B-26 Marauder Footage

Box I, Flight 1 - 4554th BS - Lt. Col. George P. Gould Crew in Group Lead
Box I, Flight 2 - 456th BS
Box I, Flight 3 - 456th/454th BS - Flight Lead by 456th
Box II, Flight 1 - 455th BS - Capt. Charles M. Enderton Crew in Deputy Group Lead
Box II, Flight 2 - 453rd BS
Box II, Flight 3 - 453rd/455th BS - Flight Lead by 453rd

"A second mission of the day was launched against a rialroad bride near Cherisy. With weather improving, the attack was made at medium altitude. Results were good with hits on the bridge, tracks and embankments.

No mission was run on th 13th but the day was spiced up by a surprise visit of Gen. Marshall, Gen. Arnold and Gen. Anderson. The senior Officers had just returned from the Normandy beachead. Meeting with select high-mission combat aircrewmen, the Generals outlined the progress of the invasion and discussed the matter of aircrew rotation. Unknown to Gens. Marshall and Arnold, Gen. Anderson had set the stage to address the "no ocmbat tour" decision of March and the men were carefyly briefed. What happened next is worth recording.

General Arnold got and made a little speech [to the men[. When he got through, he said, "Are there any question?" [A Lieutenant said,] "Yes, sir." 'All right, son,' "How many missions do I have to fly before I can go home?" Arnold asked, "How many missions have you flown, son?" "Seventy-five, sir." Hap was amazed. So he started pointing to people and asking them. [There was no one there who had flown less than 65, so Hap started making a speech to them, and he didn't get much said until Gen. Marshall said, "Sit down, Hap." And [Marshall] got up and he statrted to tell them about the Red Bull Division, which is the Iowa Naitonal Guard. He told how . . . they had fought, what their losses had been, and [how] they fought through North Africa, thorugh Italy and so on. [When he finished his talk] he said, "Now are there any more questions?" One man raised his hand and he stood up and said, "General , I understand about the division, but I also understand they donn't have to fight every day. I have to do this every day."

"The officer was Lt. John D. Helton of the 456th BS. Subsequently, he was given a 30-day Stateside furlough and promoted to Captain. He was, however, returned to combat."

-Marauder Men, Maj. Gen. John O. Moench

Helton's last mission beforehis furlough was on June 15 to the Valognes Tank Farm Bridge with my dad. Interestingly, I did not see Helton on the loading lists in my files again until October, when he flew with my dad, Frank Burgmeier and Robert Smith to the Eskirchen Supply Depot in Holland. Also, th enote aobut no airmen being in the meeting under 65 missions probably isn't right. My dad was in that meeting (45 missions at that time) and his parents received a letter about it during the war.

The above isn't really relevant to the thread, but it's an interesting note that immediately followed the write up on Cherisy RR Bridge about Helton, who was the pilot in WT-B seen crossing the French coast on teh way to Caen. Iimagine how grateful the other aircrew were. As a result, the tour of duty was limited to 65.

It's looking like most of the footage on the CP or You Tube link Hans posted was shot on June 12. You have both Torigny and Cherisy Railroad Bridge flown that day. I have the loading list for the 456th on one of the Torigny missions and miht be able to match up some of the still with aircraft and aircrew and photos.

Jan
[hr]
June 12, Monday Mission #43 0300)
Up at 11 - had briefing at 4:30 - take off at 1900 for Cherisy RR Bridge at Dreaux.Fair bombing, Quite a bit of flak - was going to land at emergency field because of malfunciton of transfer system but it started t work over channel. Wrote Butch. tb at 12.

-Combat War Diary, Lt. Frank Burgmeier
[hr]
Sorry, I had neglected to click on the button to be notified of thread posts, so I had no idea you guys were spending a lot of time trying to track this target down. I could have checked the date, the mission lists and Frank's diary. But it is nice to see his diary note confirming your target identification.

 

FWIW, there was a heavy Flak battery south of the railroad junction, just south of the D-902.
Have not found information about this bombing in German records.

 

Hi, all,

I must have gotten Valognes Tank Farm from the 323rd mission list. It lists June 15 as Valognes (Tanks). Elsewehere, when it lists "Tanks" it does so in terms of Tank Farms and Tank Farm Bridges, so I mistakenly assumed that in populaitng my dad's mission logs from which I was working. My apologies.

