One Marauder airborne between 1434 and 1721 hrs to find a

Sortie Report (Form 541)

Date: 19th MARCH, 1945

APPENDIX "N"116FROM : S.I.O. 21 SQUADRON S.A.A.F.TO : H.Q. M.A.A.F. ( ATTENTION OPERATIONS RECORDS)H.Q. M.A.T.A.F. ( SCORU)W.I.O. 3 WING S.A.A.F.REF. : 958/21SDATE : 19th MARCH, 1945.OPREP NO. 968 FOR THE PERIOD 1200 to 2100 HRS ON THE 18th MARCH, 1945.Ref Map ITALY 1:100,000 SHEET 40 - PALMANOVA.Operation NO. 170/21S/M.A : 8 Marauders airborne from Jesi L/G between 1449 hrs and1738 hrs. to bomb PORTO NOGARA CELLULOSE FACTORY atH. 395914. After R/V at Porto Corsini with an escort of8 Spits, formation set course for target and bombed from12000 to 12500' at 1625 hrs. Bombs from 2nd Box fellwith a left lateral error in open country. 3rd boxbombed from a point just south of the target, the stickending on the edge of the factory, and straddled an areadescribed on photo as oil storage. There was no enemyopposition and weather was good, with visibility fair overthe target.One Marauder airborne between 1434 and 1721 hrs to find awind in Porto Nogaro area, and bomb stores at M. 304659.Bombs fell with a big overshoot in open country.B : (1) 9 Marauders III (ii) NilC : (1) & (ii) NilD : (1) 24.45 Hrs. (ii) NilE : (1) 30,600 x .50 (ii) & (iii) NilF : (1) 54 x 500 GP Tail fused 30 - 51 (Demo) (ii) as in (1) 6 Packets36 x 250 GP " " " " " " Pamphlets and 255 lbsWindow dropped(iii) & (iv) NilG to Z : NilS.F. Wiggill [Signed]LT. Capt.S.I.O. 21 SQUADRON S.A.A.F.Handwritten Marginalia / Stamps:

Folio Number: 116 (Handwritten, Top Right).

Reference Stamp:The National Archives' reference AIR 27/271/3

Transcriber's Notes

S.I.O: Squadron Intelligence Officer. Lieutenant Captain S.F. Wiggill was responsible for debriefing aircrews and compiling OPREP data.
Jesi L/G: Jesi Landing Ground, Italy; the operational base for 21 Squadron in March 1945.
R/V: Rendezvous; the tactical coordination point at Porto Corsini for formation assembly with the 8 Spitfire escorts.
Spits: Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft provided for top-cover and escort.
Window: Chaff; strips of aluminum foil (255 lbs dispensed) used to saturate and confuse German radar-directed defenses. Operational Context Target File 271-3_29 chronicles Operation No. 170/21S/M, an 8-aircraft strike launched on March 18, 1945, against the Porto Nogaro Cellulose Factory. By March 1945, the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) were executing Operation Bingo, a theater-wide interdiction campaign designed to achieve the total logistical paralysis of German Heeresgruppe C in Northern Italy by systematically severing supply and production nodes. The Porto Nogaro site was a strategic industrial terminal near Palmanova, supporting Axis materiel depth. This methodology represents the strategic maturation of interdiction principles established during the 1943 battles for the Bernhardt and Gustav Lines. In November 1943, 21 Squadron SAAF conducted high-intensity strikes on localized bottlenecks, such as location H055630, to paralyze German reserves attempting to reinforce the front. By March 1945, the emphasis had shifted to theater-wide strategic isolation. The Porto Nogaro raid demonstrates sophisticated coordination, utilizing a specialized "windfinding" aircraft to pass atmospheric data to the main formation, although in this instance, the windfinder's own bombing run was unsuccessful. While the second box missed the target, the third box achieved kinetic success by straddling the factory's oil storage area. The formation integrated kinetic destruction with non-kinetic psychological warfare (6 packets of pamphlets) and technical electronic warfare (Window) to maintain relentless pressure on the crumbling Axis logistics network. 30

12500: The altitude in feet from which the strike photograph was captured.

MC/GP (Medium Capacity / General Purpose): Standard high-explosive ordnance, typically 500 lb and 250 lb variants, carried by SAAF crews to destroy physical industrial infrastructure and storage facilities.