TARGET: ROAD JUNCTIONS
BRIONNE AREA, FRANCE
13 AUGUST, 1944

Important highways on both sides of the Seine River between Le Havre and Paris were among the targets of thirty wings of Eighth Air Force heavy bombers. Other targets were a railroad bridge and three coastal batteries.

The 45 7th Group’s assigned part, in these efforts to thwart the enemy ground forces’ escape in the Battle of France, was the bombing of three road junctions in the area between Bernay and Rouen.

The Group put up the usual three twelve-aircraft boxes, comprising the 94th C Wing and flying twelfth and last in the 1st Division formation. Major Hozier and Lt. Brannan led the Group. The 457th followed the air armada south across the channel from Little Hampton and crossed the center of the erstwhile allied beachhead to a point west of Argentan. There the route led east to the IP at the village of Gace. Fanning out slightly toward the targets, which were several miles apart, the three boxes dropped their bombs visually from 20,000 feet.
Rouen, enemy-held and flak-defended, lay directly ahead, so the boxes turned to avoid it, the lead and low to the right and the high to the left. The flak encountered was meager but accurate. Nine aircraft were damaged but no one was injured.

Otherwise, the boxes came home uneventfully.