Smoke and Thunderbolts

Air-Ground Cooperation via Conference Call

A view from the cockpit of a P47 Thunderbolt ground-attack aircraft 28 May 1944 (US National Archives)

Adjusting Close Air Support

Comments of Lt Braden Vanderventer, Jr., Acting Air-Ground Liaison Officer, 100th Infantry Division

Situation

On 5 April 1945 the 100th infantry Division was attacking the town of Heilbronn, Germany, where German forces, with artillery support, were resisting bitterly. The 398th Infantry Regiment, whose mission was to close upon Heilbronn from the north, was held up by fire from German pillboxes and from a nearby patch of woods. Forward elements of the 398th were only 300 yards from the pillboxes. At the time, there was no artillery which could ef­fectively shell the enemy fortifications because the main effort was being made some 10,000 yards to the south. The regimental S-3 immediately requested an attack by fighter-bombers.

Stan Stokes P-47 Thunderbolts (US National Archives)