April 16-17, 1944, bombings of Belgrade

[tegbridges]

I am trying to obtain more information on the April 16-17 bomb attacks of Belgrade by the 15th Air Force. My father, a downed B-24 pilot, was in Dulag 172 that day, directly across from Belgrade's marshalling yard. Wayward bombs both days landed on my father's camp, inadvertently killing Itallian and Serb POWs. I am writing a book about my father's WWII.
Here is what I would like to know:
*Has anyone seen a good general summary for either day's attack?
*How many bombs were dropped each day?
*How many bombers participated each day?
*Has anyone come across good on-the-ground accounts of the devastation in Belgrade? I've found Professor Simic's account and one at http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/semlin/en/
*What was the primary target on April 16? (Belgrade was the secondary target)
*What was the target in Belgrade on April 16? (Many of the bombs landed in residential areas?
Thanks!
Tyler Bridges

[Larry deZeng]

Except for the separated entries marked "Rust" and "Checkertail", the following is from the Luftlage portion of the Oberbefehlshaber Südost daily reports:


16 April 1944
Approx. 150 4-engine bombers attacked the city of Belgrade, with the bomb carpet marched through the center of the city (few military losses, but considerable civilian casualties). Airfield at Pancevo hit (little damage) and the airfield at Zemun (2 aircraft totally destroyed, 3 damaged, runway and taxiway damaged). Additional damage report: 3 aircraft destroyed at Zemun airfield, repair shops 50% destroyed and hangars damaged. In Belgrade, 13 German and 318 Serbian dead, great damage to buildings in city center. At Pancevo airfield, runway damaged, 2 aircraft totally destroyed.
Own Luftwaffe: Schlachtfl. employment in Croatia with weaker forces.
Fighters shot down 10 enemy ale plus 3 probables, while Flak shot down another 4. 1 Ju 52 with 17 men aboard was shot down by an Allied escort fighter.
(OBSO daily report 17.4.44)
Allied fighters strafed Uljan, 2 men badly wounded. (T-314:562/397).

"15th AF B-17s bombed industrial targets, airfields and an aircraft factory in the Belgrade area." (Rust)


17 April 1944
Renewed attack on Belgrade (17.4.44), by approx. 300 4-engine a/c. Rail lines and bridges (great damage to the marshalling yard, railway bridge over the Sava damaged, heavy damage to buildings in city center). Estimate of attacking aircraft later increased to 530 bombers and escort fighters. Zemun airfield was also hit again during this raid, with heavy damage.
Fighter-bombers attacked Rogaz Bay destroying 1 boat and damaging 2 others. In another F-B attack on the Split R-R station, 4 men were wounded.
10 F-Bs attacked Knin destroying barracks and damaging headquarters buildings. 3 trucks were destroyed. (314:562/403)
Own Luftwaffe: stronger Schlachtfl. employment against Partisans in Croatia. 1 Allied a/c certain and 3 probables shot down by fighters over Bulgaria. (OBSO daily report 18.4.44)

"15th AF B-24s bombed the marshalling yard at Sofia, while B-17s bombed industrial targets, airfields and the marshalling yard at Belgrade." (Rust)
During the 15th AF attack on Belgrade, 325th Fighter Group flew escort with 38 P-47s. Lt. Emmons shot down two aircraft (type not given) bringing his score to 8, while Lt. G.B. Edwards and F/o p.J. Kastner each downed a Bf 109. One further enemy ale was claimed as "probable". The Group lost no aircraft. (Checkertail, p.45).

For the other details such as primary target, number of bombs dropped, raid assessment/after action reports, post-strike reconnaissance photos, etc., you will have to get that from the 15th AAF records at AFHRA Maxwell.

L.

[tegbridges]

Thank you for taking the time to help, Larry. I appreciate it. What is "Rust" and what is "Checkertail"?

Thanks, Tyler

[Larry deZeng]

Two books that have a brief mention of the Belgrade missions:

McDowell, Earnest R. and William N. Hess. Checkertail Clan: The 325th Fighter Group in North Africa and Italy. Fallbrook (CA): Aero Publishers, 1969. Card cover. 98p. Heavily illustrated. Rosters and mission lists. Index.

Rust, Kenn C. Fifteenth Air Force Story: …in World War II. Temple City (CA): Historical Aviation Album, 1976. ISBN: 911852-79-4. Card cover. 64p. Heavily illustrated.

L.

[tegbridges]

Thanks again, Larry!
Tyler

[ChristianK]

Hi Tyler, attached are some additional statistics from "Bombing the European Axis Powers" by Richard G. Davis. I guess you can use them.

Regards,
Christian

[Schenck]

Attacks of 16/17 April 1944 (source MAAF and MASAF summaries):

16 April 1944
Zemun a/d was attacked by 66 aircraft from 451st and 461st BG and 30 B-17s from 97th BG. Of those, 32 B-24s and one B-17 returned early, 28 B-24s dropped 5140 x 20 lb fragmentation bombs at 11.20 from 19500/21000 ft, while 27 B-17s dropped 81 tons of 500lb bombs at 12.19pm from 19800 ft.

17 April 1944
There were four attacks on targets in Belgrade area on this date.

• Sava M/Y was bombed by 132 aircraft from 2nd, 301st, 463rd, 483rd BG, seven aircraft returned early,in all dropped 373.25 tons of GP bombs at 11.56/12.05 from 18000/25700 ft

• Belgrade Rogzarski a/d and a/c factory: 27 aircraft from 97th BG dropped 81 t (500lb RDX) at 12.06 from 21500 ft:

• Belgrade Icarus a/c factory: 34 B-17s from 99th BG, one returned early, dropped 98.75 of 500lb RDX bombs at 12.17pm from 18000/20000 ft

• Belgrade Zemun a/d: 107 B-24s from 451st, 461st and 460th BG, eight returned early, one aircraft joined up for Sofia attack, 64 aircraft encountered overcast and returned to base. Remaining 34 aircraft from 451st BG dropped 7925 20lb fragmentation bombs at 13.13 from 20000/23000 ft. Two Bf 109s seen over target, but not attacked. One B-24 lost to flak at Mostar.

I presume civilan targets were hit during attacks on Sava M/Y and Rogzarski factory.

[Larry deZeng]

Good stuff, Schenck. Are those from CDs obtained from AFHRA Maxwell and if so, which ones? Did you come across any after action damage assessment reports obtained by photo recce aircraft?

L.

[Kutscha]

have you tried, http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii...ml/Apr.44.html

[Schenck]

There are all from NA @ Kew. All in AIR23 series, MAAF summaries are presented in monthly books, while MASAF in bimonhtly folders. I am not sure about specific recce target assessment, but I would think there are some. I know there are reports taken from recce missions of all enemy airfields with the given type and number of all aircraft observed.