323rd Bombardment Group, June 10, 1944 Clecy and Cerisy Forest Footage

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=B-26+Marauder&vid=c0962bdaf4b51047e28f8221763bfa77&turl=http%3A%2F%2Ftse3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOVP.Ve14c8e1ef0f871f81e3f55a3fc6a9215%26pid%3D15.1%26h%3D200%26w%3D300%26c%3D7%26rs%3D1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DLVvQTwyQY4w&tit=B-26+Marauder+-+323rd+Bombardment+Group+-+07%2F06%2F1944+-+DDay-Overlord&c=17&sigr=11bq58nib&sigt=124pd4unl&sigi=131j5rj1r&ct=p&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&b=61&fr=ipad

The link above should load footage that has been captioned "323rd Bomb Group June 6, 1944." I'm hoping someone will recognize and be able to identify the target area.

Although the footage reflects a mission that doesn't look like it went as planed (i.e., not the 323rd's finest hour), it shows how the mission unfolded as the aircrews tried to slow the flow of German reinforcements by taking out roads and bridges leading to the front.

First, the caption date could be wrong.

The 323rd flew four missions on D-Day: Beau Guillot BD, Madeline BD, St. Martin de Varreville and Caen RJ. The first three missions, three boxes of 18 aircraft each, were to be over their targets and release ordinance between 0605 and 0624 hours, just before the Allied troops came ashore on Utah Beach. The forth mission, three boxes of 12 aircraft each, to a road junction near Caen, took off from Earls Colne Airfield at 1430 hours.

As you can see from the footage, landing craft are already ashore and the invasion is underway. Therefore, it stands to reason that if this footage is of the Caen RJ mission if it was shot on June 6, 1944 as the caption suggests. It appears that one of the aircraft in the footage has the radio call sign "WT-A" probably belonging to Ole 33 Gal, one of the aircraft assigned to the 323rd BG, 456th BS. So, at lest we know it's the the 323rd. The aircraft have invasion stripes, so it's clear the mission was not flown before D-Day. The traffic in the Channel and the lading craft of the beaches suggests it was flown on the afternoon of D-Day.

Unfortunately, my loading list records for the Caen RJ mission only pertain to the first box of 12 led by Lt. Col. Robert O. Barker. WT-A does not seem to be on the list for Box I, although legibility is definitely an issue.

The Box Lead for one of the other two boxes, Maj. Stach, was shot down over the target. There does not appear to be any flak apparent in the footage. It should be there.

This looks like a busted mission. The Caen road junction was not where it had been briefed, and the crews had a hard time picking up the target. Box I, Fight 1 (4 aircraft) had poor results, hitting along a road near some houses. Box I, Flight 2 got a direct hit on a highway bridge (target of opportunity) that was the primary target for another BG. Box I, Flight 3 hit along streets and houses. The aircraft all went in between 2,000 and 3,000 feet, which looks about right. The bombs seem to impact as the mission reports suggest.

The terrain is fairly distinctive with notable topographic features. Hopefully, this will be an easy one to solve.

Thanks for taking a look,

Jan

 

RE: 323rd Bombardment Group, June 6, 1944 Footage

Hi, Pat,

That may have been the road junction they were to target. I don't think that's where they dropped. It's hard for me to tell with the available resolution whether there are fields or fields that have been flooded in the background. They cross over a bridge at one point and appear to drop in an area along the Orne.

I'm thinking they were not to far East of the junction you found and a little further inland. Definitely on the outskirts of Caen, if it's Caen, in an area with some houses along a road and fields. There is a big bed in the river not too far from a bridge as the make the break away.

One of the gunners that went on the mission to the Caen RJ described shooting into a troop carrier train as they flew down the line of the tracks on the bomb run on that mission. I did not see any train tracks in the footage, but the bridge in the background could be a RR bridge.

One flight got a hit on the approach to a RR bridge. The 9th AF report on the results of the mission seems consistent with where the bombs hit on this mission.

I will study the area you've identified some more. It's definitely in the vicinity. There are a lot of roads in the area. This was the 323rd's first mission to a road junction. Until then, the targets had been airdromes, no balls sites, marshaling yards and road and highway bridges.

I'll look for a map with rail road tracks noted to try and follow possible bomb run routes and ID the area that way.

If we confirm that the footage in of the Caen RJ target, there is a widely published photograph of what is probably the briefing for it. The photo was republished in the Time Life D-Day 70th Anniversary paperback book. After picking it up in the checkout line at the grocery store, I realized my dad is in the middle of the photograph with his navigation/bombardier's kit on his knee. I got an editorial license for the photograph, which heavily restricts it's use. It's owned by Getty Inages.

Jan
[hr]
Take a look at Etavaux.

