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HEADQUARTERS 505th BOMB WING (H)
APO 520               
U.S. ARMY

13 August 1945.

SUBJECT: Proposed Citation of the 332nd Fighter Group (Single Engine) Army Air Forces.

TO: Commanding General, Fifteenth Air Force, APO 520, U. S. Army.

1. In accordance with Section IV, War Department Circular No. 333, dated 22 December 1943 and Paragraph 5, Circular No. 73, NTOUSA, dated 12 May 1945, it is requested that citation for the 332nd Fighter Group (Single Engine) Army Air Forces, for outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy and for extraordinary heroism and meritorious achievement while flying on an escort mission to Berlin, Germany on 24 March 1945, be approved and that the citation be confirmed in the War Department General Orders.

2. On 24 March 1945 the 332nd Fighter Group (Single Engine) Army Air Forces, was assigned the mission of escorting heavy bombardment type aircraft of the 5th Bomb Wing attacking the vital Daimler-Benz Tank Assembly Plant at Berlin, Germany. Fifty-four (54) P-51's of the 332nd Fighter Group provided escort for B-17's of the 5th Bomb Wing. Nearing the target approximately twenty-five (25) enemy aircraft were encountered mostly ME-262's, which launched relentless attacks in a desperate effort to break up and destroy the bomber formation. Realizing the strategic importance of this mission at a time when the enemy sorely needed tanks to stop the allied advance from the east and west, pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group displayed outstanding courage, aggressiveness and combat technique while engaging the enemy formation in aerial combat. In the ensuing battle which extended from forty (40) miles south of Berlin to the target area, the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group battled against the enemy fighters to prevent the breaking up of the bomber formation and thus insuring the successful completion of this vitally important mission. By superior skill and determination the Group destroyed three (3) enemy aircraft, probably destroyed three (3) and damaged three (3). Among their claims were eight (8) of the highly touted jet-propelled aircraft and one (1) rocket aircraft, with only one (1) loss sustained by the 332nd Fighter Group. A Fighter Sweep was conducted in the Berlin area by remaining P-51's of the 332nd Fighter Group. Leaving the target area and enroute to base after the completion of their primary task, aircraft of the Group conducted strafing attacks against enemy ground installations and transportation with the resultant claims of two (2) locomotives and three (3) railroad cars damaged. Its mission accomplished, the 332nd Fighter Group returned safely to base after having aided in the successful completion of this historic mission.

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