Münster Mission

OCTOBER 10, 1943 - 5 hours, 38 minutes

Black Sunday is the fitting moniker hung on this raid. In the first place, it represented a change of tactic from the precision bombing of the U. S. forces to the carpet bombing of a city center—to take the fight to the German people as the German forces had been doing to Allied civilians. The Medieval city of Münster, famed for its architecture, was home to vast railroad marshaling yards crucial for transporting raw goods and materiel for the German war effort. The point was to disrupt the morale of those working in the railroad yards. Upon getting their orders, many shaken crew members of the 95th objected to the mission, but were firmly reminded that this was W-A-R. They did their duty.

The 95th led 15 other groups of the 1st and 3rd Bombardment Divisions. Six groups of P-47 fighters escorted them to the target, but had to turn back at that point. The bombers were met by 200-250 enemy fighters who hammered them for 45 minutes from the Initial Point through the target until U. S. fighters could pick them up again. It was the most furious assault to date. Almost every plane was damaged.

The 95th lost five planes; the 390th , eight; and the 100th , twelve—all but one of the 13 that had taken off. There were great casualties in Münster: more than 500 residential buildings destroyed, along with commercial and industrial structures; 25,000 civilians, homeless; almost 500 civilians and 200 soldiers, killed. It was the greatest air battle to date, with 229 bombers and their fighter escorts against 300 German fighters, clashing over 800 miles of sky for more than three hours. Of the 2,900 American crewmen, there were 642 casualties—or more than 18%.

“It seemed like a blurred nightmare. Wave after wave of enemy fighters, pieces of aircraft littering the clear blue sky, ugly black smoke of flak bursts, men drifting in parachutes, burning bombers and fighters all around us, twenty-five minutes that lasted an eternity.”
James Goff, Navigator