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856th Bombardment Squadron

The 856th Bombardment Squadron was a United States Army Air Forces unit. it was first activated in October 1943 as one of the original Consolidated B-24 Liberator squadrons of the 492d Bombardment Group. After deploying to England, the 492d entered the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, but in three months of combat, the 492d Group suffered the most severe losses of an Eighth Air Force bomber group. The 492d Group was withdrawn from combat in August 1944, and the 856th moved on paper to replace the 36th Bombardment Squadron, which was engaged in Operation Carpetbagger, dropping agents and supplies behind German lines, primarily in France. As American forces advanced in France, this special operations mission diminished. The squadron briefly transported fuel to mechanized units in France, then returned to special operations in Scandinavia and Germany under the operational control of Eighth Air Force until the end of hostilities in Europe. It returned to the United States for conversion to Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, but was inactivated in October 1945.

History
Training and strategic bombing The squadron was first organized in October 1943 at Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico, as one of the original squadrons of the 492d Bombardment Group. Its cadre was drawn from the 859th Bombardment Squadron, a former antisubmarine unit whose mission had transferred to the Navy. By January 1944, most of the ground echelon of the squadron had been used to form other bomber units. 2d Bombardment Division, which controlled VIII Bomber Command's Liberator units in England, began to form a new ground echelon for the squadron from personnel of bomber units already in England, while the air echelon of the 856th continued training with Consolidated B-24 Liberators at Alamogordo. The air echelon began to depart Alamogordo on 1 April 1944, following the southern ferry route, while the few remaining members of the ground echelon departed on 11 April, sailing on the on 20 April. When the 492d Group returned to strategic operation, on 20 June Luftwaffe fighters, primarily Messerschmitt Bf 110s, using air to air rockets shot down fourteen of the 492d Group's B-24s. Heavy losses, this time to fighters from Jagdgeschwader 3, were again suffered on 29 June. On 5 August, the decision was made to withdraw the 492d Group from combat. With the 492d Group, the squadron flew 198 Operation Carpetbagger missions by the middle of September. With black-painted aircraft configured with engine flame dampeners and optimized for night operations, the group operated chiefly over France with B-24s and Douglas C-47 Skytrains, transporting agents, supplies, and propaganda leaflets to Resistance fighters. As Allied forces moved forward through northern France and into Belgium, the need for Carpetbagger missions decreased and operations ended on 16 September 1944. The squadron's support for the French Resistance earned it the French Croix de Guerre with Palm. With the drawdown of the Carpetbagger mission, the squadron concentrated on hauling gasoline to advancing mechanized forces in France and Belgium. After December 1944, the squadron began limited night bombing operations. The squadron left England for the United States in early August 1945. In August 1945 it began to reform at Kirtland Field, New Mexico as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber squadron, however it became unnecessary when the Pacific War ended and it was inactivated on 17 October 1945. ==Lineage==
Lineage
• Constituted as the 856th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 14 September 1943 : Activated on 1 October 1943 : Redesignated 856th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 5 August 1945 : Inactivated on 17 October 1945 England, 1 January 1944 • RAF Harrington (AAF-179), Aircraft • Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1943–1945 • Douglas C-47 Skytrain, 1944–1945 • Douglas A-26 Invader, 1945 • de Havilland Mosquito, 1945 Awards and campaigns ==References==
Source: Wikipedia ↗
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