Recon September 1944 & Lost Allied Airmen in Alsace 1944

Battle Order STAUWEHR "MÄRKT" (Weil a.Rhein)

Early September 1944, the Allied Headquarters (SHAEF) instructed Bomber Command to bomb the Rheinstauwehr at Märkt D, just 3 kilometers north of Basel,Switzerland in order to take control over the Oberrhein during the Belfort offensive of the US and French Forces .

The Maerkt Barrage belongs to the power plant Kembs F, which supplies electricity to Alsace since 1932.

In any case, they wanted to alleviate a situation the Germans  blowing up the Barrage, as the Allied High Command assumed that the Germans in a last attempt  to stop the advancing French and American troops in which these vast areas under the river Märkt , as they have already done in France and Holland . 

This Barrage had a chronology of destructions when had been blown up in 1940 by the retreating French troops, though with a prior notification to the Swiss Rhine Authorities.

On 2nd of Sept.1944  541 Sqd dispatched one Mustang III for high altitude recon over
the Stauwehr Maerkt (Kembs Barrage ) to plot final mission and determine the state 
of the barrage and the latest status of AA defenses.

 

541 RECON SQD

The dispatched Mustang III returned from target with a clear photo showing numerous AA positions on the German , French side of the barrage and upper island and yet no Radar 
stations on that perimeter .  A FW-190 was observed diving from 5000 feet or more near
Freiburg i.B.It's unknown how many shots were accomplished on that mission and what the RAF Intel learned from this or other preliminary photos .

References : IWM

Belfort Pocket Sept .1944 lost airmen 

Recon and Straffing Mission on 9.9.1944 to Altkirch
324 FG / 316 FS
2LT GREY, MERRILL C  (KIA)
From North Branch, Minnesota.
KIA 9-9-1944 as pilot of P-47D / #42-26539. Shot down by
flak and crashed near Dannemarie, 9 kms east of Altkirch,
Alsace ,France some 40 Km NW of Basel

2Lt Grey is buried at Lorraine Cemetery, C-9-66.

Source of the portrait photograph: Pilot Class Book 44-B, Moore Field, Mission, Texas. Courtesy of my Fields of Honor Database colleague Willem who indexed this class book.

27 FG / 522 FS
2LT HUNGER, NED O.
From Burlington, Iowa.

KIA 9-9-1944 as pilot of P-47D / #42-27067 / MACR 8386. Sortie: armed recce in the Belfort area, France. Pilot hit smoke stack while strafing, possibly hit by flak. Crashed near Aneumenil, near Vesoul, west of Belfort, France. KIA. 2Lt Hunger is buried at Epinal Cemetery, A-15-24.

Source of the portrait photograph: Pilot Class Book 43-K, Gibbs Field, Texas. Courtesy of my Fields of Honor Database colleague Ria who indexed this class book.

359 FG/370 FS
CAPT. KIBLER, RALPH E. JR.
KIA 11-5-1944 as pilot of P-51B / #42-106865 / MACR 4704.
Bomber escort mission to Mulhouse, France some 45 Km from Basel Switzerland
Shot down by flak while strafing aircraft on Reims airfield.
Capt Kibler is buried in Epinal Cemetery, B-46-25.

Source of the photograph:
Pilot Class Book 43-BC, Jones Field, Texas.
Courtesy of my Fields of Honor Database colleague Ria who indexed this class book.