Description: 5 July 1944
The third target of the month was located in the third country in which the Group had bombed during the month of July. The target was the large Marshalling Yard at Beziers, France. The purpose in hitting this target was that of hampering the movement of two German divisions from Southwest France to the fighting front in Normandy. Photographs of this mission are most interesting. The 451st Group, which led the Wing, dropped its bombs diagonally across the target. The pictures of the 484th Group, which was second in the Wing formation, are almost identical with those of the 451st, showing that the second Group dropped practically all their bombs into the smoke started by the 451st. Pictures of the 461st, which was the last Group over the target, are practically identical with those of the 484th. Groups of the 49th Wing probably saturated this target with a higher concentration of bombs than they had done on any previous target. Later reports showed that a great deal of damage had been done. This mission was scored 45 percent. On this mission S/Sgt. Lawrence B. Custer of Lime, Ohio, the tail gunner on Lt. Aldredge's crew, became the first member of this Group to complete fifty sorties. |
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