Unit History | May 1945 | 885th Bomb Squadron

Narrative Summary

885TH BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON (H)(Sp)

NOVEMBER 1943 - MAY 1945

Narrative Summary, 885th Bombardment Squadron (H)(Sp), Pomgliano, Italy. Submitted as substitute for War Diary, November 1943 through May 1945. Prepared by Sgt. William E. Simmons, 12335402

The month of May 1945 marked a transitional phase in the history of the 885th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) Special. From the beginning of the month, through the cessation of hostilities in Europe, the Squadron was located at Rosignano, Northern Italy, engaged in tactical combat operations. The Squadron was at that time under the 2641st Special Group (Provisional), which was subsequently inactivated. The move to Pomgliano was commenced on May 14, and the entire Squadron, with its attached personnel and aircraft and equipment, completed its transition within a week thereafter. The final week of the month was devoted largely to the process of getting set up in the new surroundings, to releasing flying personnel and aircraft for duty elsewhere, and to returning all technical equipment to local Air Corps depots. This was all in the nature of streamlining the Squadron, reducing it to its housekeeping essentials, and thereby preparing it for the role it was to play in the Service Command.

To give a better picture of the background which the Squadron brings with it to its new task, a brief narrative summary is necessary. The 885th Bomb Squadron, in spite of organizational changes, is the direct successor of the Special Flight Section of the Fifth Wing, which was the first American unit to pioneer supply-dropping operations to the French Marquis in 1943-1944. The unit was designated the 122nd Liaison Squadron, based in Morocco. It operated first from Marrakesch, Tunisia, and later from Blida, North Italy. Experimental flights were constantly conducted in an attempt to perfect the technique of night-dropping operations over France, Northern Italy, and the Balkans. A small detachment of three B-17's began operations from Blida, North Africa, in November, 1943, and laid the foundations upon which the unit's later work was established. The results of these operations were such tremendous success that it was decided to activate a new squadron and Headquarters of the 885th Reconnaissance Group, both of which were inactivated. However, there was not sufficient personnel in these two organizations to create authority for the T/O & E of an entire new squadron. But a solution to the problem was reached when Fifteenth Air Force decided to place all flying crews on D.S. to the new squadron to bring its flying strength up to about what it had been until now. The unit had been relieved from combat status. It entailed considerable clerical work, since all promotions and other personal data had to be submitted and routed through the flyer's original unit. The reorganization took place at the beginning of April 1944, under the command of Colonel Monro MacCloskey. The unit was designated the 122nd Bombardment Squadron (H), which was later changed to the 885th Bombardment Squadron (H)(Sp). The Squadron was located at Blida, North Africa. It was directly under Fifteenth Air Force for administrative purposes, and under M.A.A.F. for operations.

The operations of the Squadron gathered momentum in May, with the addition of new aircraft and personnel, and worked up to a crescendo in August when flights were conducted in direct support of the Allied invasion of Southern France. Increasingly good results were achieved in this highly specialized type of work.

A heavy burden fell on the 885th Squadron, for it was the only squadron in the Mediterranean Theater engaged exclusively in supply operations over occupied countries. Some gauge of the tempo of operations may be gained from the fact that in the period from June 5 to September 18, the 885th Squadron flew 484 successful sorties into France, dropping 395 Allied agents and 2,214,800 pounds of vital equipment. These supplies were later estimated to equal in value the work of several Army divisions, since French resistance forces were of inestimable aid to the Allied forces in their sweep up through Southern France. In this overall scheme of aerial supply, the task performed by the 885th on the night of August 12 was a brilliant landmark. Flying alone and unescorted on a dark night, through areas thick with flak and enemy fighter planes, each of the Squadron's planes made an individual flight to a hidden rendezvous with French patriots keyed for the invasion to come. The Squadron achieved 100% success, delivering 18 agents and 97,000 pounds of supplies to points where the secret agent networks pivoted. For this accomplishment the 885th received the Distinguished Unit Citation, which was presented by Major General Twining of the Fifteenth Air Force on December 1, 1944.

Toward the end of August 1944 the Squadron moved to Maison Blanche air base, outside of Algiers, where operations were continued unabated. In mid-September, however, it was apparent that the tide of Allied advances all over Europe had altered the need of further support from the 885th. Increasingly, attention was turned to Northern Italy, and flights to supply patriots in the Po Valley region were begun. To bring the Squadron nearer the scene of activity, not only in Northern Italy but in the Balkans as well, a move to Brindisi was decided upon. An advance echelon of ten aircraft moved to Brindisi air base on September 20, and the remainder of the Squadron followed in early October. In October the bulk of the work was devoted to equipping the liberating forces in Greece, and in the following months great quantities of supplies were flown to Albania and Yugoslavia. Countless flights were made to the Balkans, with a high degree of success.

