Pic of the Day: The 8th Air Force Helps Ring in the New Year – 1944

The folks in Paris rang in the new year of 1944 with a bang (more like a series of loud booms) thanks to the US Eighth Air Force.

One of the more ironic facts of war is that sometimes you have to bomb something to liberate it. Such was the case with part of France in 1943.

The Denazification of Paris

During a pivotal World War II aerial operation, fleets of B-17 Flying Fortresses from the 390th Bomb Group, part of the 13th Bomb Wing, 8th Air Force, embarked on a critical bombardment mission. Their target was the key industrial sites in Bois Colombes, just outside Paris, specifically the Hispano-Suiza engine production facility and the Compagnie d’Applications Mécaniques (CAM), a significant ball bearing manufacturer. Concurrently, additional B-17 units focused their attack on the CAM site located in Ivry-Sur-Seine, Southeast of Paris. In a concentrated effort between 1207 and 1227 hours, 120 out of the 125 dispatched B-17s successfully pummeled the industrial zones with 500-pound (227-kilogram) bombs. The assault, while largely successful, resulted in one B-17 lost and another irreparably damaged, with 49 sustaining various degrees of damage. The human cost included two injuries and ten personnel missing in action.

This massive operation was protected by a diverse escort fleet comprising 74 P-38s, 441 P-47s, and 33 P-51s from the Ninth Air Force, engaging in fierce aerial battles with the Luftwaffe. The allied forces claimed nine enemy aircraft destroyed, with additional probable and damaged aircraft. The mission wasn’t without its losses; one P-38, two P-47s, and one P-51 were lost, with several more damaged, some beyond repair. The human toll for the escorts included three wounded and two missing in action.

The Hispano-Suiza and CAM facilities had been coerced into manufacturing for the Luftwaffe, converting operations from civilian to military aircraft production. The first significant disruption to their operations came with a bombing on September 15, 1943, which devastated the metal hardening section of the plant. Post-attack, the production saw a relocation of ball bearing finishing to mushroom caves near Taverny, a costly and labor-intensive move. The engine casings had to be sourced from as far as the Pyrenees, a challenging feat given the damaged transportation network preceding Operation Overlord. By the time Paris was liberated in August 1944, numerous completed engines destined for the Luftwaffe were discovered at the Hispano-Suiza plant, stranded without means of transportation.