losing altitude but no flame was seen. I called him asking is he could hold his altitude but he said no. I followed him down and asked him if he would bail out and he answered yes. I continued to follow him down and said I would stay with him awhile
longer and he replied, “Go on, catch up with the other planes. I’ve had it”. He was then at 11,000 feet in a 45 degree let down, approximately 345 degrees heading, emitting smoke as first seen, but no flame. As I left him I asked if he, or his plane, had been hit. I received no answer. I believe he might have taken off his helmet in preparation for a jump.”
“In my opinion there is a good possibility he made Holland in the near vicinity of Nijmegen.”
Unfortunately, Lt. Unruh didn’t make it. One of seven IX FC losses that day, German forces found him dead at the site of his crashed and burned P-47 on the same day inside Germany about 5 kilometers west of Wulfen, which is about 60 miles southeast of Nijmegen in the eastern Netherlands. They attributed the downing to flak and the time of the crash at 1110 hours. He is buried in Plot K of the Great Bend Cemetery in Great Bend, Arkansas.
Aircraft Movement to A-6
The group had little time to mourn the loss, as late the next day, June 22, the 405th and 406th squadrons were ordered forward from Bisterne Airfield to ALG A-6 in France. (Note: The 406th FS history states that some of their aircraft took off for A-6 at 1900 hours on 21 June.) The 404th followed them the next day, June 23.
Impressions of the expeditionary environment the group now found itself in were both humorous and serious. On the lighter side, from the group’s warbook: “As they became acclimated, they began to look around and make the same discoveries the others had made weeks ago. France was as different from England as a P-47 is from a P-38. Strange, considering their geographical proximity, but true. Where England had for the most part impressed us as being damp, chilly, the people unexcitable, fastidious, and not too open-hearted, France
seemed warm, the countryside softer, the people emotional and earthier, and, judging from the smell, certainly not too fastidious. Maybe our feelings were colored by the inherent charity, “bon-homie” felt by Liberators, but whatever the cause, the effects were good.”
And a sobering view as well: “On the more serious side, the outstanding effect of our early landing in France was the impact of war in all its heightened aspects. Rude graves, hurriedly marked with cardboard tacked to sticks – “Pvt. John Jones, June 6, 1944.” – torn green parachutes draped over branches like Spanish moss, wrecked gliders strewn over the fields like monstrous, broken insects- all were constant reminders of the cost at which our field had been taken and built. Strolling over the countryside at dusk, through flowering apple orchards, twisted black poplars silhouetted against the gold and purple-streaked sky, out thoughts would be jolted back to reality by the sight of an arm grotesquely sticking out of a pile of dirt, or a shapeless body half-buried in a foxhole.”
Settled in now at A-6, the 405th flew its first combat mission on the continent on June 23rd with a couple of armed reconnaissance missions. Missions supported the big push to seize Cherbourg as the culmination of that battle approached. Also, in that last week of the month the squadron sent aircraft in pairs back to Wrembury, England where the P-47s were fitted with a new “paddle” propeller and dust filters to help boost aircraft performance.
With the fighters now based on the Continent, the rear echelon of the group left at Station 415 at Bisterne then turned to prepare to deploy forward. On June 24, 25, 26, and 27 June, IX Troop Carrier Command C-47s transported priority cargo and personnel to A-6. The 405th history quipped “For the next four days the field (A-6) took on the appearance of LaGuardia field, as transport after transport began flying our
equipment in. With each load of equipment came a few men so that our strength grew daily.” The officers mess tent was shipped out from Bisterne on the last day as operations at the English field wound down.
Battle of Cherbourg
While the 371st was engaged in forward deployment to A-6 and simultaneous combat operations, the fighting in Normandy continued. American forces had fought their way across the base of the Cotentin Peninsula and then pivoted north to liberate the rest of it, which included the important port city of Cherbourg.
As part of the land, sea and effort to reduce the defenses of Cherbourg, on June 24, 1st Lt. Harry W. “Pop” Strahlendorf of the 404th Fighter Squadron took off at 0810 hours on his 48th combat mission flying P-47D 42-76345, nicknamed “Eddie Nor II” after his wife. A pre-war National Guardsman, at 29 he was a bit older than most other pilots, and received the nickname “Pop.”
But enemy 88mm anti-aircraft fire tore off the tail of his P-47 that day over Octeville, then a suburb of Cherbourg, when his flight attacked that very gun emplacement. The tail-less aircraft fell almost straight down to earth and he was killed. (His loss was formally documented in MACR 6201, though microfilm copies of it are essentially illegible, unfortunately.)
Octeville citizens were quick to bury Lt. Strahlendorf, and two days later after US forces liberated the area his body was transferred to the temporary American military cemetery designated Ste. Mere Eglise #2, located only about a mile from his airfield.
