When the briefing curtains were pulled back so we could see the large map of Europe, the ribbons indicated our target to be in the Leipzig area of Germany. For the first time, the 8^th Air Force had set its goal to wipe out the synthetic oil plants so vital to the German war machine. This was a new kind of objective in the campaign to paralyze Hitler's Europe. There were three synthetic oil plants in the Leipzig area of which one was Zeitz, 20 miles to the southwest and our target for the day. Zeitz lay approximately 550 miles from our base at Shipdham but we flew many more miles than this as we never went straight to a target but took a "Cook's Tour" of Europe zigzagging from France to Denmark in order to keep the Luftwaffe guessing where to concentrate their defenses. We would faint towards a potential target only to turn in another direction about the time the Germans had alerted their AA batteries and fighters. Sometimes the city we pointed towards would already be throwing up a flak barrage even though we had no intention of making this our target. Somehow this seemed to amuse us. To proceed, as the bird flies, to the target and back (about 1100 miles) would take less than 6 hours but we were in the air 8 hours and 20 minutes due to the assembly time and the evasive flight course.

The 2^nd Bomb Division dispatched 716 B-24's to Zeitz of which 19 planes were ours. Each carried 19 250 pound bombs, however one of our planes had to abort and return to base making 18 over the target. Take off was approximately 0900 hours and we broke the English Coast about one and a half hours later. We did not expect this to be an easy mission, we were not disappointed. The enemy fighters were out in great force this day but with over 1000 bombers to attack, they were spread pretty thin. As a result, the 44^th escaped their attention for which we were grateful. The Nazi pilots knew the 44th Bomb Group was a seasoned and battled hardened outfit. There were newer and less experienced groups to attack. Flak was another thing. The Germans knew the importance of oil refineries so they set up an elaborate complex of anti-aircraft batteries. The refinery itself had sort of a trapezoidal shape and was set out in the middle of farm country. The visability was extremely clear and even from more than 20,000 feet, the outline of buildings and oil storage tanks were clearly discernible. There were several villages within a mile of the refinery. The target stood out like a sore thumb with farms all around. The flak was intense, not one plane escaped damage. We were down to 18,000 feet to achieve maximum accuracy. One of the 67^th squadron's planes was hit so badly that it had to drop out of formation where it became easy prey for the enemy fighters to pick off. This was the 44^th's only loss for the day. The rest of us returned safely to Shipdham Air Base where we landed shortly after 1700 hours (5:00 p.m.).

When we departed the target area at Zeitz, the refinery was severely damaged and on fire. The great majority of all bombs dropped by the attacking 116 Liberators landed well within the strike zone. To me it appeared that we had destroyed the objective completely. "So much for one synthetic oil plant", so I thought, but little did I know that the Germans had a fantastic ability to rebuild. See mission number 15 of May 28, 1944 only 16 days later, I could not believe my eyes.