Kenneth DeLong Mission June 25, 1942

*** MISSION 2

Wed. 6/24-Thurs. 6/25/4

HOME BASE Fayid, Egypt

TARGET Benghazi, Libya .

COMBAT FLYING HRS.   (this mission) 8:15  total tour  18:30

BRIEFING 1400 hrs (6/24) TAKE OFF 2140 (6/24) LANDING 0555 (6/25)

CREW Lt. T. D. Brown PLANE #17 (crew addition, Lt. Malley, Navigator) BOMB LOAD 6-500 lb. TARGET TIME 0200(6/25) BOMBING ALT. 20000'

NO. of PLANES 10 of our B-24's & 12 British "Libs"---also, 60 British medium "Wimpies" preceded us at low altitude.

BOMBING RESULTS Made bomb run in bright moonlight ... no mention of results.

ENEMY ACTION Heavy anti-aircraft fire, some bursting high above us.

Several searchlights were operating, but did not locate us. No fighter aircraft were seen.

OTHER REMARKS Observed German planes bombing Darwin during our return trip.

HISTORY "Alamein, a forty mile passage hemmed in by the Mediterranean on one side and an impassable canyon on the other, proved to be a bottleneck the AFRIKA KORPS could not uncork. Being essentially a fixed front, it ruled out the wide flanking movements that had brought Rommel his victories. General Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief for the entire Middle East, had assumed personal command of the British Eighth Army. In what some have called the first Battle of Alamein, July 1-17, he finally stopped Rommel. In mid-August, Lt. Gen. Bernard L. Montgomery took command of the Eighth Army and prepared at leisure for the second and more celebrated Battle of Alamein" •.... from Reader's Digest Illustrated Story of World War II, page 278.