There is a big bend, not bed, in the river. Sorry for the typo.
[hr]
The Voire verte de Suisse Normandie is a RR line adjacent to a road that crosses the Orne River. It runs next to the bend at the point noted below. Take a look and see what you think.

 

RE: 323rd Bombardment Group, June 6, 1944 Footage

Thanks, Pat. That was quick!

I don't see a 323rd mission to a target designated as "Clecy" or "St. Remy".

There was, however, a mission flown on the morning of June 10 to attack troop concentrations at Foret des Bairds de Cerisy MC (Foret de Cersy). The attack wnt in at altitudes ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 feet. Flak was light (i.e., smaller MM as opposed to heavy or large AA batteries). One leaflet bomb was included. The aircraft in Box I dropped eight 500# bombs each and Box II dropped 16 250# bombs each. Bomb type is not specified. Although one would think they dropped fragmentaiton bombs on troops, I'm not sure those came in 500#'ers. One man was injured. Aircraft assigned to the 456th (WT) were in both boxes of 18. Results are listed as "Fair-Good". Squadrons participating were the 454th (RJ), 455th (YU) and 456th (WT) with Wilcox and Kelley leading boxes I and II, respectively.

The German troops likely camped in the wooded area, with senior officers in appropriated homes.

Does that match up with the target area?[/size]

Will check for other possible mission matches.

 

RE: 323rd Bombardment Group, June 6, 1944 Footage

Hi, Pat,

I must be missing something. Clecy looks like it could very well be a match. However, Foret de Cerisy is about 60 KM from Clecy. Will look at the footage again as well as the mission list.

Jan

 

RE: 323rd Bombardment Group, June 6, 1944 Footage

Pat,

The Criticsl Pathe Footage is a splice of more than one mission.

With respect to the wooded area, the 323rd flew several missions to forests. In one, there was a flash as the bomb struck causing with speculation that a fuel or am munitions dump had been hit. There is a small flash in the footage.

I'm viewing this on an iPhone 6. Tomorrow, I'll switch to a Mac and begin putting together a list of forest/wooded area missions. Will also compile a list of post invasion missions that might match Clecy. There is a possibility that is the Caen RJ mission. It looks like a rail line runs with the bomb run right up to the target, which is what a gunner in the Box II lead described. I'd really like to nail the particulars down and relabel these videos. They are bizarre splices - mismatches and reversed sequencing.

Thanks for your help and great information. To be continued ...

 

RE: 323rd Bombardment Group, June 6, 1944 Footage

Hi, Pat,

After revising the mission lists for the 323rd and looking at videos that include footage of the Viaduc de Clecy mission, I doubt that mission was flown by the 323rd. Instead, it appears it must have been flown by the 386th Bombardment Group out of Boxted. The 386th had a yellow horizontal stripe on its tail that has been mistaken in black and white film as the 323rd Bombardment Group. If you are able to get a still of the tail or radio call numbers of one of the aircraft in that particular segment, we can put this to rest fairly quickly.

The footage appears to be a collage of about four separate missions. It looks like at least two were flown by the 323rd. I got a good still of WT-A Ole 33 Gal one one of the missions. I also got stills of VT-K on another segment if the footage, which was used in the Folligny MY mission footage as well.

The footage that includes the invasion armada looks like it was one of the morning D-Day mission (there are flashes coming from what looks like the Normandy cost. The aircraft are flying parallel to the coast, which is consistent with the three D-Day CB missions flown by the 323rd.

The forest mission footage shows a big flash. I believe that footage is of the 323rd, and I should be able to help identify that target.

There is quite a bit of footage that looks like several distinct missions on different dates spliced together indiscriminately.

For the Clecy Viaduc footage to be of the 323rd, it would have to either not be Clecy or it would be the Caen RJ mission. I very much doubt the later, and you make a good case for Clecy. I just don't think it was the 323rd.

The 323rd was one of the first two Marauder units, so it's much better known than the 386th.

Jan

 

RE: 323rd Bombardment Group, June 6, 1944 Footage

Excellent work, Pat.

With other, nearby sites flagged, I will go back to the mission records and look for a match. Will also send you what I have on the 323rd's afternoon D-Day raid to the "Caen RJ". One of the gunners in the second Box of 12 lead aircraft, "Tex" -name of gunner not aircraft, writes about flying straight down some railroad tracks on the bomb run (45 seconds on average) to the target. I got the impression they had been flying down the rail line for some time because Tex describes shooting into box cars and the realizing the doors to the bomb bay had opened while he was shooting. The target area strikes match up pretty well with what unfolds on the video at the target - particularly differences between the strikes of the three boxes. The smoke you refer to is from Box I probably. I believe Maj. Stach was leading Box III. The video seems to show Boxes I and II.

