2nd Ltt. Palle Thomsen

331 Sqn

Spitfire IX L.F. (FN-H)

25.02.45

10:50 - 12:00

D.D.863. Armed recce area "V" ARNHEM-EMMERICH-DINSLEBEN - DUISBURG-ROERMOND. The squadron operated in sections of 2 a/c on the above operation searching for Met and Railways in the battle area. They did 3 complet turn rounds with a total of 22 sorties. The first section was airborne at 07:40 hrs. Some scattred Met was found and attacked but at places thick haze affected the visibility and made the de[te]ction of movement on the ground difficult. However the final result of the days work was quite good as summarised below: 65 plus marching soldiers (infantry) strafed, many casualties. 2 Met destroyed, 4 Met destroyed, 1 with trailer and 1 carrying troops. 1 loco damaged, 1 D/R killed. Flak post strafed. Village of HALDEN strafed. Flak was very intense at some places, particularly along the river RHEIN from EMMERICH to RUHR and one of our a/c returned with a flak hole through cockpit, the pilot however was unhurt and landed safely at base. Another a/c, piloted by Sgt. Westly was damaged during landing at B.77 when one undercarriage leg failed to lower. The remainder of the squadron completed their mission sucesfully and returned safely to base, the last a/c being down at 14.35.

AIR 27/1726