Here's what I have on the June 15 mission to Valognes Fuel Dump:

"The next mission was run on the 15th. This mission was in support of the American drive on Cherbourg and was aimed at the enemy's fuel supply located at Valognes. To attack the target, the Group had to penetrate very heavy enemy defenses. Preceded by two window aircraft, 250 and 500 pound bombs were dropped by the two boxes with apparently good results as heavy fires and smoke quickly boiled up from the target area. In turn, the attacking force had to accept damage to 12 of its aircraft; however, no airman was injured. All damage was in the second box, indicating that the German gunners may have been "asleep at the wheel" as the first box swung in for the attack."

- Marauder Men, Maj. John O. Moench

Please see below - Moench appears to have gotten some of the details wrong.

323rd BG Mission Logs and Mission Records

15 June 1944 PM
Valognes (Tanks)

3 Window Scheduled - Enderton Lead 455th, 455th, 456th
2 Window Flew

18 Box I/Group Lead - Wilcox Crew - Good
43rd BS (all dropping 8 timess 500#)
2 A/C In Box I, Flight 1 sustained Class A Battle Damage - 2 flying off the wings of the Wilcox aircraft and the other flying off the wing of the Deputy Flight Lead Aircraft (I'm taking this off of the report Wilcox submitted.)

Box I, Flight 2 - 456th - Helton Crew Lead - Poor - Class A Battle Damage to The Gremlin II WT-B (See Wilcox report)
Helton's Debriefing Questionairre notes: "Moderate to Intense Heavy Flak Fairly Accurate at Tartet" (Translated - all hell broke loose over the target) (Helton also gives quite a few details on the locaiton of the flak batterites, but his handwritig is challenging to read)
Results of Bombing- Striking South of RR and ___ NW thru target --- slightly left of AP"
Box I, Flight 3 - 456th,453rd - 456th Lead - Fiar

18 Box II Lead - Morgan 454th BS (all droping 16 times 250#) - Good
Box II, Flight 2 455th - Fair
Box II, Flight 3 - 455th/454th 455th Lead - Gross

7 A/C Flak Battle Daaged

Good Results

9th AF -

12 A/C battle damaged, nol losses, bombing by 6's from 12,000 feet

Box I, 1st 6: EXCELLENT. 1 early release hit RR ______ 2300 feet South of desired MPI with concentration on desired MPI in good pattern with 2 possible hits on building (AP).

2nd 6. POOR. Good concentraiton 1750 feet west of desired MPI. Majority of strikes in target area, over small road.

3rd 6. FAIR. Good concentraiotn 570 feet South of desired MPI. Strikes on RR tracks. Several bursts in target area.

Box II. 1st 6. Fair concentraiton 300 feet South of desired MPI. Pattern trailed across RR tracks, railway in target area.

2nd 6. FAIR. Concentraiton 900 feet North of desired MPI. Strikes along raod in target area.

3rd 6. GROSS. Fair concentraiton 4000 feet East-Southeast of desired MPI.Strikes on RR tracks. (Froup bombardier reported FAIR results based on visual observation.)


A/C Lost to Flak - 0
A/C Battle Damaged - 12
% of A/C Battle Damaged - 31.57%
Moderate accurate heav flak is the general rule at this target. On the presnent mission the first box encountered meager inaccurate heavy flak. The second box, however, encountered moderate accurate heavy flak and bore the brunt of the battle damage. Predictor soon fire control was probably employed with the data being ragged when the first box went over. (Note- the print is blurred int his seciton, making it hard to read, so best guess)

At this point, I do not have routing drawings or other informaiton available from National Archives on this mission, but plan to obtain it in the near future. The routing would be interesting for this target because it was considered to be be a hot target. The navigators did quite a dance trying to angle the bomb run and break away to get in and out without getting shot down or blown up over the target.

On June 15, the 9th Bomb Command sent Marauders to Foret de ___ (Fuel Dump) - one group of 36 bombing, Laval RR Bridge, Laval M/Y,
Valognes Fuel Dump, Foret de E____ Fuel Dump and Domfrout Fuel Dump.

Frank Burgmeier War Diary-

Up at 11:30. Boys flew in afternoon. Was on loading list, so couldn't go to town. Went over to club and had a few drinks with Do Yling (flgight surgeon) , JB (Stirling) and Hutch (Hutchings). tb at 11. Read til 12. (B-29s bombed Japan!)

