93rd Bombardment Group (H) - RAF Hardwick

The 93rd Bombardment Group (H) was one of the most distinguished heavy bomber units of the U.S. Army Air Forces in the European Theater during World War II. Flying the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, the group conducted strategic bombing operations against German industrial, military, and transportation targets across occupied Europe and Nazi Germany. The group adopted the nickname "Ted's Travelling Circus" because of its Commanding Officer Col Edward Timberlake and frequent temporary deployments to forward bases in North Africa and other locations during the war.

The 93rd Bombardment Group was activated on 15 January 1942 and trained in the United States with B-24 Liberators. It deployed to England in September-October 1942, becoming the first B-24 group to join the 8th Air Force in the United Kingdom. The group was stationed at RAF Hardwick, which served as its main combat base for most of the war.

The 93rd flew its first combat mission on 9 October 1942, attacking German industrial targets in occupied France and continued to operate primarily against submarine pens in the Bay of Biscay up to December 1942. A large detachment from the group was sent to North Africa in December 1942 and the group received a DUC for operations in that theater, when, with inadequate supplies and under the most difficult desert conditions, the detachment struck heavy blows at enemy shipping and communications. The detachment returned to England, February-March 1943, and until the end of June the group bombed engine repair works, harbors, power plants, and other targets in France, the Low Countries, and Germany. A detachment returned to the Mediterranean theater, June-July 1943, to support the invasion of Sicily and to participate in the famous low-level attack on enemy oil installations at Ploesti on 1 August 1943. Having followed another element of the formation along the wrong course to Ploesti, the 93rd bombed targets that had been assigned to other groups, but it carried out its bombing of the vital oil installations despite heavy losses inflicted by attacks from the fully alerted enemy and was awarded a DUC for the operation. Lt Col Addison E Baker, group commander, and Maj John L Jerstad, a former member of the group who had volunteered for this mission, were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for action in the Ploesti raid: refusing to make a forced landing in their damaged B-24. These men, as pilot and co-pilot of the lead plane, led the group to bomb the oil facilities before their plane crashed in the target area.

After the detachment returned to England in August 1943, the group flew only two missions before the detachment was sent back again to the Mediterranean to support 5th Army at Salerno during the invasion of Italy in September 1943. The detachment rejoined the group in October 1943. From then up through April 1945 the 93rd concentrated on bombardment of strategic targets such as marshalling yards, aircraft factories, oil refineries, chemical plants, and cities in Germany. In addition, the group bombed gun emplacements, choke points, and bridges near Cherbourg during the Normandy invasion in June 1944 and attacked troop concentrations in northern France during the St Lo breakthrough in July 1944. Missions to transport food, gasoline, water, and other supplies to the Allies advancing across France occurred in Aug-Sep 1944 and supplies to airborne troops were dropped in Holland on 18 September 1944. Enemy transportation and other targets were struck during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 - January 1945. The 93rd Bomb Group continued bombing operations from England through early 1945 and flew its last combat mission on 21 April 1945.

By the end of the war the group had flown a total of 311 combat missions and destroyed approximately 266 enemy aircraft. The group lost 135 aircraft in combat and non-combat operations.

Campaigns
The 93rd Bombardment Group participated in the following campaigns: Antisubmarine - American Theater, Air Combat - EAME Theater, Egypt-Libya, Air Offensive - Europe, Tunisia, Sicily, Naples-Foggia; Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe.

Decorations
Distinguished Unit Citations (DUC): North Africa and Mediterranean Operations - December 1942, Ploesti Oil Refineries - August 1943.
Individual Awards: Medals of Honor were posthumously awarded to Addison E Baker and John L. Jerstad for heroism during the Ploesti raid.

Oversea Burials   93rd Bomb Group Oversea Burials

Group Web Site   https://www.93bg.com/