Twelve Marauders briefed to attack enemy strong points near Pesaro. First two boxes straddled centre of target area with wide and long patterns. Third box undershot slightly, pattern commencing outside but finishing well into Eastern portion of the target area. Third formation only encountered heavy ack-ack. Last aircraft down by 18.10 hours. Sortie Report No. 813.
Several Congratulatory Messages were received from the Army regarding the excellent bombing of the last few days.
APPENDIX TO WAR DIARY -21 SQUADRON — 3 SAAF WING PERIOD — 1st to 31st AUGUST, 1944
A new phase in the history of 21 Squadron was opened when the Squadron commenced operations on Marauders on the 15th August, 1944, after having successfully completed the conversion of all aircrew and ground personnel to the new type of aircraft during the four-week "stand-down" from operations.
Between the 15th and 31st of this month 233 operational sorties were flown during the 41 raids carried out over enemy territory, total operational flying time being 599 hours 10 mins. Of the 233 non-operational sorties — involving 344 hours 15 mins — the major part was devoted to training purposes during the first half of this month.
The first target allocated to 21 Squadron Marauders was the Porto Maggiore Marshalling Yards which were very effectively straddled, all bombs falling in the target area.
The next three raids were directed against the Adige RR Bridge (near Rovigo), but, though the bombing was fairly accurate, no direct hits were scored.
Marshalling Yards at Imola, Forli, and Ravenna were the next objectives and considerable damage was done to each of these targets. However, over Ravenna, intensive accurate HAA was encountered — eleven out of twelve aircraft were holed; three personnel were slightly injured, whilst a fourth received severe wounds in the thigh.
On the 25th, the offensive against the Gothic Line commenced and 21 Squadron carried out a total of 111 sorties in close Army support from then until the end of the month. Heavy AA of varying degrees of accuracy and intensity was encountered over the Gothic Line area on most occasions, but no Squadron losses were sustained.
From the commencement of this assault, the Squadron — acting under Wing instructions — adopted a box formation of four aircraft, each box being briefed to carry out its attack independently. The results have been highly gratifying — this has been amply proved by the appreciative messages of congratulations received from the Army on a couple of occasions during this phase of operations. These encouraging messages helped to wind off the month in a well-satisfied spirit.