In 1948, his remains were transported back to the US, and he was buried in the Veterans Memorial Garden in the Greenmount Cemetery, in the old northeast section of Philadelphia. Lt. Strahlendorf was
awarded the Purple Heart, the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, European Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. He left behind a wife and two children.
In the decades after Lt. Strahlendorf’s demise, Monsieur Renz Launey placed a flower on the site where his P-47 crashed. Fifty years after his loss, son Harry Strahlendorf, Jr. joined grateful French citizens to remember Lt. Strahlendorf in a park in Octeville. There they emplaced a monument and named an area “Square Strahlendorf,” to honor the pilot “killed in combat during an aerial assault for the liberation of Cherbourg on June 24, 1944,” according to the monument inscription.
By June 25, ground forces had cut off elements of five German divisions ensconced in the Cotentin Peninsula which contained the key port of Cherbourg. A few days later the fortified city was liberated by Allied forces.
Rear Echelon Moves Forward
On June 29, as the battle for Cherbourg culminated, the remaining men with vehicles formed a convoy near the former group HQ. The last vehicles of the 371st Fighter Group left Bisterne late in the day, as witnessed by Lt. Col. Duggan, group executive officer. On June 29-30 they arrived at the marshalling area and said goodbye to cheerio, afternoon tea, mild and bitters and trips to London.
Photographic evidence suggests at least a portion of the ground echelon was taken from Southampton, England to Omaha Beach in Normandy aboard US Navy tank landing ship USS LST-138 of LST Group 50. (Of note, LST-138 was sold off after the war and later involved as the subject in the internecine “Altalena Affair” of June, 1948 during the Arab-Israeli War of that year.)
Over at A-6, by July 1 the group was really settling in. The new group HQ was established in a centuries-old French chateau, still there today. “The building itself was of heavy tooled stone, massive, rugged, and two stories high with a light blue slate roof. Yellowed, handhewn oak beams supported the ceilings, And the windows were large and deeply recessed,” is how it was described in the group’s warbook.
Around a rectangular inner court area formed by buildings on each side and in front of the chateau, were stone sheds for servant quarters, stables, a winepress and a mill room. The mill room became the group’s “Foxhole Follies” theater while Group Materiel moved into the winepress. The chaplain turned the stable into a chapel and transportation took over part of a barn.
Members of the advance echelon had an edge over later arrivals, as they had salvaged sections of wrecked CG-4 and Horsa gliders to make their own accommodations, and lined them with parachute silk they found, and the officers opened a club. Later arrivals did their best to dig foxholes and pitch pup tents in very expeditionary conditions.
The last enemy forces on the Cotentin Peninsula surrendered at Cap de La Hague on July 1. To give an idea of the scale of this one battle in Normandy alone, the move from Utah Beach to capture Cherbourg and the peninsula cost 2,800 American dead, another 5,700 initially missing (4,500 were from the scattered initial airborne landings) and some 13,500 wounded. German defenders suffered 11,000 dead while 39,000 were captured. Unhappy with this result, on July 2 Nazi dictator Hitler fired his commander in chief West, Field Marshal von Rundstedt, and replaced him with Field Marshall von Kluge.
The Battle Continues, and Losses too
More arrivals found A-6 on July 2, when the 83rd Air Service Group Headquarters (parent of the 98th Service Squadron associated with the 371st FG) and 2204th Quartermaster Truck Company arrived at A-6 to join the growing team, though foul weather curtailed air operations
On July 3 the group flew, but then rainy weather kiboshed operations the next two days. In this first week of the month, pilots in the 405th learned that due to the larger number of replacement pilots the unit was receiving, and to the types of missions being flown, that their individual flying time would be reduced. The pilot response was not recorded in the squadron’s monthly history.
July 6 saw operations, but still no rear echelon to help with the workload. Even on days when the group launched aircraft, weather could still be problematic with low ceilings, and haze proved to be an impediment to operational efficiency.
Some British VIPs visited A-6 on July 7 in order to look at the airfield. There were some differences in construction and materials used between British ALGs, coded with B-prefixes and numbers, and American ALG coded with A-prefixes and numbers, but the visitors were apparently impressed with A-6.
It wasn’t until July 6 that the 405th FS rear/ground echelon departed Southampton, where it had arrived back on June 30. The squadron’s holdbacks from England reached Omaha Beach on July 7, and finally reached A-6 on July 8, resolving the mystery of, in the words of the 405th squadron historian Lt. Emott, “…where in the h--- is our Ground Echelon?”
We should remember that the logistics in support of the Allied landings and operations on the continent were a massive, very complex undertaking. Not everything went as smoothly as planned. But the
plan was ultimately successful to bring expeditionary airpower of the 371st FG and many other Allied air units to France where they made major contributions to success in the Normandy campaign and follow-on operations.
