Loading List 1, Box I




Loading List 2, Box II
One Camera Aircraft Also Assigned To This Mission




Route Map




Primary Target area around MBS Coordinate (NGZ) rD183126
Extracted from GSGS-4416/AMS-M641 Sheet Q5 - "Nordhausen" 1:100:000 Military Topographic Map
(Downloaded from Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection - Army Map Service Topographic Map Series,
Central Europe, Series M641, 1:100,000, U.S. Army Map Service, 1943-,
Nordhausen sheet)
(Note: This coordinate and map display represent the Primary Target Location, the Location actually attacked may differ)
(Annotated Full Map PDF)



"Stars And Stripes" article, April 9, 1945, Paris Edition
(Ancestry.com)

Included are Box, Flight and Position; Bomb Squadron; Aircraft Serial Number, Fuselage Code and Model; and Crew Members
transcribed from individual mission Loading List documents by Chris and Mary Adams and Carl Sgamboti.
Some information, such as Squadron, Serial Number, etc. has been expanded from other documents.

Group and Unit Histories

Mission # 263 -- April 8, 1945, Sunday PM
Sondershausen, Germany -- Road Junction and Built Up Area

"416th Bombardment Group (L) - Group History 1945"
Transcribed from USAF Archives

In the afternoon of the eight, the Sonderhousen road junctions on the point of the Third Army's thrust toward Leipzig were attacked. Despite heavy smoke and haze, four flights scored excellent results. A fifth flight lost the formation and later tagged onto what was thought to be our formation. It bombed with the first flight of the formation on the secondary target, Bad Frankenhousen, with unobserved results. It was not until the formation turned of the target that they could see the tail markings of the 396th Bomb Group. Unable to pick up the primary target, one other flight chose the town of Nordhausen as a casual target. It was later learned that Nordhausen had contained a large "death" camp, where the Germans had perpetrated some of their greatest crimes against the civilized world. Because of the poor visibility, bombing altitudes ranging from 4,500 feet to 9,000 feet were reported. The box leaders were Lt Brown, Lts Kerns and F.O Lehneis, B&N, and Lt Buskirk, with Lt Hanna B&N.

"Attack Bombers, We Need You! A History of the 416th Bomb Group"
Ralph Conte
Pages 248 - 249

Mission #263 - 8 April - Sondershausen Railroad Junction. This road junction was blocking the attacking Third US Army forces in their thrust toward Leipzig, so it had to be taken out. Despite heavy smoke and haze, four flights scored excellent results. A fifth flight lost the formation and later tagged on to what was thought to be our formation. It bombed with the first flight of the formation on the secondary target, Bad Frankenhousen. with unobserved results. It was not until the formation turned off the target that they could see the rail markings of the 396th Bomb Group. Unable to pick up the primary target, one other flight chose the town of Nordhausen as a casual target. It was later learned that Nordhausen had contained a large death camp, where the Germans had perpetrated some of the greatest crimes against the civilized world. Because of poor visibility, bombing altitudes ranging from 4500 to 9500 feet were reported. The box leaders were Lts. Brown and Kerns with F/O Lehneis BNs, with Lts. Buskirk and Lt. Hanna BN.

Lt. Kerns lead bombardier had a problem with his GEE equipment going into the target on the first run. The flight circled around Germany for about an hour until Lt. Kerns got the GEE stuff to start operating, so he went in and sighted the target with excellent results on the town.

"669th Bombardment Squadron (L) History"
Transcription from USAF Archives

On the afternoon of the same day, the built up area of the Town of Sondershausen was bombed. Bombing was to have been done by boxes, but Lt. Turner found it necessary to lead his flight in separately. In doing so, his flight was able to obtain excellent results. Lt. McGivern and Lt. Moore flew as Bombardier and Navigator for him. Major Sommer's flight became separated from the rest of the formation, and joined a formation of the 386th Bombardment Group (M). Lt. Turner led the Second Flight of the First Box, while Major Sommers led the Third Flight of the same Box. Lt. Kupits flew as Major Sommers' B/N.

"670th Bombardment Squadron (L) History"
Transcription from USAF Archives

Two missions were flown on 8 April 1945. The morning mission target Munchen Bernsdorf was led by Major Ferris, Lt. Royalty and Lt. McNutt with Lt. Brewster and Lt Dennis leading the second box. The results were unobserved due to smoke and flames caused by earlier bombing. This was the last mission for Lt Royalty as his tour was completed on this day. 12 aircraft of this squadron participated, which was maximum effort. 6 aircraft of this squadron took off in the afternoon mission against Sonderhausen and excellent results were determined.

"671st Bomb Squadron (L) Unit History"
Gordon Russell and Jim Kerns

April 8th, 1945

With their longest rest since the beginning of March behind them...four days, the 416th swung back into action on April 8th with two attacks against a communication and an oil storage plant. Both missions were run without loss, but smoke and haze proved to be just as bad as flak on the evening mission.

In the morning the Group hit the Munchen-Bernsdorf Oil Storage plant with very successful results. Due to heavy smoke covering the target area, the lead bombardiers in six of the seven flights estimated the DMPI and released. Violent explosions and fires resulted. Some bombs covered roads in the area, but most of the 150 GPs fell into smoke. The seventh flight misidentified the target and bombed about five miles southwest of the primary. Four groups attacked this target at 20-minute intervals starting at 9A.M. Smoke could be seen 70 miles from the target after the bombing. It is evident that the Germans suffered a complete loss of this vital storage plant. The target was located 40 miles southeast of Leipzig.

The target in the afternoon was the town of Sonderahausen. It was reported by ground forces to be a center of resistance to elements of the First

U.S.Army, fighting in the vicinity of Mulhausen. Its destruction would hamper communications in the area and would probably destroy supplies and personnel in the town. Taking off in late afternoon the formation found the target covered by haze and smoke, caused by previous bombings. Lt. Brown and Lt. Kerns were leading the first box and Lt. Buskirk and Lt.Hanna the second. Lt. Kerns led the formation to the I.P., but his Gee Box went out and he was unable to pick out the target at that time. The rest of the flights went on to the target and dropped from 4900 to 9500 feet. Almost all of the bombs fell into the city with devastating results. Lt. Kerns finally got his Gee set to function after about an hour of circling over Germany. The smoke and haze had cleared by then and he dropped his bombs with excellent results on the town. Lt. Hanna could not get a rating as the bombs fell into smoke and no bursts were visible. Of the six flights dispatched, four received an excellent rating on bombing. The crews in Lt. Brown's flight logged upward to five hours. Luckily flak was not encountered.

[April 8, 1945], HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map Map showing Western Allies and Axis troop position details in Western Europe as of approximately 1200 hours, April 8, 1945 World War II Military Situation Maps Collection Library of Congress

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