Plauen — Cellulose Plant

Mission Narrative

On March 26, 1945, the 351st returned to Plauen to attack the Vomag Machinenfabrik A.G. — a factory producing military vehicles including tank destroyers (Jagdpanzer). The Group was part of a 1,102-bomber effort targeting oil, industrial, and transportation targets across eastern Germany. Armed with fragmentation cluster bombs, the B-17s climbed to 23,000 feet for the long flight eastward.

Mother Nature proved a more formidable adversary than the Luftwaffe. Severe turbulence at altitude and massive cumulus formations repeatedly forced the formation off its briefed course, making assembly and station-keeping extremely difficult. The high squadron managed to place a few hits in the target area, but the low squadron's bombs fell approximately 1,500 yards short, striking the southern portion of the city instead. No flak was encountered at the target itself, and no enemy fighters appeared. The mission took over 10 hours — takeoff at 0850, landing at 1900.

This was Carl's thirty-first mission — one mission from completing his combat tour.

Strategic Context

By late March 1945, the end of the war was clearly in sight. Allied armies east of the Rhine were advancing rapidly against crumbling German resistance. The Ruhr industrial region was being encircled, and hundreds of thousands of German soldiers would soon surrender in the Ruhr Pocket. On the Eastern Front, Soviet forces were closing on Berlin. The strategic bombing campaign had accomplished its primary objectives — Germany's oil production was destroyed, its transportation paralyzed, and its industrial capacity crippled.