July 8 brought the first combat loss of the month, when Capt. Luther P. Canup, 405th FS veteran of 41 missions, led a flight near Vire, France while flying P-47D-20 serial number 42-76454. Under a 10/10 ceiling at 4,500 feet trouble started. 2nd Lt. James V. Colley, Jr. described what happened in MACR 6646: “I was flying number two position in blue flight, which was top cover for an Armed Recon of 8 planes. After target weas bombed we lost sight of the flights due to bad weather and poor visibility and dove to the deck to spot another target… Blue leader made a pass on a half track, and I observed hits on it, I also fired on the same target, observing hits also. When we pulled up they were firing at us with light flak, mostly 20MM. We then made a right circle and dropped back on the deck. Blue leader was making a pass on another vehicle when I observed that his tail was on fire, I called to him on the R/T and told him.
“He immediately made a slight right turn and pulled up to about 900 or 1,000 feet and about this time I saw him bail out; his parachute opened immediately. By this time the cockpit had caught on fire. The plane immediately made a left turn and went into the ground. I circled to one side of him, all this time they were still shooting at me, and from what I could observe, did not shoot at him. When I last saw him he was down to about 200 feet and was still guiding his shroud lines and was heading into a large field. I immediately dove to the deck and headed out toward the sea to escape enemy fire… The position where he went down was somewhere near T3060.”
Capt. Canup was captured in that location, roughly between Coutances and Marigny, by the enemy shortly thereafter, though that was not known for many months so he was carried as Missing in Action for a while. He spent the rest of the war as a “guest of the Luftwaffe,” and his experience is told in “Kriegie on the Move: The POW Experience of Luther P. Canup,” at: (BROKEN LINK) https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Features/Display/Article/864343/kriegie-on-the-move-the-pow-experience-of-luther-p-canup/
The Team Assembled
Finally, on July 8, the balance of the long-awaited rear/ground echelon arrived by truck from Omaha Beach, “weary, dirty-looking and worn,” and looking for chow. Now the whole expeditionary team was together. The HQ 371st Fighter Group and its three fighter squadrons, the 404th, 405th and 406th Fighter Squadrons as the core of the team. Wing HQ had 32 officers assigned, 5 attached and 88 enlisted men assigned, 22 attached on strength as of July 31, 1944. Each FS squadron had about 45 officers and 250 enlisted men assigned each.
Around this core, the attached units gave the group its full operational combat capability and consisted of the following organizations:
98th Service Squadron
1590th Ordnance, Service and Maintenance Company
2204th Trucking Company (Aviation)
1028th Signal Company
1242nd Quartermaster Company
2062nd Engineering Aviation Fire Fighting Platoon
1194th Military Police (Aviation)
Detachment “J” of the 21st Weather Squadron
Detachment “J” of the 40th Mobile Communications Squadron
Detachment “V” of the Ninth Flying Control Squadron
American Red Cross Field Office
Of note, there were several women assigned to the Red Cross office at A-6, in essence the first women to serve with the unit in its history, marking 80 years now over which women have served in the 142nd Wing, first in war in the 371st FG and then in peace as the 142nd FG, now 142nd Wing.
In the arduous months ahead, these women endured the same dangers and hardships as the men of the ground echelon and accompanied the group as it moved onward to every new airfield across Northwestern Europe in the next year. Theirs is a story to be told in a future article.
To be complete, the airfield itself was defended against air attack between June 12 and July 25 by the gunners of the 552nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion (Mobile) commanded by Lt Col Benjamin M. Warfield. The unit was equipped with towed Bofors 40mm cannons as well as quadruple .50-caliber machine guns.
With more bad weather on July 9, tactical airpower pioneer Maj. Gen. Elwood R. “Pete” Quesada, the commanding general of IX Tactical Air Command, visited A-6 and gave the pilots an overview of the ongoing battle in Normandy. He then opened the floor to suggestions from the pilots. They gave him a number of ideas which the general seemed genuinely interested to hear.
Of note, the 405th history noted that Class B rations began on this day and the K rations and 10-in-1 rations were put away. The “Field Ration, Type B” was composed of packaged and preserved foods and intended
for preparation by trained cooks in field kitchens. This was definitely a step up for the group!
On July 11, the Ninth Air Force commander, Lt. Gen. Brereton and his chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Ralph Royce, came to A-6 to present awards to unit members. Thunderbolt pilots received air medals for their accumulated combat missions, while 406th Fighter Squadron Commander Maj. Edwin D. “Jesse” Taylor received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism and extraordinary achievement. The Eagle Squadron veteran was an experienced combat leader who continuously set the example for his men. Sgt. Glen W. Bloodworth of the 406th FS the Soldier’s Medal for heroism when he extinguished the fires of a P-47 at A-6 while the aircraft was loaded with bombs in an extremely dangerous situation.
