Tactical Cooperation 8-13 May 1943

The ground situation was changing too rapidly during the drive on Tunis for cooperation calls to be waited for or acted upon, and the air forces were ordered to disrupt the enemy's already disorganized movement. In particular, strong bombing and strafing attacks were made on the road from Tunis to Bizerte in the vicinity of Protville, on the roads and bottlenecks leading to the Cape Bon peninsula, and on the westward defile out of Tunis at Hamman Lif. The enemy forces between Tunis and Bizerte were surrounded; on 19 May they surrendered.

The important sector, however, was to the east, where large forces might reach the Cape Bon peninsula and fight a delaying action. The air task in this area was to assist our armor to force the defile at Hamman Lif, whilefighter-bombers maintained constant pressure. On 9 May the Army broke through and moved rapidly down to Bou Ficha; this was the main stroke required to complete the dislocation of the enemy. Meanwhile all other air components were strafing and bombing any movement on the peninsula, blasting harbors, landing grounds, and coastal shipping.

by 10 May, with the enemy surrounded, no appreciable armed forces had reached the peninsula. From that day until the final surrender on 13 May, our air power was active against ground targets, but only to keep the pressure on until the end. Isolated pockets were attacked upon Army request. The last operation in the North African campaign was an attack by Western Desert Air Force bombers on the remaining enemy pocket north of Enfidaville.

The Tactical Bomber Force on 11 May 1943 had been in operation for 53 days, of which 41 were flying days. In that period it had flown 3,1254 day and 783 night sorties, dropping 2,262.5 tons of bombs. This record was compiled in spite of shortage and unsuitability of aircraft crews, of equipment, and of maintenance crews. The lessons learned by the Tactical Bomber Force were:

1. That fighter-bombers were better suited than mediums for close cooperation, and that they could better utilize forward airfield space.

2. That medium bombers were better adapted to close-in strategic bombing, which is uneconomical for heavies and beyond the range of fighter-bombers.

3. That formation leaders should make reconnaissance flights to areas scheduled for attack.

During the campaign from 18 February to 11 May, less than three months, Tactical Air Force units completed 59,000 sorties, destroying 572 enemy aircraft, more than 500 motor vehicles, and 33 miscellaneous ships. These same units supplied the greatest weight of air attack ever undertaken in cooperation with ground forces up to that time.

In May one of the air forces' chief tasks was to interdict escape of the beaten Axis forces from Tunisia. For the first four days of the month the weather was so bad that few effective sorties could be flown, but on the 5th, Strategic and Tactical together sank two ships, severely damaged one, and damaged four. Tunis and La Goulette docks and marshalling yards were also damaged by 53 sorties of B-17's. Six SM-82 bombers and three fighters were also shot down during the day.

On the 6th, Strategic sank six Siebel ferries and four other small boats, and damaged five; all were headed for Sicily laden with troops. Meanwhile air strikes were delivered on Marsala, Trapani, and Favignana. At Marsala 10 ships were hit, two severely; at Favignana near misses were scored on two more vessels. On the same day Tactical Air Force aircraft blew up a destroyer and set another on fire. During the first week of May, 20 enemy vessels were sunk, seven probably sunk, and 12 damaged.

For the remainder of the campaign numerous Sicilian and Sardinian ports were bombed, chief among them Palermo, Marsala, and Cagliari,. The strategy had now passed from cooperation and interdiction to softening up for the next invasion. Palermo was the victim of 122 B-17's and 89 mediums on 9 May, and later, of 23 Wellingtons. A total of 458 tons of bombs was dropped. These blows were very destructive, with numerous fires and explosions among docks and railway yards. One ship was blown up. Seventeen enemy fighters were destroyed, with one B-17 shot down and more than 50 others damaged, mostly by flak. On the 11th Marsala was visited by 180 bombers\, and again Wellingtons followed to the number of 22. About 450 tons of bombs were unloaded; numerous hits were scored on docks, railway yards, shops, and warehouses; and fires were started that were visible 90 miles away.

On the 13th Cagliari was bombed by 107 B-17's, 96 B-25's, and 22 Wellingtons, which dropped 438 tons. One ship exploded and four more caught fire. As a result of this highly successful attack, Cagliari virtually lost its entire value as a port. Other effective assaults were made on Olbia, Alghero, Porto Torres, Civitavecchia, and Porto Ponte Romano.

With Axis aircraft now withdrawn to Sicily and Sardinia, airfields on those islands provided fruitful hunting grounds. Pantelleria was the prey of Desert Air Force light bombers, U. S. mediums, and Strategic's P-38's on 8 May and for the two days following. The landing ground was put out of commission, the doors of the underground hangar were jammed, and a large assortment of stores and aircraft was destroyed. Meanwhile bombers of the Strategic Air Force flew over Milo and Bo Rizzo airdromes, and Wellingtons over Villacidro, Elmas, and Decimomannu. The havoc was especially great among parked aircraft. The Strategic Air Force attacks were both made on the same day, 10 May, when 45 bombers attacked Milo airfield, causing fires and explosions and destroying 15 aircraft; at Bo Rizzo, attacked by 46 B-17's, there were many fires, but one B-17 was lost to enemy fighters.