Official Description

Mission 886: 1,262 bombers and 804 fighters are dispatched to hit oil, rail and industrial targets in Germany; they claim 17-0-1 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air; 3 B-17s and 2 fighters are lost: 1. 526 B-17s are sent to hit oil refineries at Nienhagen (58) and Misburg (56), the Gebruder munitions plant (75) and Maschnbau (61) and Eisenwerke (74) factories at Hannover and the Seelze marshalling yard (80); secondary targets hit are Osnabruck (29) and the marshalling yard at Hannover; attacks were made visually and with H2X radar; 2 B-17s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 188 damaged; 3 airmen are KIA, 6 WIA and 19 MIA. 192 of 204 P-51s escort; 2 are damaged. 2. 449 B-17s are dispatched to hit the bridges at Vlotho (72) and Bad Ostenhausen (114), the marshalling yard and road junction at Lohne (144) and industrial plants at Hildesheim (60); 39 hit Osnabruck, a secondary target; targets of opportunity are the marshalling yards at Hameln (12) and Wetzlar (1) and Diemonde (1); all but one target is bombed visually; 1 B-17 is lost and 56 damaged; 1 airman is WIA and 9 MIA. Escorting are 182 of 194 P-51s; they claim 1-0-1 aircraft. 3. 272 B-24s are sent to hit the marshalling yards at Holzwickede (31) and Gutersloh (126); 110 others hit the secondary target, the marshalling yard at Giessen; attacks are made visually and with H2X radar; 4 B-24s are damaged; 1 airman is KIA and 5 WIA. The escort is 185 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 3-0-0 aircraft; 1 P-47 is lost (pilot MIA). 4. 6 B-17s fly a screening mission without loss. 5. 29 of 33 P-41s escort Ninth AF bombers. 6. 50 P-51s fly a sweep of the Stein-Huder-Kassel area claiming 11-0-0 aircraft without loss. 7. 82 P-51s fly a sweep over the Remagen bridgehead; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA) and 1 damaged beyond repair. 8. 20 P-51s escort 33 F-5s and 3 Spitfires on photo reconnaissance missions over Germany and Czechoslovakia. 9. 26 of 27 P-51s fly a scouting mission claiming 1-0-0 aircraft.

Description

"1,250 Heavies Strike Tanks, Gun Factories Near Hanover"

"The 8th Air Force swung back into the attack yesterday after a one-day lull, when 1,250 Fortresses and Liberators shook naval, industrial and communication targets from the Dutch coast south to Giessen, 45 miles east of the Remagen bridgehead"

"The bulk of the 8th's bombing was done in the hanover area. Two tank plants and a factory making half-tracks and self-propelled guns were hit in the city itself and at Hildesheim, less than 20 miles south of the city, a large castings plant was rocked."

"Other target in the area were oil refineries at Misburg and Nienhagen; marshalling yards at Seeize, and rail bridges across the Weser River at Vlotho and Bad Oyenhausen."

"Some of the Mustags of the 650 escorting fighters ran into a group of 20 Luftwaffe planes apparently headed to attack the heavies, but cut them off before they could reach the bomber formations. Several were shot down, but the exact score was not revealed last night".

-Unknown Newspaper Articles, The day after event(s)