Thirteenth Mission, 22 March 1945 Target: Barracks, Mulheim, Germany
Tony's Mission Log:
Tony may have been confused with the details of this mission (I think he rewrote his diary in the 1950's and some details may not have been easily available to cross-check). The target for the day was a German Army barracks area in Mulheim, which is on the banks of the Ruhr River. This bombing attack was intended to support the Allied crossings of the River Rhine, which were ongoing.
This bellow is a simpler map that gives you an idea of how close this mission was to the friendly lines. On 25 March, the Allies launched the largest airborne operation of the war (code named Varsity) over the area of the town of Wesel, a few miles to the North-West.
I found a good account of this mission in SSGT Kooi's diary.
"Our target was an army barracks area just east of the Ruhr river near Mulheim. The Ruhr Valley which I saw very well to-day is the most thickly populated and highly industrialized area I have seen surpassing the English Midlands around Manchester or the Liverpool area. When you are over the center of the Valley, known as “Happy Valley,” you see one city after another so close that they could almost be classified as one city- Dortmund, Essen, Mulheim, Duisberg, Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, and near the southern end, Cologne. The small towns are too numerous to name. Now the western part of the Valley is one mass of debris as the Allies are moving in and we are bombing it."
This film clip below is a newsreel from 1945 about the crossing of the Rhine.
Tony may have been confused with the details of this mission (I think he rewrote his diary in the 1950's and some details may not have been easily available to cross-check). The target for the day was a German Army barracks area in Mulheim, which is on the banks of the Ruhr River. This bombing attack was intended to support the Allied crossings of the River Rhine, which were ongoing.
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| Allied Lines from 22 March to 28 March 1945. Allies are at or beyond the River Rhine. |
This bellow is a simpler map that gives you an idea of how close this mission was to the friendly lines. On 25 March, the Allies launched the largest airborne operation of the war (code named Varsity) over the area of the town of Wesel, a few miles to the North-West.
I found a good account of this mission in SSGT Kooi's diary.
"Our target was an army barracks area just east of the Ruhr river near Mulheim. The Ruhr Valley which I saw very well to-day is the most thickly populated and highly industrialized area I have seen surpassing the English Midlands around Manchester or the Liverpool area. When you are over the center of the Valley, known as “Happy Valley,” you see one city after another so close that they could almost be classified as one city- Dortmund, Essen, Mulheim, Duisberg, Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, and near the southern end, Cologne. The small towns are too numerous to name. Now the western part of the Valley is one mass of debris as the Allies are moving in and we are bombing it."
This film clip below is a newsreel from 1945 about the crossing of the Rhine.
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