In late December, the 859th Squadron, which had been engaged in supply missions from England over the Continent, came to Brindisi to supplement the work. In an endeavor to integrate and coordinate the work of the two squadrons, they were placed under the command of their common commander, Colonel MacCloskey and his staff. This was designated the Fifteenth Special Group (Prov), which was later changed to the 2641st Special Group (Prov).

During the winter months more and more attention was given to Northern Italy, and many hundred flights were made through the most adverse weather to supply partisan forces gathered on Alpine slopes. To acquire an advance staging base for operations, some two-thirds of the Group's supplies were underground hands waiting to strike the final blow, the Group moved to Rosignano, Italy, in mid-March. These operations continued throughout the period of Field Marshal Clark's break-through, with the Group operating in a tactical role under the direction of M.A.A.F. Evidence of the value of the work accomplished lies in the fact that the Patriots captured over 200 towns in Northern Italy,including the major cities. This not only speeded the Allied advance, but saved innumerable lives as well.

In the final stages of the war the Group also flew long missions to targets in Czechoslovakia, just ahead of the Russian lines, and to Austria. Partisan forces supplied in this way were of inestimable aid when American and Russian columns pierced this last bastion of Hitler's territory in late April and early May.

In May, after V-E Day, the Group flew a few isolated medical-supply missions to Allied soldiers in Po camps, but as a tactical unit the group was finished. There was a brief period of waiting, to see what assignment the higher command had in store for the Group. Since U.S. forces were likely to occupy the area during the dormant period. The Squadron was billeted in a colorful location, in the park of a small bathing-resort type of town called Castiglioncello. The tent area overlooked the Mediterranean, and most of the men had already launched a number of boating and swimming projects. It was with considerable regret, therefore, that orders came to move forth again. But the honored tradition had inured the Squadron to the unexpected, so when an advance detachment flew to Pomgliano on May 16, the following day a motor convoy of 24 vehicles left. Meanwhile, the various tasks of demolition and crating continued at a feverish rate, and a day or so later everything was ready to be moved. Men and equipment were transported by aircraft and by truck, and by about May 21 the entire move had been completed.

While waiting for other units to transfer out and vacate building space, the men were billeted in tents, with the assigned personnel in the area east of the Theater, and attached personnel in the "staging area". Offices were set up, and work done to process the records of all flying personnel and return them to their original bomb Groups. With the exception of a few flying officers who were to remain with the unit, all flying personnel, including Colonel MacCloskey and his staff, were relieved from the Squadron. Lt. Lester G. Clark was designated Commanding Officer, with Captain Tal E. Wood as Executive Officer, and Captain Norman V. Kinsey, Jr., as Adjutant. Captain Millard H. Gallaway remained as Supply Officer, and Captain William E. Weeks remained Medical Officer. Major Edward H. Bradford, Intelligence Officer, was returned to the United States on rotation policy, and left the Squadron the last day of the month.

By the end of May all of the Enlisted Men of the Squadron were comfortably billeted in rooms. The orderly room and the majority of the billets were situated in the South end of the entertainment building. In the second building the 885th occupied two entries -- one for offices and for an Officers' billet, the other for a dispensary and for an additional EM billet. Personnel messed with several of the established squadrons at the 313th Depot, and preparations were made for the influx of extra men who suddenly crowded the mess-halls. Their hospitality went a long way in tiding over the first discomforts of the move. Work was commenced on a Squadron mess-hall, which was almost completed at the end of the month. Under the guidance of Lt. Dekie and S/Sgt. Malloy, an attractive EM day room and bar was built within a week, and from the beginning this was a pleasant retreat for the men in their free hours. A baseball team was quickly organized and entered in the PBD league. A post exchange was also established, so the men were well supplied from the start. Altogether, the situation was a comfortable one, and at the end of May, after ten days, the Squadron was well set up and ready for work.

The work at hand involved a number of multifarious tasks. The purpose of Staging Airdrome #2 at Pomgliano is to process Twelfth Air Force personnel and aircraft and to return them to other theaters as swiftly as possible. In handling such a sweeping job of re-deployment, the 313th Air Service Group felt a great need for men. To help man the machinery of processing, the 885th was able to make available a vast majority of its men who had by this time finished their jobs in their own organization. Engineers, inspectors, cooks, clerks, truck drivers, mechanics -- all found their place in the over-all work and made their individual contributions. Many worked in the processing line, doing the small but necessary jobs which keep the steady chain of men moving through. Others worked on the "line" for the Quiet Engineers, or in Group Headquarters. Everyone fitted some place in the general pattern. As May drew to a close, the 885th was in the final stages of its conversion from the job of serving its own personnel and equipment to the even larger job of helping to speed the redeployment program. With this "facilitating" record at this end in the months to come, the 885th Bomb Squadron will play its part in the hastening of the final victory over Japan.

FOR THE COMMANDING OFFICER:

[Signature]

NORMAN V. KINSEY, Jr.,

Captain, Air Corps,

Adjutant.

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