Plauen — Secondary Target

Mission Narrative

On February 23, the day after Operation Clarion, the 351st was airborne again — the third consecutive day of missions in what had become the most intense period of Carl's combat tour. The assigned primary target could not be attacked, and the group diverted to the secondary target at Plauen, a town in Saxony near the Czechoslovak border.

Plauen was a manufacturing center with rail connections and industrial facilities. Like many secondary targets, it received less attention in historical accounts but was part of the systematic destruction of Germany's transportation and industrial infrastructure. Three missions in three days was an exhausting pace, testing the endurance of both crews and ground personnel at Polebrook.

Carl would return to Plauen for another mission a month later, on March 26.

Strategic Context

February 23, 1945, was also the day Operation Grenade launched — the U.S. Ninth Army's crossing of the Roer River, which had been delayed for two weeks by German flooding of the upstream dams. The 8th Air Force's continued strikes on transportation targets directly supported this ground operation by preventing the Germans from moving reserves to counter the crossing. The war was now approaching its climax on all fronts.