HEADQUARTERS

NINTH AIR FORCE


APO 696, US Army
31 May 1945
GENERAL ORDERS
NUMBER 90 Section
BATTLE HONORS I

I--BATTLE HONORS.-- Under the provision of Section IV, Circular No. 333, WD, 1943, the following named unit of the Ninth Air Force is cited for outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy. The citation reads as follows:

"The 373d Fighter Group.  For outstanding and heroic performance of duty in action against the enemy in the European Theater of Operations on 20 March 1945.  This organization, displaying great valor and exemplary devotion to duty, greatly facilitated the crossing of the Rhine River by the Allied Ground Forces by dealing six consecutive blows against the enemy's air potential and by crushing his lines of communication.  The group destroyed and damaged one hundred nineteen enemy aircraft on three vital airfields which presented the greatest threat to Allied armies massed west of the Rhine, and rendered these airfields completely inoperative.  With unswerving resolution, pilots dived repeatedly through barrages of antiaircraft fire to batter strategic targets, then with brilliant airmanship and superior flying skill, returned all aircraft safely to base.  In a further display of outstanding aerial tactics, the 373d Fighter Group tenaciously and aggressively attacked rolling stock, motor transportation, and utterly disrupted main highways and rail lines leading to the Rhine.  The ingenuity, efficiency, and cooperation on the part of all personnel contributed in the fullest measure to the devastation wreaked by the 373d Fighter Group on this significant day.  The outstanding performance, achieved through the superb esprit de corps of this unit, is in keeping with the highest traditions of the Army Air Forces."

 

By command of Major General WEYLAND:



W W MILLARD
Colonel, GSC
C     of     S
OFFICIAL:
s/ F. H. Monahan
h/ F. H. Monahan
    Lt. Col, A G D
    Adjutant General A TRUE COPY:
GEORGE A. ORMISTON,
Major, Air Corps.
Distribution: "A"
(Loss units not concerned)
Declassified

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412th Squadron patch image courtesy of Bruce Lowell and Bob Colangelo.