8th/9th Air Force air strike (02.02.1945)

[BWilhelmi]

Hello!
My name is Benjamin and i come from Urmersbach (Eifel, Germany). In World War II the village Urmersbach was attacked heavily three times: 27.09.1944, 02.02.1945 and 02.03.1945, because of the strategic important rail road to the western front. On 7th March 1945 the people of Urmersbach were liberated from the 3rd US-Army.

I'm searching for information about the units which attacked Urmersbach a second time on 02.02.1945 at 4 p.m. At that time 12 fighters (P-51) attacked the rail station of Urmersbach and the village, with 24 bombs and their armament. At that time a train with soldiers stands at the rail station and from outside the village came SS-Soldiers with their vehicles to Urmersbach. Furthermore a tank barrier was attacked with bombs, whereby six civilians died.

The American Air Museum in England suggested me the following:

"In terms of the attack on 2 Feb 1945, the 8th Air Force’s War Diary suggests that the 352nd Fighter Group dispatched 24 P-51s on a fighter sweep in the Koblenz Area, so they could possibly be the ones who made the attack? The records suggest only 22 of the aircraft were effective, but if half of the aircraft on that sortie attached Urmersbach then that might still be possible?"

Do you have any information about that date (02.02.1945) or from the squadrons of this fighter group:

352nd Fighter Group: 328th Fighter Squadron; 486th Fighter Squadron;487th Fighter Squadron


Another opinion is that the 2nd February event was just described as a fighter sweep, which is listed as “uneventful”. A fighter sweep would not have included the carrying of bombs for ground attack, so whoever was responsible for this must have been from the 9th Air Force, or possibly RAF or Free French.

Similarly, 9th Air Force for 2nd February states:

"2/2/45 Ninth AF:
350-Plus B-26's, A-26's, and A-20's bomb road and rail bridges to block E-W-movement E of the Rhine and defended localities E of battlefront in W-Germany."


Could you help me in this case?

Thank you and best wishes from Germany,
Benjamin