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Posted on 06/23/2005 3:28:38 AM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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Raid on Magdeburg The curtains are pulled back, revealing a big map of Europe with red ribbons leading to our target -- the synthetic oil refineries near Magdeburg, Germany. There is a low murmur among the crew members as the target is announced....  My deep, sound sleep is disturbed by the air-raid siren. Mixed with the low moan of the siren comes the heavy rumble of many engines; Jerry is active tonight. The question now is, do I get dressed and go to the shelter or do I just stay in bed? "Nuts," I say to myself, "I guess I'll stay where I am, and at least I'll die warm." In about 30 minutes, the all-clear sounds and I'm back in dreamland. The door to the hut opens and closes quietly. The figure with the flashlight consults his clipboard and asks in a low voice, "Feldman's crew in here?" I mumble something, and he says, "You are scheduled to fly." I ask, "How is the weather?" and his reply is "Clear and cold." "What is the gas load?" "Twenty-five hundred gallons, topped off." "Thanks," I say. I realize then, given that amount of fuel, that our mission will probably involve a deep penetration into Germany. Topping off the tanks means that after the engines are run up and checked by the ground crew, they are shut down and the fuel tanks are refilled to the necks, usually giving us an additional 200 to 300 gallons of fuel. I crawl out of the old sack and put my feet on the cold concrete floor, which jars me into total consciousness. I grab some heavy socks, pull on my wool pants. Then I'm startled by a noise on the shelf above my head. I shine my flashlight at the shelf, and a pair of eyes look back at me from behind my girl's picture. It's the ferret we keep in our hut to prevent the rats from invading our quarters.  I remove my personal belongings from my pockets and place them in my footlocker, grab my toilet articles and head for the latrine. I return to the Quonset hut and grab my heavy flight jacket and mess gear; no one else on my crew is yet stirring. I walk over to the engineer's cot, pick the end up about 12 inches off the floor and let it go. It lands with a loud thud -- minor compared to the noise that comes from the engineer. I hastily retreat, followed by a verbal barrage of typical GI language. The walk to the mess hall gives me an opportunity to be alone with my thoughts. The early morning sky is filled with stars. Right now, I'm at ease and unafraid of what the day might bring. If I do not survive the day, at least I will be prepared and have all my faculties. I will not let fear enter my thoughts! I arrive at the mess hall, greeted by its familiar warm, steamy atmosphere. I stop at the coffee can, draw a cup of coffee and add powdered milk, then walk to the serving table, where the cook asks, "How do you want your eggs?" with a big grin on his Irish kisser. I laugh at him and say, "Sunny side up with bacon and toast." I hold out my metal plate and he places on it three fresh eggs, fried as I requested, with bacon and toast. I am so amazed that I almost drop the plate. Still muttering in disbelief, I sit down and enjoy the best breakfast I've had in months. Boy, what a morale booster! I even have applesauce on my toast.  Content and warm, with my stomach full, I amble outside to wash my mess gear. There's still no sign of the rest of the crew. Oh, well, it's not my rear end that's going to get chewed if they are late for the briefing. I take a bus to the flight building, where I go directly to the equipment room, get my electric heated suit and return to where my flight gear is stored. I get dressed and go to the briefing room and take a seat with the navigator. "Ten-hut!" comes the call, and everyone pops to attention. The commanding officer enters with the briefing officer. "As you were," he says and turns the meeting over to the intelligence officer. The curtains are pulled back, revealing a big map of Europe with red ribbons leading to our target -- the synthetic oil refineries near Magdeburg, Germany. There is a low murmur among the crew members as the target is announced. We are briefed on where to expect the heavy flak and possible fighter opposition, also the altitude from which we are expected to drop our bombs. Then the weather officer takes over, a close friend of mine. I often kid him about how accurate his reports are. He is right 50 percent of the time. I call him Lieutenant Maybe. Today he says the target area will be under clouds and we probably will not be able to drop our bombs visually. Once the briefing is over, I get my first-aid boxes and radio logs with my assigned frequencies. I also pick up my escape kit and maps. The navigator and I are standing together, waiting for transportation to the plane, when two enlisted flight personnel come up to us and introduce themselves. It turns out that today we are flying in the lead group, not in the capacity of a lead crew but in a special plane, a Consolidated B-24 with a ball turret and a radar set -- called a "Mickey set" -- that is used for bombing in bad weather. The aircraft will be heavier because of the additional gear, the ball turret and the two extra crew members.  