In terms of the discrepancies, the most accurate sources are those that actually flew the mission. Wilcox says four A/C in Box I were damaged, so that's what's happenedt. Helton notes moderate to intense failry accurate flak in Box I, Flight 2, so that's what happened.

As a point of reference, on the mission on May 20 to Dieppe in which 2 A/C went down in the target area and Dale Rush and the tailgunner on Ole 33 Gal were both killed and returned to base, the crews describe the flak as Moderate to Intense Failry Accurate Flak lasting about 45 seconds over the target. Outside of the report forms, the returning aircrews described the flak as so thick you could walk across it.

In terms of the three war theaters, Europe was by far the toughest in terms of flak. In the Pacific, fighters were the problem. In Africa, the flak was not that bad.

The History Channel series, Battlestations, has an episode on the B-26 Marauder. It focuses on its early days in Tampa Bay ("one a day in Tampa Bay" referring to the number of aircrew lost in early training on the B-26) and ends with the bombing of Montecasima in Italy. The footage is based on the video that immediately follows the You Tube link Hans posted above. That footage is of the 323rd at Earls Colne between July and December 1943. Quite a few of the aircrew and aircraft in that footage are identifiable. The Battle Stations episode features about 4 combat crew interviews. It's on You Tube. Will post the link.

-Jan
[hr]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYMDkDNNJnw

This is the link to Battlestations: B-26 Marauder.

The bombardier, Charles, describes the bomb run. He also describes being trapped under the Co-Pilot's seat. To get to the bombardier's compartment, you had to slide the Co-Pilot's seat back and crawl through a hole to the nose. If the aircraft caught fire, the bombardiers were trapped with no way out.

 

For reference, the portion of the 323rd Mission List relevant to the war in France from D-Day forward is being posted in the green room. Although the images are blurry due to the constraint on file size, they are legible.

 

June 6, 1944


The weather was deteriorating at take off ---cloudy with surface winds of 10-15 miles per hour from the WNW. The aircrews had been told to expect cumulus clouds with a base of 300 feet -3,000 feet and tops of up to 8,000 fett over the target. The surface temperature at the target was forcast to be 57 degrees F. At 12,000 feet, the aircrews were told to expect mild, clear icing expcept in areas of isolated shower where icing would be moderate to severe with a temperature near -9 degrees C of 16 degrees F and the wind at 50 miles per hour. The fuselage of a B-26 is almost paper thin, and the aircrews dressed for the mission.

During their briefing just before take-off, the aircrews had cheered and whistled loudly when Col. Wood, the commanding officer of the 323rd, made it official. After nearly a year of seemingly endless daily bombing raids to soften up the invasion area, it was finally D-Day. They thought they'd finally be able to go home soon. The chers, whistles and thoughts of home gave way to silence when Col. Wood told the men they were to go in at any altitude necessary to bomb visually. Everyone was thinking Ijmuiden, Holland the disastrous 322 BG mission of March 26, 1943 when the 322nd had sent its Marauder aircrews in at low altitude to bomb a generator plant. Not a signle airman had come back alive. Marauder crews had not bombed at low altitudes until the pre-dawn missions flown by the 323rd on D-Day when the aircrews bombed form between 4.900 and 7,700 feet.

At 1511 hours, 36 aircrews of the 323rd BG led by the Barker crew in "Buckeye Battle Cry" WT-O were in route from Earls Colne Airfield in Middle Essex for their targets, Caen Choke Points/ Road Junctions C-1 and C-2 adjacent to the Orne River in Caen's populated city center. The Group's objective was to buy British and Canadian tropps coming ashore time. The 12th SS Panzer Division was moving up from the Le Mans area to reinforce and augment the German ground troops fighting to push the Allied forces back into the Channel. By taking out the road junctions near two bridges over the Orne River, they could frustrate the movementof reinforcements on which the German ground strategy was based. A lot of the airmen prayed that they could be lucky one more time.

At 1536 hours, the formation passed over Brighton at an altitude of 4,000 feet and made the turn for Ouisterham, France where they were to make landfall. They began the climb to 10,000 feet and headed south over the Channel. As they approached the French coast, the formaiton made two 360 degree spiralling turns and descended to 4,000 feet. Just before the formaiton crossed into France, it passed over the Battleship Texas as she fired a broadside at the cliffs of the Normandy coast. Below them, a terrific battle raged between dueling ground and naval forces. The airmen prayed for the Allied troops below recalling what it had been like when they had so many months ago been in combat for the first time and how scared they had been.

