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| B17's from the 833rd Squadron of the 486th BG |
Tony's Mission Log:
This mission must have been stressful for Tony's crew as bad things started to happen early in the mission. Thankfully, the Ruhr region was being quickly overrun by the Allies and shortened the length of the mission over enemy territory. However, becoming a straggler was never a good thing. Thankfully, enough fighter support was available to spare an escort for them.
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| P51 Mustang escorting a crippled B17. |
These comments are from S/SGT Clarence Kooi's journal, who also participated in this mission:
"We were on oxygen about six hours which is a long time. The Allies are really going to town on the Western Front namely Berlin. They are near Kassel and Hanover two rough targets and most of the great Rhine cities with their heavy flak concentrations have been captured. We went in over Gen. Patton’s salient and didn't get any flak like we usually do over the lines."
On the 29th of March, the Allies started conducting what would be called "The encirclement of the Ruhr" or "The Ruhr Pocket", in which the Allies trapped more than 400,000 German troops. The bombing campaign had laid waste to the infrastructure of that area and made it very difficult for the Germans to react quickly to the threat. Largely, the Germans were glad to see the end coming and to be able to surrender to the Americans instead of the Russians, who they despised AND feared. The Germans had been so brutal in their treatment of the Soviet people they conquered, and the Russians made a point of paying them back.
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| The Ruhr Pocket circa 4 April 1945 |
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| An American soldier guards a massive gathering of German POWs in the Ruhr pocket. |
This video focuses on the Ruhr Pocket from a German perspective.
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