A radar, or "Micky" ship. The ball turret has been replaced with a radar dome. The radar allowed the lead ship to find the target even in heavy overcast. About that time, the rest of the crew shows up and we catch a truck out to the plane. The B-24J -- a plane that I'm not familiar with -- is equipped with several other goodies, such as a formation stick that enables the pilot to fly the plane with his left hand. This control is hooked into the C-1 autopilot. Earlier in the European theater, quite a few B-24s had ball turrets, but as enemy fighter attacks dwindled, the turrets were removed. Now Jerry is beginning to attack from below once again, so the turrets have been reinstalled in selected planes. As a result, we have 12 men in our crew on this mission. We arrive at the plane at 5:30 a.m., with a scheduled time of 6 to start our engines and 6:30 for departure. I stoop down low under the bomb doors next to the catwalk and heave my parachute and gear up on the flight deck, then kneel in front of the auxiliary power plant (APU), turn on the fuel and hit the starter button. The APU shudders a few times and comes to life. Lights began to appear in the aircraft as the co-pilot turns on the master switch. I verify that the auxiliary hydraulic pump is on. The plane quickly becomes a beehive of activity, with many checkouts going on all at once.
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Good morning, Foxhole! Great read as always. Hope you are off to a great start today!
20 years of schoolin' and they put ya on the day shift bump for the Freeper Foxhole.
Back to work go I must, more when I get home tonight
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Many thanks..probably catch you all tonight...I'll look for the ping..
Good morning Gail. First in! Up early for work?
Good morning feather.
Good morning Mayor.
LOL. Well when the story isn't posted til 3 a.m. PT what's a girl to do? Gotta sleep some time.
LOL. Sam forgot to wake me at 3 a.m. to tell me he posted. Good thing.
((Hugs)). Good morning EGC.
LOL! Just doesn't have the same charm. :-)
Morning Snippy
Great bit of history here!
050620-N-6495K-005 Atlantic Ocean (June 20, 2005) – The guided missile destroyer USS Ramage (DDG 61) departs Naval Station Norfolk along with other ships assigned to the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group for scheduled underway operations. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) is currently at sea conducting routine carrier qualifications. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Kathaleen A. Knowles (RELEASED)
050622-N-1397H-004 Pacific Ocean (June 22, 2005) – U.S. Marines assigned to 3rd Amphibious Assault Battalion practice room-clearing techniques aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5) as part of Enhanced Marksmanship Program (EMP) training. Marines conduct EMP training to become proficient wartime fighters in urban combat situations. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Prince A. Hughes III (RELEASED)
050620-N-5345W-006 Atlantic Ocean (June 20, 2005) - Sailors assigned to the security force aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) stand a flight deck security watch as Truman gets underway from Naval Station Norfolk. Truman is currently at sea conducting routine carrier qualifications. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Kristopher Wilson (RELEASED)
It was no secret that before WW2 the Germans were working on high energy fuels, explosives and rockets. The first reports started at the end of 1939. One was an anonymous letter to the British Naval Attaché in Oslo stating that the Germans were working on radio controlled flying bombs on the Baltic coast. Another was from the Polish Underground Army Intelligence saying that the Germans had set up a highly secret operation on a remote Baltic island, Usedom, and in the town of Peenemunde. In spite of this information the British scientists believed that there were no high energy fuels and high temperature materials available that would permit such weapons and, as a result, the reports were shelved.
One person who did take this information and threat seriously was R. V. Jones, the British Government Scientific Advisor. Knowing the reputation of Bletchley Park, he went there and briefed the intelligence section on the subject and asked for any Enigma intercepts that might throw light on the subject. Knowing the subject, they could now extract the pertinent information from many received and decrypted messages. One such superficially unimportant message, which had been previously decrypted and catalogued, concerned a German NCO from an Experimental Unit supporting beam bomber operation against Britain, who had been reassigned to Peenemunde. This was a very important and reliable confirmation of previous reports. A month after R. V. Jones' visit alerted Bletchley Park, intercepted messages indicated that the Germans were plotting the paths of flying objects over the Baltic Sea.