At 1610 hours, the formaiton made landfall near Ouiseterham and turned toward Mezidon. Beginning at Troarn, the formation began to experience flak from light anti-aircraft batteries. It would continue until they left the coast. At 1614, the 12 aircrafts in Box I passed over Mezidon and turned right to head for the Initial Point at which the bomb run would begin (4900 N 0016 W) at Granville-Langannerie, where they arrived at 1617 hours. From there, Box I, led by the Barker crew, flew straight up the N158, which is now the Rue de Falaise, to their target - Caen Road Junction/Choke Point C-2 (which appears to have been the intersection of the Rue de Vaucelles/Falaise, the Rude de Arquette, the Rue de Augo, the tram line that ran up the Rue Saint Jean and the railroad tracks running from Bayeaux into Caen. They were lucky. The Luftwaffe AA battery had been preoccupied or caught off-guard. Box I didn't encounter any flak. Box II followed them with its last flight of four aircraft encountering light, fairly inaccurate flak as they passedover the rail yard below.

By the time Box III led by the crew of Maj. Paul Stach in YU-W (Nickname Unknown) approached, the flak coming up from the light Luftwaffe battery just west of the Mezidon Marshalling Yard was intense and accurate. At such a low altitude, a light flak gun could easily shoot down a bomber. The Stach crew, being in the lead aircraft, was a prime target. They took a dirct hit and were seen making a steep descent, but still under control west of Mezidon. Other aircrew reported seeing a varying number of chutes, but Maj. Stach, Capt. Seagraves and the other officer stayed with the aircraft, which crashed an burst into flames. The three officers perished in the crash or the fire that ensued. The other members of the Stach crew and the AAC photographer flying with them (first to bail out) were taken as prisoners of war. Following the war, they provided written statements concerning the fate of Maj. Stach.

After making a sharp right turn, it appears that Box II flew straight down the railroad tracks running parallel to the Orne River toward the four bridges at Caen's city center and the coast. (It is very possible that each of the boxes had a different Initial Point, as was frequently the practice for heavily defended bridges.) "Tex", a gunner flying as part of the Hunt crew leading Box II, was so engrossed with firing his gun into box cars on a sidling as they raced up the tracks, he did not realize they were on the bomb run until the bomb bay doors roared open and the aircraft slwed down with a rush of air.

At 1619 hours, Box I released its bombs from 3,900 feet just under the cloud bank. Capt. William Wolfendon, who had a steady record of accuracy a lead bombardier, led the first flight of four aircraft. On his lead, the four aircraft in the lead fligtht dropped. Their bombs landed about 1,200 feet north of their target, road junciton C-2, among houses and streets. Stike photos indicate that the bombs, all 500 pound general purpose bombs probably fused for explosion on impact, landed just short of the Cathedral Saint Jean just south of the intersection of the Rue St. Jean and the Rue de Carnes --- those were likely the bombs of WT-O with the bombs of WT-B falling along the Rue St. Jean near Rue de Singer, and the two wing flights' bombs falling on either side of theirs. Box I, Flight 3's bombs would have likely fallen further south on the Rue St. Jean closer to the Orne. Fires erupted with smoke billowing southeastward. The other flights didn't have better results. After the Stach crew had been shot down, Box III was disrupted. Many of the aircraft bombed one or two miles sourth of the intended target as a result of the confusionof war, poor briefing intelligence and resulting target misidentification.

The French accounts describe the White Tails as having destroyed the St. Julien Quarter. Based on records, it appears the only one flight of four aircraft from the 323rd dropped their bombs possibly in that particular area. Were the witnesses mistaking the Marauders of the 391st Bomb Group for those of the 323rd? The 391st followed the 323rd into Caen, and were assigned different targets than the323rd.

French resistance estimates were of 300 unintended civilian casualties as a result of this mission and the one that followed by another B-26 group targeting the C-3 and C-4 bridges and a German communications center in Caen's city center. Those were the only missions flown by B-26 groups against Caen's city center, which would be leveled by repeated fire bombing from heavy bombers before it finally fell on July 18, 1944.

