398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association


Lt. Robert H. Dee, Jr.'s Diary
Co-Pilot, 601st Squadron

Dee's Mission No. 24

14 February 1945
Target: Prague, Czech

No. 24
Feb. 14, 1945

The target was Dresden. The MPI was the center of town! We got moderate accurate flak shortly after Zeider Zee. The No. 2 engine was running rough and we also couldn’t keep up. We had a long way to go so we dropped bombs in a field. Only a few bursts of flak at target, and we saw the bombs burst. The lead navigator had his head up and we plastered Prague, Czechoslovakia instead of Dresden.

We ran completely out of gas 15 miles the other side of the front lines near Saarbrucken and crash landed less than 5 miles from the front lines. Both wings were torn off and the ship was split in two, the bottom was torn off, nobody hurt. We tore down trees, telephone poles, shrubs, and plowed up dirt. We went to Vivieres and then to A-92 (St. Troud). The next day, I visited Liege and Brussels. Flew back several days later with another crew and arrived here 2/19/45. Missing in action letter sent home.


Editor's Note:

  1. The official 398th target for 14 February was Prague, Czech. The original target appears to have been Dresden but along the way the whole group went to Prague instead, which then became the 398th official target for the day.

Notes:
  • Lt. Robert H. Dee, Jr. was the regular Co-Pilot for the Byron L. Magness 601st Crew. On occasion, he flew with other crews.
  • The above transcription was provided by Marty Dee, brother of Robert H. Dee, Jr.
  • This transcription is a reproduction of the original. Spelling and punctuation changes have been made to improve readability. In some circumstances, material may not have been transcribed or was rewritten.
  • Clarification of acronyms or special words or guesses of certain words are shown in brackets [ ].

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