Air Force Combat Units of WWII

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480 AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS OF WORLD WAR I1the latter part of 1943 the Navy assumedthe antisubmarine responsibilities that hadbeen assigned to AAF when the UnitedStates had entered the war in December1941.EUROPEAN-AFRICAN-MIDDLE EASTERN THE-ATER: 7 December IWI to 8 November1945.Egypt-Libya: 11 June 1942 to 12 February1943. Army Air Forces entered combatin the EAME Theater on 11 June1942 when a small detachment equippedwith B-24’s and commanded by Col. HarryA. Halverson began operations in theMiddle East. Shortly afterward theUnited States, answering a British appealfor assistance against Axis forces that wereon the offensive in Libya, sent additionalmen and equipment into the area. Inthe Middle East, AAF units, which becamepart of Ninth Air Force in November1942, helped to stop Rommel’s drivetoward the Suez Canal, took part in theBattle of El Alamein (25 October-5 November1942), and worked with Montgomery’sEighth Army in driving Axisforces westward into Tunisia.Agevia-French Morocco: 8 to 11 November1942. Three days after their victoryat El Alamein the Allies opened anew front with an assault on Algeria andFrench Morocco. Twelfth Air Force,with some units based on Gibraltar, someaboard the invasion fleet, and some bearingparatroops from England, enteredcombat at this time. The campaign wasbrkf, for the French in Algeria and FrenchMorocco offered little resistance to the invaders.Tunisia: 12 November 1942 to 13 May1943. Having gained Algeria, the Alliesquickly turned eastward, hoping to takeTunis and Bizerte before the Germanscould send reinforcements into Tunisia.But the drive broke down short of thegoal. In February 1943, after Rommelhad been driven into Tunisia, the Axistook the offensive and pushed throughKasserine Pass before being stopped. WithNinth and Twelfth Air Forces in the battle,the Allies drove the enemy back intoa pocket around Bizerte and Tunis, whereAxis forces surrendered in May. ThusTunisia became available for launchingan attack on Sicily as a preliminary to anassault on Italy.Sicily: 14 May to 17 August 1943. Inpreparation for the invasion of Sicily theAllies captured the islands in the Sicilianstrait, with aerial bombardment forcingthe capitulation of Pantelleria on 11 June1943. By that time Allied air power hadbegun the attack on Sicily by bombingdefenses and airfields. The invasion itselfgot under way on the night of 9/10July with airborne landings that werefollowed the next day by an amphibiousassault. The enemy offered strong resistance,but the Allies had superiority in theair and soon had planes operating fromSicilian bases to support Montgomery’sEighth Army and Patton’s Seventh. Interdictoryoperations against communicationsin Italy and between Italy and Sicilyconvinced the enemy that it would be im-
APPENDIX 11-THEATERS AND CAMPAIG ;NS 48 1possible to move strong reinforcements.By 17 August 1943 the Allies were in possessionof the island, but they had notbeen able to prevent a German evacuationacross the Strait of Messina.Naples-Foggia: 18 August 1943 to 21January 1944. After Allied bombardmentof communications and airfields in Italy,Montgomery crossed the Strait of Messinaon 3 September 1943 and started northward.Five days later Eisenhower announcedthat the Italian Government hadsurrendered. Fifth Army, under Clark,landed at Salerno on g September andmanaged to stay despite furious counterattacks.By 18 September the Germanswere withdrawing northward. On 27September Eighth Army occupied the importantairfields of Foggia, and on IOctober Fifth Army took Naples. As theAllies pushed up the peninsula, the enemyslowed the advance and brolJght it to ahalt at the Gustav Line.Anxio: 22 January to 24 May 1944. Onu January 1944, in conjunction with afrontal assault, the Allies attempted to turnthe Gustav Line by landing troops atAnzio. But the frontal attack failed, andthe Allies were unable to break out of thebeachhead at Anzio until the Gustav Linewas breached in May 1944.Rome-Arno: 22 January to g September1944. The unsuccessful attempt to breakthe Gustav Line on 22 January was followedby another unsuccessful effort inMarch when the infantry failed to pushthrough after bombers had endeavored toopen the line at Monte Cassino. Alliedair power then began a vigorous campaignagainst railroads, highways, and shippingthat supported German forces in Italy.With supply lines strangled, the Germanscould not repulse the new drive launchedby the Allies in May. German resistancecrumbled. By 4 June 1944 the Allies hadtaken Rome. But the advance ground toa halt against a new defensive line theenemy established along the Arno River.Southern France: 15 August to 14 September1944. While the Germans wereretreating in Italy in the summer of 1944,the Allies diverted some of their strengthin the theater to the invasion of SouthernFrance. After preliminary bombardment,a combined seaborne-airborne force landedon the French Riviera on 15 August.Marseilles having been taken, SevmthArmy advanced up the Rhone Valley andby mid-September was in touch withAllied forces that had entered France fromthe north.North Apennines: 10 September 1944to 4 April 1945. In Italy during the falland winter of 1944-1945 the Allies usedtheir air power against the enemy’s communicationsas ground forces beat againstthe Gothic Line north of the Arno.Although little progress was made on theground, the action in the Apennines tieddown a large German army at a time whenthose troops could have been used in decisivecampaigns being directed againstGermany by the Allies in the west andthe Russians on the east.Po Valley: 5 April to 8 May 1945. Theeffectiveness of interdiction in northern
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AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS-GROUPS 261CO
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AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS-GROUPS 265to
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AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS-GROUPS267rad
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AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS-GROUPS 269en
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AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS-GROUPS 271Ju
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--334 '\459th BOMBARWENT GROUPF.-/.
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40671st FIGHTER WINGConstituted as
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Page 197 and 198: FIRST AIR FORCEAIR FORCESConstitute
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Page 201 and 202: AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS-AIR FORCES 4
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Page 232 and 233: APPENDIX 111:Air Force units, like
Page 235 and 236: INDEX OF UNITSAn asterisk (") indic
Page 237 and 238: INDEX OF UNITS 49742d Bombardment,"
Page 239 and 240: INDEX OF UNITS 499123d Fighter-Bomb
Page 241 and 242: INDEX OF UNTTS 501406th Bombardment
Page 243 and 244: INDEX OF UNITS17th Bombardment, 385
Page 245 and 246: INDEX OF UNITS309th Air, 4Ig310th A
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Air Force Combat Units of WWII

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