At 1621 hours, Box I passed back over Ouisterham, made a left turn and head back toward Brighton. At 1652 hours, they made landfall over Englad and arrived back at Earls Colne at 1717 hours. They felt lucky to be alive. What some of the aircrews---typically bombardiers who saw things from the Plexiglas nose of the Marauder that the other aircrew members did not---carried with them was the vivid knowledge of the costs of war and the burden of being dedicated to duty.

As we pause to acknowledge the sacrifices of Allied soldiers, seamen and airmen who fought in the Battles of Normandy, the Lowlands and the Rhine, please take a moment to remember the contributions of French resistance fighters and the losses of the civilians who were cuaght in the crossfire leading up to and following D-Day. In the nonths before the invasion, particularly during the months of March, April and May 1944, the implementaiton of the Transportaiton Plan had resulted in thousands of Belgian and French civiliam casualties as the mostly Marauder aircrews methodically took out the rail transportation systems in France and Belgium and all of the major rail and highway bridges leading to the western front. But for that effort and the loss of aircrews and civilian lives, it's not clear whether the Allies could have held the beaches of Normandy and pushed forward into Germany.

On the 70th Anniversary of D-Day, I attended a program at which a soft spoken veteran of the infantry had reluctantly spoken. He was gemtle, Hispanic man from a small town in Texas. He had come ashore on Omaha Beach with his artillery team at 0630 hours on D-Day. In response to questions, he told the auditorium of attendees that he did not know how he managed to survive that day. In resonse to more questioning, he then spoke about what his group had done after D-Day and how they eventually joined Patton's Army and were the first to come across and liberate a concentration camp. At that point, he lost his composure for the first time. Shaking his head, he looked at the floor as if to offer an apology and explaned he could not get the horrific memories of what they had come across in those camps out of his head.

 

Pat-

Take a look at this photo from 7US1730-

http://ncap.org.uk/frame/6-1-9-4-38

It's your road junction south of the Orne and east of the Caen grave yard. Very interesting. Perhaps you are correct about the aiming point. The issue is it does not match points C-1 and C-2 on the old map. Then, there's the issue of the 9th AF bomb damage assessment.

This photograph, combined with the stills from the 323rd's missionto Caen, which show strikes very near this junction, suggests the reconnaissance photos might, indeed, have been used to brief the aircrews before the bombing mission.

Jan

 

16 June 1944
Valognes Fuel Dump

Earlier in this thread, we discussed the 323rd's mission to the Valognes Feud Dump on 15 June 1944. I was just looking through the online index to motion picture records at National Archives in College Park and ran across some relatively crisp footage of this mission and others in the Cherbourg Area. If anyone is interested, you can find it by going to the NA CP website and using the research engine. It popped up on a search for "Lessay".

National Archives Identification Number 5754 labelled "Army Air Force Combat Weekly Digests". There are two films. It's the second one. This may be footage you've already seen, but in case it isn't, I'm passing it along.

 

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5754

Let's see if this takes you to the footage.
[hr]
Pat,

I haven't seen this footage, which was shot in Lessay. I had planned to go to Maryland to see it, so I'm quite appreciative that you thought to post it!

My dad was the squadron bombardier for the 456th at this point, flying with Lt. Col. Robert O. Barker, the squadron CO, and Lt. Al Allison, the squadron navigator. The three always flew in WT-O, "Buckeye Battle Cry". Essentially, Barker was the top pilot flying combat for the 323rd at the point, so this would have been the top crew for the 323rd when the footage was shot. If it's what I think it is, this footage is of the first mission flown by the 9th Air Force form Free French soil on 27 August 1944 to take out a Rouen bridge. The officers in the group lead in WT-O were-

Lt. Col. Robert O. Barker - Pilot
Lt. Al Allison - Navigator
Lt. Frank Burgmeier - GEE Navigator
Lt. Walt Foster - Bombardier

Although the loading list does not show that Frank flew with the Barker crew, Frank's war diary does, saying he flew GEE (radar) navigator for Barker in the Group Lead ship. As you can see from the footage, there were quite a few clouds, so they needed GEE to confirm dead reckoning, as getting lost could prove disastrous. They crews were disappointed. 10/10 cloud cover over the target prevented them from releasing. I seem to recall that they circled the target a few times before giving up, but would need to confirm as the 66 missions can easily run together.

