Highlights of Day by Day Air Operations
25 August 1944

As was set forth in the preceding narrative section, this was a fateful day for the Luftwaffe, with both the Ninth and the Eighth Air Forces knocking German aircraft out of the sky. XIX TAC's share of the kill was 36-1-8 in the air and 18-4-0 on the ground, or 54-5-8 all told, against a loss of 8 planes and 7 pilots.

There were renewed evidences that the Luftwaffe was finding its bases in the Paris area too hot to hold, as demonstrated by the GAF fighters seen streaking eastward with belly tanks. The Germans were destroying facilities as fast as they could, in the face of the steady advance of armored forces.

Flying 632 combat sorties, XIX TAC claimed the following results against ground targets, in addition to the haul in the air: 266 motor vehicles, 4 tanks, 44 locomotives, and 164 cars destroyed or damaged; 5 marshalling yards attacked and 5 lines cut; 3 field-gun positions, 4 troop concentrations, an ammunition dump, and 8 military buildings destroyed; 5 airfields attacked and 2 hangars wrecked. In antishipping operations off Brest, 2 naval vessels were claimed as destroyed, and 3 naval and 9 merchant vessels damaged. Four P-51's flew artillery adjustment sorties for corps artillery at Brest, noting many hits on enemy gun positions and shipping. Reconnaissance sorties totaled 64.