Slight, fairly accurate heavy

Sortie Report (Form 541)

FROM : 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)S.A.O.A. ADV. S.A.A.F. H.Q. XXXXXX. C.M.F.W.I.O. 3 SA WING S.A.A.F.REF. : 21S/ 925DATE : 1st FEBRUARY, 1945.53OPREP NO. 925 FOR THE PERIOD ENDING 2100 ON THE 31st JAN. 1945.A TO V N I L .W : (1) 4 Marauders III (ii) NilX : (1) 8.30 Hrs. (ii) NilY to Z : Nil S.L. Boshoff CAPT. S.I.O. 21 SQUADRON S.A.A.F.

[Marginalia - Left Margin of mounting sheet, partially obscured/ghosted]:(UNITS ARE INSTRUCTED TO [illegible])(OPREP NO [illegible])(DATE [illegible])(UNIT [illegible])SECRET FEBRUARY, 1945. W A R D I A R Y O F

2 1 S Q U A D R O N, S O U T H A F R I C A NA I R F O R C E.1945.FEBRUARY. JESI LANDING GROUND, ITALY.1st - 7th Stand-down - no operations.8th Six Marauders, led by Lt. Col. Ord, D.F.C., followingeight aircraft of 30 Squadron, S.A.A.F. attacked thesouthern portion of the Gorizia Marshalling Yards. Nineaircraft were briefed, but three were prevented fromtaking off due to a Liberator blocking the runway after anemergency landing. Rendezvous was made with an escort often Spitfires at Bellaria. The first Vic straddled theMarshalling Yards with all bombs in the target area. Twosticks of 2nd Box in centre of yards; one aircraft under-shot by approximately 100 yards. No enemy oppositionencountered.Sortie Report No. 932. Appendix "A"9th - 18th Nil operations.19th Eleven Marauders, led by Comm. Dieu, attacked aconcentration of Railroad trucks in Conegliano MarshallingYards, making rendezvous with a fighter escort of sixSpits at Porto Corsini. All bombs of one aircraft hung-upand were jettisoned at sea. The first Box straddled thecentre of the Marshalling Yards with numerous direct hitson tracks and large buildings on either side; 2nd Boxslight left error, but hits claimed on adjacent sheds;3rd Box straddled converging tracks in N.E. portion ofyards. Target clear of cloud but visibility poor due toground haze and smoke from previous bombing - large fireat B684008 on arrival. Very slight and inaccurate heavyack-ack from target area. 16 packets of "Front Post"dropped in target area.Sortie Report No. 936. Appendix "B"20th Eleven Marauders, led by Lt. Col. Ord, D.F.C., withtwo Marauders (one of 30 Squadron, S.A.A.F.) attackedheavy flak positions consisting of two six gun sites atG.261132 and 261138. Area cover was provided by 12 Spits.Bombs from first box fell with lateral error to the leftfrom G.253120 - 251124, scoring a direct hit on road atG.253120. 2nd box bombed with right lateral error fromG.257120 - 256125. Direct hits on buildings at G.256125.3rd box bombed from G.254125 - 252127 - bombs falling alo-ng either side of the road with one direct hit on road atG.252125. One aircraft returned early with engine troubleand brought all bombs back. Another brought back half abombload which hung-up. Window and pamphlets were droppedbefore and after target. Slight, fairly accurate heavyack-ack over target area holed two aircraft slightly.First Anti Flak aircraft straddled Gun Position from whichmost concentrated fire had come at G.261138, causingcomplete cessation of fire. 2nd Aircraft had left errorof about 100 yards. This was the first Anti Flak operat-ion by this Squadron.Sortie Report No. 937. Appendix "C"Page 2.20th On the second raid of the day nine Marauders, led(continued) by Comm. Dieu, in three Vics set out to bomb rollingstock in the Monsanta Marshalling Yards of Gorizia,making rendezvous with a close escort of 6 Spits. atPorto Corsini. Patterns of all boxes resulted in a righterror, sticks falling across narrow southern entrance toMarshalling Yards, with some direct hits on tracksleading to main sidings and sheds. 12 packets of pamph-lets were dropped in target area. No enemy oppositionencountered.Sortie Report No. 938. Appendix "D"21st Ten Marauders, led by Lt. Col. D. Ord, D.F.C.,attacked the Sugar Refinery at Sermide; area cover wasprovided by twelve Spits. Bombs from the first Box fellwith a lateral error to the right, scoring a direct hiton road, and several direct hits on buildings in Easternportion of village. Bombs from 2nd Box fell in twosticks having slight lateral errors - one to the leftedge and the other to the right edge of the target.Direct hits scored on buildings close to the target.Third Box brought all bombs back, Leader's bombs havinghung up. One 250 lbs. hang-up in 1st Box was jettisonedin the sea. No enemy opposition. Visibility poor inthick haze. 16 Packets of pamphlets and 7 packed ofwindow dispensed.Sortie Report No. 939. Appendix "E" On the 2nd raid, eight Marauders led by Comm. Dieu, briefed to attack the Nervesa Rail Diversion, but after crews were already in dispersal bays the target was changed to Monselice Marshalling Yards. From Ravenna northwards 10/10 cloud at 13,000 feet was encountered, and formation proceeded to Cervia and contacted "Mattock" with a view to carrying out a Radar Raid. After two courses to steer had been given, formation lost contact and returned on reciprocal to vicinity of Cervia. Another attempt was then made but the effort again proved aborti- ve due to bad communication. All pilots of formation reported poor reception. Further attempts were abandoned due to the possibility of failing light at base. Formation jettisoned all bombs in sea about 15 miles N.E. of Cervia and returned to base. Slight, fairly accurate heavy ack-ack encountered above cloud between Ferrara and Lake Comacchio and three aircraft were holed (cat. 1 ). Sortie Report No. 940. Appendix "F"

