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A Rough Mission
"A bomb run over the 500 plus heavy anti-aircraft guns of Vienna in November and December of 1944 resulted in a lifetime of excitement for the crew members, and for some it was an eternity." -RWR- 13 May 1997
This was received in an email on December 11, 1999, from Bob Reichard: "Lets set the calendar back fifty-five years today. Ride along with crew #6459 on their mission today:"
A ROUGH MISSION w/745th Bomb Sqdn - 11 Dec 1944
The charge of quarters woke us in our tent long before daybreak. It was a cold morning in southern Italy. We dressed and had breakfast, which was probably dehydrated eggs. Then we boarded an open army truck and headed to the 456Th Bomb Gp Hq for our briefing. This was my third mission and the other two had been rough. We entered the briefing room and the silence told me the target was a tough one. I looked at the briefing map and the course line was headed to Wien (Vienna). I thought, my God, not there again. My first mission had been to the same city, but the target was different. Today it was the southwest marshaling yard (train staging area). We received our briefing and were told what the enemy opposition would be and since the German Army was pulling back, the closest count of anti-aircraft artillery heavy guns was 500 plus. Finally we were airborne and the group was formed and we were following the direction of the line indicated in the briefing. There were thirty B-24 (Liberator) bombers, which included those who would return early for mechanical reasons. Seven planes were assigned to each of the four boxes with the extras filling vacant positions. Number one plane was the lead of each box, with number two to the right and slightly to the rear of number one. Number three was in the same relative position, but to the left of number one. Number four was lower and directly behind number one with number five to the right and behind, and number six was in the same relative position, but on the left side of number four, and so on.
We followed the Adriatic Sea north to avoid land based anti-aircraft artillery, gaining altitude to cross the Alps, which was a formidable barrier. After land-fall, one of the group radio operators, who monitored German air traffic, relayed the message that 12 squadrons were ordered to intercept us. We were one of many groups, headed north so the word "us" was all encompassing. Prior to the target the German pilots were engaged by our escort fighters and we proceeded without opposition. That course line, on the briefing chart, which we were flying, came to the initial point and there we turned from a deceptive direction, directly toward our target. This point was usually about 30 miles from the target. For that 30 miles we would head toward the target without veering away from it. The same altitude and airspeed were maintained, regardless of the cost. There had to be a stable platform, so the lead bombardier could give the Norden bombsight a chance to do the upmost damage. The flak was heavy, actually cutting out the sunlight as we entered the area where they were exploding. If the shell was close by when it burst, you could see the initial fire of the shell exploding and then came the smoke. I watched it come ever closer until I realized the next one would do the trick, but that one didn't come.
We were taking hits and one actually sounded as if we had been hit by a truck. Bombs away! I talked myself into crawling forward, on my belly, to look back and see the bombs hit. This wasn't necessary because photos were being taken. By doing so I probably saved my life. I had been in the kneeling position and had I remained there, the piece of flak, which entered the front glass would have caught me on the head or chest. After that hit the plane fell from 26,500 feet. I thought the pilot and co-pilot had been killed by the hit. I got up and tried to use the intercom, but it wouldn't work. I got the attention of the nose gunner and he tried, but shook his head, no. I watched the altimeter unwind as we fell. There was a small opening between us and the pilot's compartment and I could see that the pilot's and co-pilot's feet were still on the rudder bar and they were moving, so I knew they were alive. I didn't know that one of the engines had been on fire and they had put it out by diving. We stabilized at about 15000 feet. The upper turret gunner had been knocked out of his turret by a piece of flak which had penetrated the azimuth ring, and that caused it to slow down before it entered the rubber gasket of his helmet. The blow actually knocked him out of the turret and the piece of flak stuck in the gasket leaving him with a bruised cheek. No one was injured, but a later check would show the plane had 34 holes. When we leveled off we were still in sight of Vienna and all alone. The pilot tried to use the radio to call for fighter protection, but it was knocked out. He was trying to maintain altitude, but was losing ground. He gave the command to lighten the aircraft and everything of weight, which hadn't been nailed down went, except our parachutes. The navigator was asked to set a course for Vis Island, in the Dalmatian Group off the coast of Yugoslavia. He set the course against great odds; he was suffering a great discomfort, because he had crapped in his pants during the action. The crash strip was only 3500 feet long and was made of interlocked metal airstrip material. We made it, but the brakes were out, so we had repositioned parachutes on each side of the plane fastened to the waist gun mounts. At touchdown the pilot rang the bail-out bell and we deployed the chutes, which acted as air brakes. We spent six days there with the Partisans and a dozen Americans who were assigned there. The story of Vis Island is another story I will write later. RWR - 24 Dec 92 (webmaster's note: the story was written ~ see Vis Island).
Update: Information found in the 456th History Book, released in 1994, indicated the following: Twenty-five B-24 bombers of the Group made it to the target. Four of the bombers were lost on the mission. Forty airmen would be listed as MIA. Some made it to the ground by parachute and if they survived their wounds and their time in a POW camp, they would be freed as the Russians advanced. Some would die of their wounds or were killed outright by flak or would die in their planes as they fell to earth. A few would ride their bombers as long as they could and would then bail out into friendly hands. There was no accounting in the book as to the KIA & MIA for the individual targets. The book listed 208 MIA and 325 KIA for a total of 533 who paid the supreme sacrifice. A heavy toll for a group. I would learn that my pilot's body was found, so his status went from MIA to KIA, so after all these years I could put him to rest in my mind. RWR - 18 Dec 1994
Update #2: ...the will to survive is a very strong force even if the odds aren't in your favor. What I missed in the stories about that day, was the fact the crew was even cutting the oxygen bottles from their position in the waist with a crash hatchet. When we removed the .50 cal bullets from the tail guns we fed them out the camera hatch. A big mistake, because we fed out the long, long belt instead of throwing it in one big mass. As a result when the end was going out it whipped forward and could have taken anyones head off who was in its way and the impact with the deck could have fired one or more cartridges. We were lucky. RWR-12/12/99