The part I'm struggling with is the "Caen RJ"target ID. They are very specific elsewhere. The 323rd ran four missions on D-Day. There was a lot going on. I noticed somewhere yesterday that the rail line you flagged is referred to by the 323rd as the "Caen Line." A Panzer division was at Le Mans, and they could have been sent to cut them off as the British and Canadians were choked up at the beach.

Will send Roy a request for the loading lists for all of the boxes for that mission to see if those two aircraft are on the list. I just have the list for the 456th "E" Squadron, and it's missing the second page.

There are a couple of other missions that could be it as well. Will take me some time to run them all down in source materials.

There were cameras and reporters all over the place at the 323rd on D-Day. The 323rd was at a Earls Colne, which was also the lHQ of the 9th, which may explain that.

John Moench, our premier historian, may not have been assigned yet to the 323rd when the invasion began. I want to say he started about two weeks after that with an influx of green replacement crews. I'm not sure I agree with how John interpreted some of the barely legible handwritten notes from the Caen RJ mission. I will flag and send the pertinent records for you to consider.

Will then work in the forest raid.

Jan
[hr]
Here's what I have thus far on the June 6, Caen RJ mission:

Excerpt from Marauder Men

On the afternoon of D-Day, the 323rd Group was ordered to attack the Caen Road Junctions to the immediate rear of enemy lines. This was part of a boarder attack by the Ninth Bomber Command on the bridges and junctions and was needed to cut off the movement of German reinforcements, particularly the 12th SS Panzer Division which was moving up to attack the already stalled British and Canadian forces. (Emphasis added.)

With lowering clouds, the Marauders attack in the Caen area went in between 2,000 and 3,000 feet. Well directed 20 MM and 40 MM antiaircraft was encountered with the Group losing one aircraft, that of Maj. Paul J. Stach [Box III lead]. Six parachutes were seen, signaling that Maj. Stach stayed with the aircraft and tried to belly it in. Rumor soon reached the Group that Maj. Stach survived the crash but was shot by Germans when he refused to cooperate with them during interrogation. (Emphasis added.)

Eight additional aircraft were hit on this mission. (“This was our 65th mission. My plane, “Flying Trapeze” received three big holes in the right wing-holes large enough to put your head through. One of those holes was adjacent to a gas tank-and 1 man next to and scraping the tank. Although we had wounded on board, we were lucky. “Post-war comments of Jesse R. Swan.) Returning fire, gunners on the Marauders were credited with taking out several antiaircraft positions.

…

Key to the immediate reinforcement of the German Ground Forces opposing the Allied invasion was the 12th SS Panzer Division some 90 miles south of Caen at Le Mans. (Emphasis added.)

-John O. Moench, Marauder Men


Excerpt from Diary on the Internet

The invasion armada was something t0 see,” Tex "(flying with the Hunt crew [in Box II lead aircraft]) described. “There were ships as far as the eye could see. I didn’t believe there were that many ships in the world. We flew right over the battleship Texas just as it fired a broadside. A large yellow fame belched form her guns and at first I thought she had blown up. As we proceeded a little ways inland we were flying down a railway track that had some boxcars on a sidling. I got completely absorbed while shooting into those boxcars and did not realize that our bomb bay doors were open and that were on our bomb run to the target. Then all hell broke loose. Our bombs exploded beneath us on the target and the noise and vibration were terrific. We had never flown a mission this low before and I wan't prepared for this. The concussions form our bombs broke some of the Plexiglas windows in some of the airplanes. One plane form our Group was shot down on this bombing raid.” (Emphais added.)

-Postwar comments Sam “Tex” Hadley – 453rd BS

9th Air Force Mission Summary Excerpts

[The 323rd was the first group over the Caen RJ target on June 6.]

Box I[Barker] - 1st 4. POOR. In a fair concentration the bombs centered 1,200 (?) feet North of the desired M.P.I. among houses on a road “T”.

2nd 4. GROSS. The center of impact occurred 1 mile Southeast of desired M.P.I., bombs of two aircraft scoring direct hits on the primary target of the 391st BG, a highway bridge. At the tie of impact it was estimated there was a German armored vehicle on the bridge. (Clouds interfered with the bombardier’s sight.) (Emphasis added.)

3rd 4. FAIR. Bursts centered 600 feet North of the desired M.P.I. in a fairly concentrated pattern hitting in streets and houses.

BOX II. 1st 4. NO PHOTO COVERAGE. Due to violent evasive action, cameras did not record the attack. (Group bombardier reported FAIR results based on visual observation.)

2nd 4. GROSS. Center of impact 10,000 feet North-

That's it. I did not print off any other pages. Roy, if you have a second, it would help if you'd look at the rest of the report. It looks like Box II had direct hits on a rail bridge and line in the video.

Jan