22nd Eleven Marauders, led by Lt.Col. Ord, D.F.C. bombedthe Serride Sugar Refinery at F.869057. First two Boxesmain weight of bombs in northern half of briefed target;2nd Box left hand error about 100 yards among adjacentbuildings; of the two remaining aircraft, one had aslight left error and the pattern of the other commencedin the centre of target and ran out into open ground.5 x 500 and 4 x 250 lbs. hung-up and were brought back.Pamphlets and window dropped in target area. Target clearbut visibility poor due to haze. No enemy opposition.Sortie Report No. 941. Appendix "G"23rd Eleven Marauders, led by Comm. Dieu, attacked thePontelongo Sugar Refinery at G.455301. An area cover ofeight Spitfires was provided. Ten of the aircraft strad-dled target with 90% plus bombs, causing a large explos-ion in S.W. corner, followed by billowing black smoke andflames. One aircraft had a premature release, stickfalling short of target in open country. No enemy oppos-ition encountered. Pamphlets and window dropped asbriefed.Sortie Report No. 942. Appendix "H"Page 3.23rd Two Marauders set out from Jesi Landing Ground on an(continued) Anti-Flak mission against Heavy ack-ack Gun Positionsdefending Tagliamento River crossings at Casarsa DellaDelizia. The two aircraft of this Squadron flew with twoof 30 Squadron in a box with 30 Squadron's Raid Formation,bombing less than a minute ahead of the formation. Thefirst aircraft had an undershoot, bombing from C.146082 toC.143087, but scored hits on Rail Diversion and adjacentbridge. Stick from second aircraft fell from C.134110 toC.135115, in slight lateral error to right. Two clustersof six bombs hung-up and were jettisoned in sea. Slight,inaccurate heavy ack-ack encountered over the target.Decrease in flak after bombing and no light ack-ack seenwhen P.47's went in after last flak ship bombed. Windowand pamphlets dropped.Sortie Report No. 943. Appendix "I"24th Eleven Marauders, led by Lt. Col. Ord, DFC., set outto bomb the rail road bridge at Pordenone. The object ofthe raid was to prevent the enemy working on the bridge torepair damage done by the fighter bombers. The formationmade rendezvous with a close escort of 6 Spits at PortoCorsini. First Box's bombs undershot with 5 - 600 yardsright error. Second Box straddled target area with onemarker bomb bursting about 100 yards south of the bridge.Stick was 200 yards long. One marker bomb in stick fromthird box fell about 300 yards beyond the bridge, butstick straddled western approaches. All bombs of oneaircraft jettisoned in the sea 15 to 20 miles east ofVenice. Window and pamphlets were dispensed in vicinityof target. Two bursts, inaccurate heavy ack-ack from Grado.Sortie Report No. 944. Appendix "J"25th Eleven Marauders, led by Comm. Dieu, briefed toattack the Cellulose Factory at Torre di Zuino at H446928.After rendezvous with 12 Squadron over base, whole form-ation picked up a close escort of 10 Spits. at PortoCorsini. First and third Boxes straddled western half offactory with many direct hits on buildings. Second Boxhad a left error of about 100 yards with hits on adjacentbuildings. 25 packets of pamphlets were dropped in targetvicinity. No enemy opposition encountered.Sortie Report No. 945. Appendix "K"26th Eleven Marauders, led by Capt. Musgrove, attacked theArsie R. D. Bridge at B.283124, with the Adige River lockgates as an alternative. After rendezvous with six Spits.at Porto Corsini formation set course for target. Fromsouth of the Po to the Alps, 9 to 10/10 cloud encountered.There was thick ground haze all the way to near target andformation was unable to identify target and returned tobase with bomb-load. One aircraft shortly before reachingtarget area developed engine trouble, broke away and afterfeathering propeller of starboard engine, flew towardsbase, closely escorted by two of the fighters. This air-craft landed at Cesenatico Landing Ground, after jettison-ing whole bomb-load. All the other aircraft landed atbase with bombs. There was no enemy opposition.Sortie Report No. 946. Appendix "L"27th - 28th No operations. S U M M A R Y.

