668th Bomb Squadron (L)
HISTORY
668th Squadron History (pdf file download)
by Sgt. Wayne Williams and Cpl. Schier as compiled by Lt. Col. Chester C. Wysocki
transcribed in digital format by Jane Enman
Transcription from USAF Archives
(partial)
April 1945
Strength: as of 30 April 1945, total strength was 48 Commissioned Officers and 276 Enlisted Men.
Change of Station: No change of Station.
Losses in Action: See Narrative.
Narrative of operations and Incidents:
During all of April, the Allied Armies moved rapidly across Germany in pursuit of the beaten and routed Wehrmacht. Assistance was sporadic and ineffective. But if the task of the ground forces proved far lighter than in the assaults of last winter against heavily defended positions, the first and final stages of the European war posed for Medium Bombardment Groups at least one problem that we had not previously encountered. The bomb-line, travelling eastward across the Reich with our onward marching armies, moved in some sectors far beyond the effective range of A-26's based at Laon. Fortunately with the general weakening of resistance in Germany, anti-aircraft defense of military targets became meager and ineffective; and it was therefore possible to fly at lessened speeds and lower altitude without unduly exposing to risk our planes and combat crews. Accordingly, the combat range of the aircraft was augmented by flying with a throttle setting which employed a more economical fuel-air ratio. Five-hour missions into the heart of Austria or Czechoslovakia became almost routine occurrence. The longest combat mission flown by the Group was very slightly less than 1,000 miles round trip.
The disintegration of effective German resistance is evidenced by the fact that in twenty-four missions flown during April, the Squadron suffered no combat losses whatever. Our only casualties, ironically enough, occurred as the result of one of the last sorties flown by the expiring Luftwaffe on 17 April, against the spearhead element of a 3rd Army column advancing on Billingslebe. First Lieutenant James H. Carver (pilot), Ffc. Forest C. Brown (armorer), S/Sgt. Nathan M. Graham Jr. (aerial gunner), and S/Sgt. Carl Valentine (crew chief), on detached service with a Third Army combat team, were accompanying the convoy in a jeep. German fighters, coming in on the deck, strafed the column and dropped fragmentation bombs. Lt. Carver and Pfc. Brown received slight scalp wounds. S/Sgt. Graham suffered a punctured eardrum and lacerations of the right hand. S/Sgt. Valentine sustained serious shrapnel wounds of the right leg and was transferred to a General Hospital. The other three injured men were returned to the unit.
On 23 April, 1st Lt. James K. Colquitt and James H. Montrose were transferred to the Zone of the Interior on 25 April, upon completion of their combat tours.
Our pilot-bombardier teams continued to hit the assigned targets, inflicting damage upon the enemy's remaining communications centers and storage dumps, which materially hastened the final victory. On 11 April, Major McNulty and Lt. Powell scored a "superior" in an attack on Gernburg Marshalling Yard. The following day, Lt. Paul E. Parker and Lt. Robert Shaft led a flight against a rail bridge at Hof, also with "superior" results. On 20 April the bombing of the flight led by Lt. William Laseter and Lt. Mark P. Schlefer on Deggendorf Oil Storage Depot rated a "Superior". On 21 April the team of Captain Evans and Lt. McCartney continued its excellent combat record with a "Superior" for the bombing of Attnung-Pacheim Marshalling Yard.