12^th AIR FORCE

57^th BOMB WING

340^th BOMB GROUP (M)

MISSION APRIL 20, 1945

486^th and 487^th Squadrons April 20, 1945

Photo Credit: Herman Voss via Giuseppe Versolato [gversola@alice.it]

Recoaro Terme, Italy today

486^th BS Mission sheets credit: Herman Voss

April 20, 1945

486^th

Two targets today and one of them was very interesting. It was the German army group headquarters for Italy. It was well hit and we hope we caught a lot of brass with their pants down.

487^th

The target for six bombers taking off at 1135 hours was the German Headquarters at Recoaro, Italy. They also encountered flak coming from Ferrara although this was accurate and one plane was holed. Buildings #10, #11 and #12 (our target) were well covered. Direct hits were observed on all three buildings.

489^th The mission today carried our planes to San Ambrogio, but it was an unsuccessful one. A malfunction in the lead plane prevented the dropping of bombs, and thus none of the other planes in the formation dropped.
Airplane 9K, returning from the mission, crashed on the field. Approaching the field with engine trouble, the pilot called the tower and informed them that he was coming in for an emergency landing. As the plane was being brought down, one of the engines coughed and cut out. Before the pilot could do anything to correct this condition, the plane lunged over and crashed, just missing a farmhouse near the runway. The plane was destroyed beyond repair, but miraculously there were no casulties, except a slight head injury to the tail gunner. One engine and the bombardier's compartment were completely sheared off.

Above text credit: Dan Setzer and 57^th Bomb Wing website

BOMB RUN ON RECOARO TERME , ITALY APRIL 20, 1945

GERMANS SURRENDER ITALY

While the political leaders in Berlin made their attempts, the German troops began to surrender en masse. The first great surrender occurred in Italy, where the local German commander approached General Harold Alexander on April 29, 1944; all fighting ceased in Italy on May 2, 1944.

From Giuseppe Versolato [gversola@alice.it] www.giuseppeversolato.it All material below are to his credit.

[The 487th was involved , in one of its last Italian missions (20 April 1945), on a great operation, the bombing of the German Army Headquarters in Italy at Recoaro Terme in the territory of my town Vicenza, North East Italy. Here there was the commander of Germans , Gen. Von Vietinghoff-Schell. A few days after this raid German signed the surrender of German Army in Italy.

With other two friends I wrote also a book about this mission, "Recoaro 1945, The surrender of German Army in Italy "where is detailed written the mission performed by 12 aircraft of the 486th and 6 of the 487th. I think you can agree from some photos of the bombing that the 487th was a protagonist.]

Email Dialog with Giuseppe Versolato (Dec. 19, 2005):

Lt. W. M. Hartman (487^th) Returns Stateside after the Germans surrender.

Note the 487^th Black Knight logo on his bag.

Giuseppe

Nice image [of Hartman] with the Black Knight! I was thinking last night that you experienced the bombs the 340th BG was dropping from the other end. I remember as a young boy asking my father what he thought about innocent people on the ground getting one of his bombs. I don't remember his exact reply but I know he was proud to have done a job for his country and to have an effect on the outcome. Thanks, Doug

Yes Doug,

Many people were involved and killed in the bombardments... but it was the" price" of the Freedom of Italy. People paid the terrific [price to end the] alliance of Mussolini and his government with the Nazism. Have you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Giuseppe

487^th Squadron Mission Sheet for April 20, 1945

Front row- second from right, is Capt.Paul Spencer, operations officer

of the Squadron who signed the list mission of 487th for Recoaro.

Back Row, second from right S/Sgt Tony Guckwa who was in the aircraft 7A

Bombing of the German Army Headquarters in Italy at Recoaro Terme

Near Vicenza, Italy

B-25 Models of Planes in the April 20, 1045 attack on Recoaro Terme

In Giuseppe Versolato’s Museum celebrating Italy’s Liberation

Giuseppe Versolato’s Book on the April 20, 1045 attack on Recoaro Terme