History of Squadron

 

Chapter VII

The Advance to the Rhine

February - March 1945

 

When the situation on the American front between Malmedy and Echternach had been restored, Field Marshal Montgomery's 21st Army Group to the north resumed its plans to advance to the Rhine, cross that river and carry the war into north western Germany. The first stage, the Battle of the Rhineland, was entrusted to the lst Canadian Army and the 9th U.S. which launched converging offensives from the north (Nijmegen) and south (Julich) to eliminate the enemy forces between the Maas and the Rhine. 

While these operations were in progress the 2nd British Army in the centre held the Maas River line. On 3 March the northern and southern pincers met at Geldern and a week later the Army Group was drawn up along the western bank of the Rhine. On 23 March the crossing of the Rhine began and within a few days the Armies were racing eastwards towards the Elbe. These eight weeks (01 February to 28 March) were a period of  unsurpassed activity for G/C Nesbitt's Typhoon wing based at
Eindhoven. No. 439 Squadron led by S/L Beatty flew no less than 860 hours on 802 sorties figures that exceeded even those for any comparable period in the busy summer of 1944. The greater part of this intensive effort was devoted to one objective rail interdiction. 

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The 2nd British Army, to which 83 Group (143 Wing's
parent formation) was allied, was engaged in holding the Maas River line during the Battle of the Rhineland; its air support units had the task of doing everything in their power to stop the enemy moving troops and supplies into the battle area, or retreating from it. 

Between 1 February and 22 March No. 439 Squadron carried out 106 operations. Of these, 92 were dive bombing attacks on rail lines or bridges (1) . The remaining fourteen were chiefly armed recces without bombs, with three attacks on V.l sites, and two Army support jobs to complete the picture. 

(1) The importance of this work in disorganizing the German supply lines was impressed upon the pilots by two Army officers who visited the wing. They pointed out that when the troops overran enemy territory they found some sectors had guns but no ammunition and others had ammunition but no guns!

 

When the Rhine crossing began on 23 March No. 439 gave close support to the operation, carrying out 23 missions in its last six days at Eindhoven. Almost 500 tons of bombs and 40,000 rounds of ammunition were expended on all these operations in February and March. Three pilots were killed, all shot down by flak. 

February opened with the usual "Dutch weather" cloudy, cold and windy and the pilots "darned near froze" as they sat in their aircraft at the end of the runway, waiting for the word go. They finally did get away on two weather recces which found an unbroken blanket of cloud covering the tactical area. Above the clouds there was "a lovely blue sky" against which several V.2 trails stood out prominently.

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