The footage begins with WT-O taking off, recording what was an important historical event and milestone in the war. I'll study it to see if I can get screen shots and better, more detailed information. At first glance, it looks like Barker is talking with two guys toward the end. One of them might be Allison, but I'll have to study it a lot more to determine.

I have a photo of Allison, Burgmeier and Foster taken a a memorial to WWI dead either in either Lessay, Le Haye du Puits or Barnesville around the time of the footage. They went on a bike tour of the area, and my dad took snapshots. I'll post or send it to see if anyone recognizes the spot where the snap shot was taken.

The mission to Valognes was flown on 15 June 1944. It was my dad's last mission with Helton before Helton got prolonged stateside leave. They flew in WT-B, "The Gremlin II". I velieve Valognes would have been viewed as a particularly dangerous target, heavily defended, fortified like Dunkirk, Dieppe, Beauvoir and Le Harve. WT-B took on flak and was recorded as having been damaged, so more than small holes.

About a week ago Frank told me the saying among the combat air crews was that "You'll never hear the one that gets you." He said that flak that left the small holes sounded like hail pinging off a meal roof according to Frank. The bigger the hole, the louder.

On an unrelated note, I may have mentioned Leo Dale Rush, a bombarider who was killed on 20 May 1944 on a mission to Dieppe. He had an unborn or infant son at the time of his death. My father intended to try to find Rush's son to tell him what a fine person his father was. We (Frank Burgmeier, Carlton Rehr and I) recently had a strong lead on finding Rush's son when Carlton noticed the son had posted a review on a memoir on Amazon. She called Frank, and Frank called me. I've written the son to deliver the message and an hopeful for confirmation that it was received. We've been looking for the son for years.

Thank you very much for posting this footage. It doesn't quite seem real that my dad is in WT-O. I need to talk with Frank to find out where my dad would have been sitting on take off. Because TO and landing with a full load of bombs in a Marauder were two of the most hazardous things they did, and because the bombardier has to crawl through an opening in the leg well of the co-pilot to get to the nose (making escape difficult), I'm guessing he would have sat in the co-pilot's seat or navigator's compartment until they approached the target. As the navigator is timing turns for the pilot, probably the navigator's seat just behind the cockpit on the right side.

I will forward the link for the footage to Frank, who is in his mid-90s. Although his body is beginning to wear out, his mind and intellect are very sharp. He will be thrilled to see this.

Jan

 

Pat,

If you'll go to about the 3:10 - 3:17, you'll see what is possibly the Barker crew in a jeep most likely following the mission. It looks like it could be Barker driving, possibly Burgmeier in the rear seat on the passenger side, and possibly my dad standing next to what would be Allison in the front passenger seat. From other photographs, Barker seems to have always worn a wedge cap to fly, Burgmeier (who was about 5'9") preferred the flat board cap, and my dad always work a regular baseball cap. The jeep goes by too fast to catch the rank on the cap of the driver.

There were seven airmen on the Barker crew and a few of the other lead crews that day. There are seven airmen in the jeep. The footage is most likely of one of the box or flight lead crews.

The Group Lead crews had some celebrity within the group, and the cameraman likely would have wanted to get the group lead crew for the mission in his footage. This, coupled with the faces, relative heights, and atire of the men in the jeep, makes me think the footage very well could be of the Barker crew. But the only way to tell for sure would be if we could see the driver's rank on his wedge cap.

You'll notice the steel planks the Corps of Engineers hastily laid as the run way. Apparently, it was slick when wet making take offs and landings tricky.

The grounds crews were having some maintenance issues with WT-O in Lessay. You'll see them doing some work on one of the ships here. The best pilots refused to take off if there were any problems, and Barker was, according to my dad, quite fastidious about every detail and planning. Interesting asides that bring the footage to life.

Jan

 

It looks like there are two vertical bars on the cap of the jeep driver, which would indicate he's a captain. Three Captains flying with crews of seven flew on this mission - Capt. Christenhunt in the Box II lead slot for the 454th, Capt. Gist with the 453rd, and Capt. Parkinson. So, the crew in the jeep is likely one of those three.

The records are conflicting in places. For example, one report says the mission was abandoned due to weather. Another report, which is more specific, says the target was obscured by battle smoke but that the river (presumably the Seine) was visible on either side of the smoke over the target. Maybe "weather" is all encompassing, covering smoke and battle haze.