From the numerous data the British extrapolated the launch pad to be at Peenemunde. Further, the messages on missile tracking revealed its speed, flying height, and range. The final convincing argument came from an Enigma intercept that a special anti-aircraft unit was ordered for a location on the Baltic coast. Armed with that information R. V. Jones was able to make a presentation indicating the reliability of his data and accuracy of the weapon description. A few days later, an air reconnaissance mission brought photographs of Peenemunde showing a V1 on a launch pad and removing any remaining doubts about the purpose of this weapon. Due to the serious threat, that these weapons posed to Britain a massive air raid on Peenemunde, consisting of 600 heavy bombers, was ordered in August 1943. It was planned in absolute secrecy and even the bombing crews did not know what they were bombing. To achieve a total surprise a detachment of Mosquitoes was sent to Berlin to decoy German fighters from Peenemunde. The raid was led and controlled by Pathfinders who marked the target with coloured flares. As a result 130 German scientists and 600 foreign workers were killed and numerous sites levelled.
This action delayed experimentation and production by at least six months and eventually forced the Germans to move the operation to southeastern Poland, out of range of the Allied bombers. The British realising that the threat was imminent ordered massive bombing of V1 launch ramps found in France and on any suspected manufacturing plants. They also ordered an all out effort to obtain intelligence information on V1 and V2 rockets.
Polish intelligence operating in Poland was best equipped to do this. They were able to penetrate German security and recruit a worker to report on flying bomb construction, weight, type of engine, launch ramp construction and layout of Peenemunde buildings. Also a separate activity pertaining to the V2s that were landing in southeastern Poland was started. With a very large network of observers and strategically located couriers they were able to locate the V2 drop sites and collect the remaining parts before the Germans were able to do so.
On May 20th, 1944 they beat the Germans to some rather well preserved V2 remains, which they dumped into the nearby Bug river for later recovery. After collecting all the sighting and technical data they wrote a report that contained the following intelligence information:
General description of V2
Detailed technical description and operation of many internal units
Drawings of the launch sites and buildings at Blizna, number of launches and locations where the rockets landed
Names of German plants involved in manufacturing of the V2
Eighty photographs of various V2 parts
Twenty-five drawings of internal parts that could not be photographed.
Arrangements were made to send a DC3 Dakota plane to a landing site in Poland to pick up the report, the V2 parts and the intelligence man responsible for V2 intelligence gathering in Poland. It almost ended in total disaster as the aircraft wheels sank in the rain soaked landing field. It took over an hour to dislodge them so the aircraft could take off. All together more than 400 partisans took part in this landing operation and in securing the area against German attack. More than 140 partisans lost their lives in the V1 and V2 operations. Of more than 10,000 V1 launched, 7488 reached England, 3957 were destroyed and only 3531 reached London. More than six thousand civilians were killed and eighteen thousand were wounded. The 1150 V2 that landed in London killed 2,742 civilians and wounded 6467. The total property damage was 23,000 houses totally destroyed and 100,000 damaged while the RAF lost 490 aircraft.
Had not R. V. Jones believed in Bletchley Park the British would have found themselves being attacked by a very large number of V1 and V2. This would have caused major civilian and military losses and disruption of the invasion of the Continent. The day before the invasion Bletchley Park was on full alert to listen for and decrypt German Enigma messages for any hints that the Germans knew of the impending invasion. There was no sign of it until early in the morning of 6th June when an order was given to attack landing craft. This was too late to be of any use to the Germans. Both the Prime Minister and the Allied Commanders were briefed on the status of German Command orders.
Personally, I don't begrudge all the comforts they got, like eggs to order and hot showers, given the terrible odds they willingly faced.
Yes I get up at 5:30 when I have to work..next day off is Sunday...I will finally get to go to church for the first time in weeks.
Compared to the normal run to Maglenburg, that one was a "milk run". Glad they finally got to have a "easy" one.
Y'all have a nice night ya 'ere
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
WOO HOO nice plane.
A formation of 3 B-24s in Europe I believe.
To help the units form up for the journey to Germany many Groups used "Formation Ships". Thes were usually a ship that was pretty well worn out for combat duty but was still flyable. Typically formation ship were painted some "distinctive" paint sheme to enable the groups plane to easily spot the formation ship. An example of one is below.
A sterling example of GI ingenuity, or what to do if your hydraulics are shot out!
And finally a low pass by the Collins Foundation B-24. Man would I like to have seen that.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
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