On this day in military history…
On 30 December 1943 the United States Army Air Forces’ 392nd Bombardment Group (Heavy) flew a daylight bombing mission against Ludwigshafen am Rhein, striking one of the most important industrial targets in south-west Germany. The group was equipped with Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers and operated from RAF Wendling in Norfolk, the most northerly American heavy-bomber base in East Anglia. From this airfield the Liberators climbed out into the winter sky and joined the bomber stream heading for the upper Rhine.
Ludwigshafen was selected because it formed part of the vast Ludwigshafen–Mannheim industrial complex, a centre of German chemical production. The city was dominated by the enormous BASF works, which during the war operated within the I.G. Farben system. Chemical plants such as those at Ludwigshafen were of high strategic value to the Allied bombing campaign because they supported the German war economy through the production of fuels, synthetic materials, explosives precursors and other essential industrial chemicals. Disrupting output at Ludwigshafen was therefore intended to weaken Germany’s ability to sustain prolonged military operations.
For this particular operation, recorded by the 392nd as one of its late-1943 combat missions, twenty-five B-24 Liberators were dispatched. Two aircraft were forced to abort before reaching the target due to mechanical problems, leaving twenty-three bombers to carry out the attack. The group flew in formation with the 576th Bomb Squadron leading. Weather over the target area was poor, with cloud obscuring aiming points, so the group employed radar bombing techniques rather than purely visual aiming.
The 392nd Bomb Group was under the command of Colonel Irvine R. Rendle at the time, making him the senior officer responsible for the operation at group level. Within the air formation itself, the lead aircraft of the mission carried a designated command pilot, with a senior officer acting as the airborne mission commander to control the group during the attack run and withdrawal.
Enemy opposition was heavy. The Ludwigshafen–Mannheim area was protected by dense anti-aircraft defences, and German fighters rose to challenge the bombers as they approached and withdrew from the target. Reports from the group described repeated fighter attacks by both single-engine and twin-engine aircraft. Despite this, no Liberators from the 392nd were confirmed lost to enemy fighters during the engagement. Anti-aircraft fire, however, caused significant damage, and several aircraft returned to England with flak holes and structural damage.
One B-24 failed to return from the mission. The aircraft, from the 578th Bomb Squadron and flying only its second combat sortie, was believed to have been badly damaged, most likely by flak near the target. After dropping out of formation with engine trouble, the crew attempted to nurse the bomber westward. As systems failed and the aircraft began to lose control, the crew were ordered to bail out. Some members were captured and became prisoners of war, while others managed to evade capture and eventually returned to Allied lines. The loss underscored the vulnerability of even well-escorted bomber formations over heavily defended industrial regions.
In total, the 392nd Bomb Group dropped 1,211 individual 100-pound bombs on the Ludwigshafen target area, amounting to just over 121,000 pounds of high explosive. Mission duration was long, approximately eight hours and fifteen minutes from take-off to landing, reflecting the distance from East Anglia to the upper Rhine and the time spent assembling, flying the combat route, and returning under winter conditions.
In operational terms the mission was considered a success. The majority of the group reached the target and released their bomb loads, recorded results were judged good despite the reliance on radar bombing, and most crews returned safely to RAF Wendling. At the same time, the loss of one aircraft and the widespread flak damage to others highlighted the continuing cost of attacking Germany’s most valuable industrial targets late in 1943, even as Allied air power steadily increased its pressure on the Reich.