Preparing for the Next Push
From July 12-14, the group flew from dawn to dusk and shifted to operations in preparation for an upcoming push by U.S. First Army on St. Lo, France as the Allied lodgment slowly grew.
Pilots of the 404th flew the squadron’s 100th combat mission ton July 15, which was also the group’s first birthday. A big celebration took place after the group was released from operations for the day. Read about it in “The European Birthdays of the 142nd Wing,” at: https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2274632/the-european-birthdays-of-the-142d-wing/
During the group’s birthday shindig at A-6, Col. Kleine announced the “adoption” of grievously wounded French farmgirl Mademoiselle Yvette Hamel. Read more about this most unusual development in “The French Farmgirl of the Flying Field: Yvette Hamel and the 371st Fighter Group,” at: https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Features/Display/Article/864399/the-french-farm-girl-of-the-flying-field-yvette-hamel-and-the-371st-fighter-gro/
Flying was cancelled on July 16 due to poor weather conditions, but operations commenced again the next day. The 405th FS was just celebrating its 100th combat mission, when it lost 1st Lt. Alvin M. Pollingue who flew P-47D-20 42-76435. His squadron commander, Maj. Harvey L. Case, Jr. reported the following in MACR 6888: “I was leading the squadron on a dive bombing mission to La Fleche, France. After completion of the dive bombing run, I made a low altitude pass to observe bombing results on the target.
“While on the pass, I discovered approximately twenty (20) railroad cars, well camouflaged, in the immediate area. I climbed and reassembled my flight for a strafing pass. As I pulled away from my run, turning left, I observed Lt. Pollingue firing from three hundred (300) feet in a slight dive. He was directly over the cars and strafing as he closed and he continued to fire to approximately fifty (50) feet. Just as he passed over a fuel or oil car it exploded and set his plane afire at the supercharger.
“I called him on the radio and advised him to climb his ship and bail out. He climbed immediately to approximately one thousand (1000) feet and attempted to roll the ship on its back. The plane fell off in a left spiral. I observed about ten (10) feet of the chute dangling out of the cockpit at about five hundred (500) feet. The ship then stalled and spun to the right hitting the ground on its back.
“I did not see the chute open and the plane exploded and burned as result of the crash.”
Lt. Pollingue is buried in the Brittany American Cemetery and memorial in St. James, France at Plot J, Row 6, Grave 15. He left behind his wife Mildred L. (Adams) Pollingue – they were married on July 10, 1943, a year and one week before his fateful mission.
Then for the next five days, July 18 - 22, as if to set a somber mood after the loss, fog and rain closed down operations at the airfield as a sea of mud was created by all the precipitation. During this period, the first of the 405th squadron’s pilots, five officers, on the pointy end of the combat spear, went on operational leave in England. Enlisted men naturally wondered when they might be afforded leave.
On July 22, word came down from higher HQ that a P-38 Lightning group HQ and one of its fighter squadrons would be moving into A-6. Airfield operations were about to get more interesting as Ninth Air Force did its upmost to shift operations from Great Britain to the Continent and shorten the time and distance for operations and thus increase sortie generation for combat operations closest to the fight.
Weather proved problematic on July 23 and 24. But late on the 24th a mission was flown. The feisty Maj Gray, who seemed always to be able to find the enemy, claimed one Me-109, and damage to another, but was ultimately not awarded credit even after Col. Klein called IX TAC for confirmation. Read about his engagement in “Remembering Air Warrior “Rocky” Gray on Memorial Day, 2024,” at: https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3785692/remembering-air-warrior-rocky-gray-on-memorial-day-2024/
Campaign Summary
By this time the group had been in action flying a wide variety of combat missions from June 6 through July 24, on top cover, counter-air
against Luftwaffe in the air and at airfields, heavy bomber escort, interdiction against the enemy’s rail and road lines of communications, logistics infrastructure and military forces moving, and last but not least close support of American troops on the ground.
In that time 15 pilots in the group were shot down. Five were killed and two remain missing to this day. Two became POWs, and another four or five, depending on assessment, evaded the enemy and returned to friendly lines. At least 16 P-47s were outright losses during this seven-week period, and there were likely more written off due to extensive battle damage.
After seven weeks of effort, the military situation in Normandy was at a relative standstill. Although the Allies had ensconced themselves well on the continent, with the Cotentin Peninsula secured, German defenders took advantage of the Bocage country characteristics to limit further gains. To break out of the bocage country, and the stalemate, the Allies planned Operation Cobra.
Cobra was the kickoff event for the next campaign of the 371st Fighter Group in the ETO, the Northern France Campaign which lasted from July 25 through September 14, 1944. This campaign will be covered in the next installment of this series.