Due to adverse weather conditions only one operation was carried out up to the 19th of the month. On the 8th six aircraft attacked the Gorizia Marshalling Yards with fairly good results.Page. 4.A Liberator landed when the Squadron was taking off and obstructedthe runway and three aircraft were unable to take off. On the 20th,21st and 23rd two raids a day were carried out. Four MarshallingYards in Northern Italy were attacked with good results. One raidwas abortive due to 10/10ths cloud over the target area. Other tar-gets consisted of Sugar Refineries and a Cellulose Factory. On the23rd outstanding results were obtained when 90% of bombs of elevenaircraft fell on the Ponto Longo Sugar Refinery. Two Railroad Bridgesthe Pordenone and Arsie, were also targets for the month. Againstthe Pordenone Bridge delayed action bombs were used. Raid on theArsie Bridge was abortive due to thick ground haze in Northern Italy.On this raid one aircraft piloted by Lieut. D.L. Becke developedengine trouble five minutes before the target was reached. Aircraftbroke formation, one engine was feathered, and a course set for baseclosely guarded by two Spitfires of the fighter escort. The coastwas crossed just north of the Bombline en route and the sound enginesustained direct hits by 20 mm. ack-ack. The aircraft was neverthe-less brought back as far as Cesenatico where a successful landingwas made. On the 27th February, the G.O.C. - Major General F.H.

Theron visited the camp, accompanied by Lt. Col. Hudson and MajorKennedy, and appeared to be satisfied with the position and generalcondition of the camp. Early in February, Major L. G. Hamlet "A" Flight Commander

and Capt. P.H. Nicolay Deputy "A" Flight Commander were posted forR.T.U. as operational tour expired. Lieut. J.O. Harle (observer)arrived on a second tour with this Squadron. The R.S.M. W.O.1.L.A.J. Atkinson was posted for R.T.U. as tour of duty expired and W.O.1.L.I. Dreyer arrived as his replacement. Towards the end of February the weather suddenly changed

for the better. After several sunny days the mud began to dry andat last we were able to shed our gumboots, don ordinary footwear andcould walk about the camp without the anxiety of losing a shoe atthe next step ! Entertainment was of the usual high standard during

February. The highlight of the month was the visit of an ItalianOpera Company who put on the well known Operas "The Barber of Seville""La Boheme" and "Rigoletto" Their performances were first-class andcompared favourably with those of the premier opera companies ofRome. Owing to the bad weather and transport difficulty in

providing covered trucks to Jesi, our nearest convenient centre forentertainment, some alternative had to be found. Lt. Col. D. Ord,D.F.C. the C.O. of the squadron had a "brainwave" - which was to usea Nissen Hut as a Recreation Hall. The matter was discussed withMajor Rautenbach (Squadron Adjutant) who went one better and suggest-ed joining two or three Nissen Huts, and further that the huts shouldbe placed on sloping ground so as to obtain "modern theatre" constru-ction effect. The Hall was built as suggested, lined with a brickfloor, and a modern stage and dressing rooms were constructed.Further credit is due to Lt. Col. Ord for his "scrounging ability"in obtaining from "unknown sources" sufficient benches to comfortablyseat 250. The Padre, Rev. S.R. Skemp, rendered valuable assistancein supervising the completion of the interior fixtures. TheRecreation Hall has already proved its worth - lectures and cinemashows have been held, and the conditions found to be excellent. Itis confidently anticipated that our "Nissen Hut" Recreation Hall willbe copied in the near future by 30 Squadron, S.A.A.F. During February leave was resumed and weekly parties were

