"Preserving the memory of their sacrifices!"
Retirement
( Aug 45 – Feb 46 )
Between 11 December 1944 and 12 March 1945 this Group waged an extremely successful and highly dangerous bridge-busting campaign along th land corridor then held by the Japanese between north China and the tremendous raw material potential found in her conquests in southern Asia and adjacent islands.
To thwart the Japanese plan to capitalize on this land line, the Group was assigned the hazardous task of destroying the numerous steel and concrete bridges on the modern rail lines in French Indo-China. Two primary considerations faced the Group in preparing its method of executing this mission. Supplies, gasoline and bombs were at a premium in air-supplied China, and the Japanese had ringed the bridges with extensive anti-aircraft defenses. To meet these considerations,, the Group developed and employed its own style of attack, "Glip Bombing", which employed a triple change in bombing level at low altitude as an elusive maneuver over heavily-defended, channelled approaches to targets.
This technique yielded such accuracy that the tonnage of bombs expended per bridge destroyed reached a new record low of 7.75 tons per bridge. Despite hazardous conditions of low visiblity, rugged terrain and intense, accurate anti-aircraft fire, under which a large part of these "Glip Bombing" missions were run, the Group destroyed 21 mahor bridges and damaged 17 in twenty-three missions.
Particularly representative of the determination and perseverance of the combat crews are the missions of 27 February 1945 and 5 March 1945. A total of 10 high priority bridges were destroyed and two damaged, under enemy fire, with the expenditure of 3.85 bomb tons per bridge. Because the bridges were generally located in gorges and valleys, approach to the targets was restricted to narrow lanes in which the enemy could easily concentrate their defensive fire. Four of the Group's planes were shot down in these attacks and 31 others were damaged. Twenty crew members were killed and twelve were wounded.
The cost was not light to the Group, but the interdiction of this overland route was imperative. With extraordinary heoism, gallantry, determination and espirit de corps, the Group not only met the dangerous challenge but established a new record in economy of operations in doing so.
These achievements of the 341st BOMBARDMENT GROUP (M) are worthy of the gallant traditions of the American military service.
The majority of the remaining 341st personnel were moved to the United States during Sep-Oct 1945, and the Group was inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, on 2 Nov 1945. However, several pilots and engineers had been given orders to deliver the Group's A-26B 'Invaders' to Europe. Once there, they were caught up in a typical Army 'SNAFU.' Since their orders did not provide for them to continue on home, they were sucked up into the chaos of the over-tasked Military Air Transport Service and assigned to crew flights which were moving troops and supplies to-from dozens of locations throughout Europe. Most of these men did not arrive back in the U.S. until February 1946!!
