Kassel Mission
The Kassel Mission on September 27, 1944 also became known as the air battle over the Seulingswald . Its aim was to destroy the works of the mechanical engineering company Henschel & Sohn in Kassel with their production of tracked vehicles ( “Tiger” and “Panther” tanks) and the associated infrastructure.
Main storyline
For this purpose, the 8th Air Force sent 283 bombers of the type B-24 "Liberator" of the 2nd Bombardment Division and 198 fighters of the type P-51 "Mustang" as escort .
Due to a navigation error of the lead aircraft of the 445th Bombardment Group , 35 bombers deviated from the course for Kassel and headed for the railway facilities in Göttingen as an alternative destination . However , they also missed the local marshalling yard and the repair shop . Due to the course deviation, the bombers were without escort on the return flight. At around 11:00 a.m. they met 150 aircraft from German Jagdgeschwader 3 (Udet), 4 and 300 above the Seulingswald between Bad Hersfeld and Eisenach . The squadrons included Bf 109s and Fw 190s specially equipped for fighting bombers . In the dogfights, 25 bombers were shot down within a radius of 15 miles (24 km) and fell over the Seulingswald. With the help of the 361st Fighter Group , a total loss was prevented. Separately, six other bombers crashed on the return flight to their home base in Tibenham in Norfolk, England; only four bombers made it home.
The losses on the American side amounted to 31 B-24s and one P-51. 118 Americans were killed, 11 of whom were murdered after their parachute landing. 121 Americans fell into German captivity and survived.
The German losses amounted to 29 fighters, with 18 pilots killed. In addition, seven strangers died in a German military hospital on which one of the German machines crashed.
These combat operations are among the largest confrontations between the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the German Air Force, which was barely active at the time.
Follow-up operations
In the days following the battle, USAAF machines dropped leaflets over the suspected landing zones to protect parachuted crew members from lynching . In the immediate vicinity of the outskirts of Bad Hersfeld, an area bombing was carried out to deter the American air force .
memorial
In memory of the fallen and as a gesture of reconciliation on 1 August 1990 at the crash site of US leadership Bombers in Seulingswald at Ludwigsau- The Outlaw the airmen memorial - Airmen's Memorial inaugurated.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Overview of the Kassel Mission ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The disaster of the 445th bomber group of the 8th USAAF ( Memento of the original from July 8th, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ludwigsau - Aviator Memorial of the Ludwigsau community