In another area of conflict, the records show that some of the ships in Box II dropped 500 pounders, although the list of 323rd missions shows that Box II carried 1,000 pounders. I wonder how many of the crews dropped because they didn't want to land with a full load on the steel plank runway.

 

8:18 clearly is Valognes, just west of the town. The top of the shot is approx. southeast. You're looking at the railroad in the center (top to bottom) and the D902 is the road at the bottom of the shot.
8:22 seems to be focused around Les Saints, with Tapotin to the upper right. Top of the image is approx east, southeast.
8:44 shows the same area

 

Can't see an obvious link Pat

Either way, the footage at 7:34 is Lessay (facing east), not St. Hilaire as claimed. That town is visible at 7:11 (facing SW). Looks like certain material was mixed up or the text was.
It looks like they were targeting the town itself (road junction), rather than the bridge to the west.

 

A-20 footage-

At about the 6:19 mark, it looks like they might b dropping "window" or thin stips of aluminum (and when there was no "window", they'd drop nickel coins) to disrupt the radar assisted flak guns. It's hard to tell. They might be dropping small - 100 or 250 pound bombs.

323rd Valognes footage -

The narrator in the footage says "petrol dump" where German tanks refuel. The 323rd mission list says "Valognes (Tanks)". Moench, in Marauder Men, says "Fuel Dump". The 9th AF BDA indicates the aiming point was a "building." It's interesting. You'd expect a flash from a fuel dump mission where they got "good results". Recall the flash when a fuel dump was hit in the Cerisy Forest footage. We don't see a flash here, but maybe the explosions were not captured.

The first set of bombs seen exploding is from Box I led by Maj. Wilcox of the 453rd BS in the Group Lead. They were preceded into the target by two ships that dropped window. 36 total attacked, just going by the 323rd mission list. Box I of 18 dropped 8 times 500 pound bombs each with good results. Box II of 18 dropped 16 times 250 pound bombs each with good results. 7 ships listed as battle damaged on the 323rd mission list, but the footage doesn't seem to show any flak.

It looks like the silver Marauder in the foreground is YU-Y, indicating it's with the 455th BS in Box II. Because it's silver, it must be one of the newer models like a B-26E --- possibly 43-34313 or 43-34162, neither of which is listed as having a known name. I can't make out either the serial number or the radio call letters of the older Marauder (drab olive paint) in the background. I don't have ready access at this time to the 455th's loading list for this mission.

Here are my notes for the mission -

WT-B "The Gremlin II" Helton and Foster flew Squadron Lead - Box I , Flight I lead - Battle Damage to WT-B

Moderate, accurate, heavy flak is the general rule with this target. 12 aircraft flak damaged. Bombing by groups of 6 from 12,000 eet. Box I, Flight 2 Good concentration 1,7500 feet from desired MPI. Majority of bombs in target area or on a small road. To attack this target, the group had to penetrate very heavy enemy denfenses Preceded by two Window aircraft, the group dropped 250 and 500# bombs with apparent good results as heavy fie and smoke quickly boiled up from the target area. In return, the group had to accept damage to 12 of its aircraft. Most of the damage was in Box II, as the Germans appear to have been caught asleep at the wheel.

Note this discrepancy on the types of bombs dropped between the 9th AF report that Moench was most likely using and the 323rd mission list.
Box I, First Six. EXCELLENT.1 early release hit RR tracks 2300 feet South of desired MPI. Main concentration on deselect MPI in good pattern. 2 probable hits on building (AP).

Without listing the rest of the 9th AF BDA, it looks like the target was in the area of a marshaling yard or buildings near RR tracks in the Valognes area.

 

Thank you for trying, Pat. Looking forward to studying what you've come up with here on the Valognes footage.

After an off and on nine year search, we've finally located and made contact with the son of a 456th lead bombardier killed in action on 20 May 1944 on a mission to Dieppe. He knows very little about the father he never met, so I want to get a package of detailed information about his father's service in the mail to him soon.

I'm considering a trip to NA-CP in the coming months. I noticed on the card catalogue that there are files containing 9th AF photos. I'll pull the 323rd files and get shots of the reconnaissance photos while I'm there, and there might be others in the 9th AF photo files. It's on the to do list.

Jan