sent to Florence and Rome. The Voortrekker Club in Florence is mostpopular with members of this Squadron. It is central, food andPage 5.sleeping accommodation both excellent, and the Club provides thatessential change from the normal camp routine. Five members of this Squadron were selected for the 3 Wing

Rugby Team who defeated No. 205 Group by 6 points to 3 at Foggia.With the welcome change in the weather Softball has begun once again.Apart from inter-section games this Squadron defeated No. 12 Squadronand 30 Squadron by a large margin of points. Of the inter-sectionteams the "Pilots" still seem to be on top. I have read over this diary and the facts are correct.

[Handwritten Signature: J. Becke] [Handwritten Signature: D. Ord]-----------------------------------------|--------------------------------------LIEUT. DIARIST | COMMANDING, NO. 21 SQUADRON, S.A.A.F.| LT. COL.

Transcriber's Notes

S.I.O: Squadron Intelligence Officer.
M.A.A.F: Mediterranean Allied Air Forces.
C.M.F: Central Mediterranean Force.
OPREP: Operational Report.
Marauders III: British designation for the Martin B-26G Marauder medium bomber.
Marauders: Martin B-26G Marauder medium bombers, which had replaced the Martin Baltimore in 21 Squadron's inventory by late 1944.
SECRET: Security classification maintained at the time of writing.
Liberator: Consolidated B-24 heavy bomber.
Liberator: Consolidated B-24 heavy bomber.
Vic: A standard tactical formation of three aircraft flying in a 'V' shape.

S.A.O.A. ADV. S.A.A.F. H.Q.: Senior Air Officer Administration, Advanced South African Air Force Headquarters.

W.I.O. 3 SA WING: Wing Intelligence Officer, 3 South African Wing (consisting of 12, 21, 24, and 30 Squadrons).

Lt. Col. Ord, D.F.C.: Lieutenant Colonel Ord, Distinguished Flying Cross. Commanding Officer of 21 Squadron.

Lt. Col. D. Ord, D.F.C.: Lieutenant Colonel Donald Ord, Distinguished Flying Cross; Commanding Officer of 21 Squadron.

Hung up: A mechanical or electrical failure preventing bombs from releasing from their shackles.

10/10 cloud: Complete cloud cover with no visible sky.

Anti-Flak mission: A specialized sortie designed to suppress or destroy enemy anti-aircraft batteries (Flak Suppression) to allow the main bomber force to strike with reduced risk.

Marker bomb: A bomb, often incendiary or high-visibility, used by the formation leader to mark the aiming point for following aircraft.

9 to 10/10 cloud: Meteorological shorthand for nearly total or total cloud cover.

Cesenatico Landing Ground: An Allied-controlled airfield on the Adriatic coast used for emergency landings. Operational Context: The missions described from 23–26 February 1945 highlight the MATAF's focus on "Operation Bingo," the isolation of the German 10. Armee and 14. Armee in Italy. By targeting the Pordenone railroad bridge and Torre di Zuino factory, 21 Squadron sought to prevent the repair of infrastructure and the production of vital materiel (cellulose for explosives). This late-war tactical landscape bears direct comparison to the strategic objectives of November 1943 during the offensive against the Bernhardt Line. At that time, precision medium bombardment of road and rail junctions, such as those at grid H055630 near the Mignano Gap, was crucial for preventing German reserves from reinforcing the Gustav Line. In both 1943 and 1945, the use of specialized coordinate systems (Modified British Grid) and the coordinated use of fighter escorts and anti-flak suppressors were essential to overcoming the sophisticated German integrated air defense systems. The 1945 missions specifically aimed to force a total logistical collapse to preclude a German retreat into the "Alpine Redoubt". Interpretations of Marginalia and Notes:

10/10ths cloud: Total cloud cover; zero visibility of the ground.

Inter-section games: Sports competitions held between different administrative or operational sections within the squadron (e.g., Pilots vs. Ground Crew).