The 20th had not yet engaged in a major air to air battle with the Luftwaffe with P-51s, but the hour was not long off. On 2 November, the enemy attempted a large scale interception of 1st Division bombers attacking the great oil refinery at Merseburg, near Leipzig. It ended in disaster for the Hun, and the 20th Group, flying left flank support to the entire division, played a major role in bringing about his downfall. 28 first line German fighters were destroyed by the 20th and 5 more damaged. Lt. Col. Montgomery, who led the attack, destroyed 3 himself and was awarded the D. S. C. for his leadership and aggressiveness. (See Intelligence Bulletin, Mission No. 204.) 8th Air Force Fighters destroyed 148 German planes in the air that day, more than half the attacking force, a defeat so decisive that the Luftwaffe did not attempt another large scale interception of our heavy bombers until 14 January '45.

    The winter of '44/'45 proved to be one of the worst in many years in Western Europe, but despite the bad weather, 8th Air Force bombers and fighters continued to pound the enemy at every opportunity. A real test came in late December when the Allied High Command called upon the 8th to abandon for the time being its long range strategic bombing program and give maximum support to our land armies in the great struggle with Von Rundstedt's divisions in the Battle of the Ardenne Bulge. Von Rundstedt launched his powerful counter-offensive on 16 December, but heavy ground fogs prevented the 8th from participating in the battle on a really large scale until the day before Christmas when one of the most vicious and sustained air assaults of the war began, a campaign that played a great part in smashing the German counter bid and in breaking the back of the German armies on the Western Front once and for all. It was as well a marvelous demonstration of the flexibility of air power and ease and efficiency with which our Supreme Command could bring that great weapon to bear against the enemy where it was most needed.

    On 24 December, almost 2,000 American heavy bombers. more than 500 RAF heavies, the entire strength of the 9th Air Force and RAF 2nd Tactical Air Force, were thrown into the struggle, bombing and strafing with rockets and machine guns every German road and rail communication behind the enemy front. The 8th struck at those same targets on 15 out of the next 17 days; the enemy was literally strangled to death, and by the 10th of January he had begun his retreat to the Rhine.

    During the heavy snows that fell in the second week of January, take-offs were made possible only by crews from every section on the station who rose in the wee hours of the winter mornings to sweep the runways clear. The 20th was never "snowed in" though the fall at King's Cliffe was as heavy as at any airdrome in England. During January the 20th flew more operational hours than any Fighter Group in the 8th Air Force, and our crews and engineers maintained the highest percentage of aircraft on a fully operational basis in the Command.

    Smashing the German Ardenne offensive having been completed, the 8th Air Force returned on the 14th of January to the bombardment of strategic targets deep in Germany, particularly oil refineries. That is an important day to remember because it was the last time German single engine fighters rose in full strength to intercept our bombers. Targets for 3rd Air Division Fortresses were a large oil refinery at Magdeburg on the middle Elbe and an underground oil storage depot near Stendal and the bomber track almost to the I. P. directly threatened Berlin. 211 enemy aircraft rose to intercept the bombers as they approached the Berlin area from the northwest. Major combats developed with escorting American fighters over Wittenberge, Perleburg, and Ludwigslust and in 20 blistering minutes 90 German aircraft were destroyed by P-51s. Bomber gunners destroyed 31 more. Not a single American fighter is known to have been lost to enemy fighters, and the German assault netted the enemy only 9 B-17s, 2% of the attacking force. 20th Group was on the spot when the attack came, and sparked by two veterans, Majors Nichols and Gatterdam, destroyed 20 enemy fighters and damaged 5 more, all without loss.

    On 3 February the Luftwaffe at last admitted ignominious defeat, when 936 Fortresses attacked the Sacred Capitol of Nazidom in perfect visibility unopposed by the once all powerful G. A. F. This was the signal to 8th Air Force Fighter Groups to devote every increasing attention to the enemy on the ground, and the 20th was no exception. During the month of February the Group destroyed 61 enemy planes (including 40 first line fighters) on the ground and 18 more in air to air combat. 77th Squadron established, for the time being at least, a new 8th Air Force record when, in a classic example of fighter strafing at the Luftwaffe airdrome of Esperstedt, west of Leipzig, 13 ships of the squadron destroyed 38 German fighters and on the way home knocked down two of 15 Me 109s that attempted to interfere. (See Intelligence Bulletin, Mission No. 258.) On tile 20th of February, 79th Squadron, made a bid to equal the feat of the 77th when Meyer's Marauders smashed 16 German aircraft at Weiden airdrome, near Nurnberg.

