401st Bomb Group, Mission No. 189, 1 Jan 1945, Kassel, Germany. Briefing took place at 0450 hours, and by 0834 hours all operational aircraft were airborne. The two spares returned early as planned. By 1704 hours all but one operational aircraft had returned safely. That aircraft was thought to have landed in France. This was the sixth consecutive mission flown by the Group without a stand down. The three squadrons put up by the 401st made up the 94th Combat Wing "C" Group. Because the primary target, oil storage facilities at Derben, Germany, was obscured by clouds, the High and Low squadrons bombed Kassel by PFF (radar) techniques, with unobserved results. After attempting without success to make a visual run on the principal target, the Lead Squadron bombed railway yards at Els, Germany, by PFF, with strikes observed within the city. Flak was moderate, and 22 Group aircraft suffered minor battle damage. When the aircraft piloted by Captain E. W. Coleman was hit by flak, he was wounded in the leg by a piece of shrapnel and was forced to land in Belgium. His plane was badly damaged and was abandoned on the Continent. No enemy aircraft were encountered, as the Luftwaffe on this day made a last concerted effort to destroy Allied aircraft on the ground at their bases on the Continent. While this effort was successful in damaging many Allied aircraft, it resulted in the loss of many more German aircraft and pilots.