Air Force Combat Units of WWII

APPENDIX 11-THEATERS AND CAMPAIGNS 483medium bombers and fighter-bomber aircraftof Ninth Air Force had been engagedin close support and interdictory operations,Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces hadcontinued their strategic bombing.Rhineland: 15 September 1944 to 21March 1945. Attempting to outflank theSiegfried Line, the Allies tried an airborneattack on Holland on 17 September 1944.But the operation failed, and the enemywas able to strengthen his defensive linefrom Holland to Switzerland. Littleprogress was made on the ground, but theaerial attacks on strategic targets continued.Then, having regained the initiativeafter defeating a German offensive in theArdennes in December 1944, the Alliesdrove through to the Rhine, establishinga bridgehead across the river at Remagen.Ardennes-Alsace: 16 December 1944 to25 January 1945. During their offensive inthe Ardennes the Germans drove into Belgiumand Luxembourg, creating a greatbulge in the line. For some time theweather was bad, but when it cleared theAllies could send their planes to assist theirground forces by bombing and strafing theenemy’s columns, dropping paratroops andsupplies, and interdicting the enemy’s linesof communications. By the end of January1945 the lost ground had been regainedand the Battle of the Bulge, the last greatGerman offensive, was over.Central Europe: 22 March to 11 May1945. Following the Battle of the Bulgethe Allies had pushed through to theRhine. On 22 March 1945 they began theirassault across the river, and by I Aprilthe Ruhr was encircled. Armored columnsraced across Germany and into Austriaand Czechoslovakia. On 25 April, theday American and Russian forces met onthe Elbe, strategic bombing operationscame to an end. Germany surrendered on7 May 1945 and operations officially cameto an end the following day, althoughsporadic actions continued on the Europeanfront until 11 May.Air Combat, EAME Theater: 7 December1941 to 11 May 1945. Some of theAAF’s aerial operations in the EAMETheater-such as those in the Balkans (includingthe raids on Ploesti), over theMediterranean Sea, and in Iceland-wereoutside the areas of the campaigns listedabove. A special campaign, Air Combat,EAME Theater, was established to providecredits for these operations. (Provisionwas made for similar campaigns forthe other theaters, but no aerial combatoccurred in the American Theater, and nocredits were awarded by the War Departmentfor Air Combat, Asiatic-Pacific Theater.)Antisubmarine, EAME Theater: 7December 1941 to 2 September 1945. AAFantisubmarine operations began fromEngland in November 1942 and fromNorth Africa in March 1943. The mostsuccessful of these operations were carriedout in the Bay of Biscay in the summer of1943, and in the Mediterranean during thecampaigns in Sicily and southern Italy.AAF units received credit for this campaignif they were engaged in antisubmarinewarfare outside of the regularly