    Havoc was wrought not only among the enemy's aircraft, but among his railway rolling stock and transport facilities as well. 73 locomotives were destroyed or damaged and hundreds of freight cars and motor vehicles left burning or disabled along the roads and rails of Germany.

    During February the 20th expended 165,639 rounds of ammunition, more than 16% of the total ammunition ex-pended during the Group's entire combat tour in the ETO. The Group led all 8th Air Force Fighter Groups in the destruction of enemy aircraft during that month.

    November and December of 1944 and the early months of 1945 saw a new development in German air defense. Jet propelled fighters began rising to attack our bombers. Me 262s, twin unit turbo type jet jobs predominated, with occasionally an Me 163, a rocket propelled jet, thrown in. Their enormous speed and high altitude performance out classed all conventional type fighters then in use, and had Jerry been able to put them up in sufficient numbers, we would have been seriously embarrassed, to say the least. They were not a dangerous foe in air to air combat with the P-51 because the jet, on account of its great speed was unable to turn with a '51.However the '51 was almost powerless to break up a really determined jet attack on the bombers, particularly if the 262s had any haze or cloud cover to operate from. P-51 pilots could seldom ward off a jet attack, which generally consisted of one high speed pass through the bombers from 3 to 4,000 feet above and behind them, unless the '51s had an altitude and position advantage before the attack began.

    It was not until the 10th of April, that our boys actually whacked a few down, though one crashed in flames in November 1944 while Capt. Fiebelkorn was in hot pursuit. Fortunately the constant bombardment of German aircraft factories, experimental stations, and airdromes made it impossible for the enemy to use jets on a large scale, and the most that were ever airborne at one time against our bombers was 45.

    Throughout most of March military events dominated the scene and air power was once again enlisted in more support of tile advancing armies on both the Western and Eastern fronts. 8th Air Force heavies smashed away throughout the month at communication centers, railroad yards, bridges, viaducts, and docks from one end of Germany to another. Perhaps the perfect example of airground coordination came on 24 March when the great push across the Rhine began. While the heavies of the 8th completely smothered German airfields and landing grounds in Western Germany, 8th Air Force fighters constructed an aerial "cordon sanitaire" around the German Western Front. Able planning, skillful leadership, and magnificent weather combined to make the operation singularly successful and one that the historians of air power will point to with particular pride.

    The last month's operations against the German enemy was highlighted by fighter strafing attacks of unparalleled intensity, which contributed largely to frustrating Nazi plans for a last ditch stand in the so-called Southern Redoubt and in North Central Germany and the Jutland Peninsula. The 20th struck its blow on 10 April against airfields in the Potsdam and Brandenburg area, just west of Berlin, after fighting off determined jet attacks on 1st Division Forts bombing Oranienburg, North of Berlin. Led by Col. Montgomery, the group destroyed 55 enemy aircraft on the ground, pressing home the attack with great daring against fierce ground fire that claimed 3 victims. The Colonel himself destroyed 3 and damaged 2 and Lt. Jurgens of the 79th Squadron established a new record when he destroyed 8, all at Werder airdrome near Potsdam. (See Intelligence Bulletin, Mission No. 303.) Tactically perhaps the most interesting aspect of the mission was the engagements that developed between our fighters and German Me 262 jet fighters. In individual encounters our, pilots destroyed 5 Me 262s. None of our planes were lost or suffered battle damage in the aerial battles.

    American fighters destroyed more than 1400 German airplanes on the ground in that fateful month of April. The great allied land armies had completely shattered the Wehrmacht, and to American fighter groups went the honor of administering the coup de grace to the Luftwaffe, the long persistent and violent foe.