The Bloody Hundredth

Jan Zdiarský,
100th BG Foundation

The 100th Bomb Group was one of forty similar units in the 8th Air Force. It has not established any measurable absolute dominance over any other groups during its fighting career. The unit wasn't the first to come to England, it didn't drop the most bombs, it didn't fly the most missions, it didn't even have the biggest losses, although that is often said. And yet, it was, and still is, exceptional in her legacy. After the first months of operation in Europe, it began to be called ‘The Bloody Hundredth’. The unit you didn't want to be in as a rookie... Although its members preferred to call themselves the ‘Century Bombers’, with the former, less flattering moniker catching on and even adopted by many of its airmen.

The Hundredth had a reputation for unusually heavy losses over several specific missions, losses that decimated a large percentage of a particular component squadron, all but emptying the quarters that housed the crews that did not return from that mission. Understandably, the reasons for the unusual, decimating statistical fluctuations were investigated, and many of the conclusions bordered on fantasy and legend. There was talk of poor morale and discipline, insufficient training of its original crews, or the fact that the Luftwaffe just had the Hundredth in focus. Today, armed with the opportunity to look at problems from several angles, to put historical events into context, there is only one conclusion...the unit was too often in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Bloody Hundredth was simply unlucky and bore a lot of suffering and destruction on their shoulders, which did not spread to the other units of the 8th Air Force back in the day.

The members of the Bloody Hundredth were similar to those who served in other bombing units, not exceptional in their feats, skill or courage. The uniqueness of the unit was given by a special spirit of mutual reciprocity and determination, supported by the approach of several outstanding commanders and exceptional personalities who were an inspiration to their men and became legends that set an example for those that followed. They were the legends of the Bloody Hundredth, and its ‘D’ in a square marking, by which they recognized the planes of their comrades on missions. The legends inspired by the four-engined B-17s and the roar of their engines, the echoes of which we can still feel today on the overgrown taxiways of their home, Thorpe Abbotts Base in East England.

The 100th Bomb Group was established on June 1st, 1942 in Orlando, Florida, but we can consider the place of its real birth be Boise, Idaho, where it had its first personnel attached to it. By order No. 300, 254 men were transferred here. Less than three weeks later, the unit was officially activated. Its first commander became Col. Darr Alkire. He led the unit for most of the follow-up training, until April 26th, 1943, when he was replaced by Col. Howard Turner. The training, which primarily focused on group formation flying, long-range navigation flights, and bombing practice, was conducted primarily at bases in Walla Walla, Washington, Wendover Field, Utah, Sioux City, Iowa, and Kearney, Nebraska. On May 25th, 1943, the thirty-five original crew members of the unit began moving overseas. They arrived in England, at a brand new base near the village of Thorpe Abbotts, on June 8th, 1943.

In Europe

Several officers who were to see to it that the base for the unit was ready had already moved to England at the beginning of May. Among them was the twenty-eight-year-old Operations Officer of the 349th Squadron and the future commander of the 418th Squadron, Maj. John C. ‘Bucky’ Egan. In addition to fulfilling some basic but necessary activities, he managed to fly two combat missions as a ‘guest’ of the 305th Bomb Group on May 19th and 21st, 1943, during which he almost lost his life. He thus became the first aviator of the 100th Bomb Group to enter combat.

After the crews arrived with their B-17s and after their ground echelon - technical support personnel arrived by sea, the unit was able to settle into its permanent location. The commander, Howard Turner, was transferred to 1st Bomb Division Headquarters, and the new commander of the Hundredth became Col. Harold O. Huglin, with the goal of transitioning the unit into operational activity within three weeks.

The first two operational flights were referred to as ‘decoys’. A formation of bombers was sent out to lure German fighters away from the actual attack. Although these were not easy tasks, and although they were not without danger, neither the airmen nor the unit received combat mission credit for them. The first actual bombing mission for the Hundredth came on the 25th of June, 1943, when the unit hit submarine docks at Bremen. Already, this first mission cost three crews. Even those of the aviators who had not yet taken the war seriously realized that a trip to Europe would not be just frivolous entertainment.

‘It was Tuesday, August 17th, 1943…’

Combat missions quickly continued – LeMans, St. Nazaire, Le Bourget, Hamburg, Kassel, Trondheim... Command of the unit was taken over by its first ‘permanent’ commander, Neil B. ‘Chick’ Harding, who then commanded it until March 7th, 1944. Bad luck seems to have taken a liking to the unit pretty soon. Losses ranged from none to one aircraft per mission, with most of the unit returning unscathed. But then came the unit's 16th mission. It was Tuesday, August 17th, 1943, and the targets were the aircraft factories in Regensburg. This was the well-known ‘Double Strike’ mission against Schweinfurt and Regensburg, for which nearly 400 B-17s from the 8th Air Force took off. At that time, the not yet ‘Bloody’ Hundredth was placed at the end of the stream of bombers heading for Regensburg, with the intention that it would continue to North Africa after dropping its bombs. The rather unsuccessful logistics of the whole operation threw the bombers heading for Regensburg ahead of the Luftwaffe fighters. The 100th Bomb Group was punished for this severely. She lost nine crews and aircraft that day. Many of the machines that landed in Algiers were badly damaged. Later, for this mission, the unit received its first Distinguished Unit Citation (later called the Presidential Unit Citation). At the end of September, the first crew of the Hundredth completed its operational tour of twenty-five missions. The average lifespan of B-17 aircrews for the Eighth Air Force at the time was eleven missions. However, this lucky crew ended up being the only one of the original thirty-five who came to England to celebrate the milestone!

Another two dark days for the Hundred came on the 8th and 10th of October, 1943, the climactic days of Black Week, when it lost 7 and 12 flying fortresses in raids on Bremen and Münster, respectively. During these two missions, the unit also lost two of its Squadron Commanders, great friends, Maj. Gale W. ‘Buck’ Cleven and Maj. John C. ‘Bucky’ Egan. Fortunately, both of them survived the destruction of their Fortresses and were captured. Others were not so lucky. At the same time, a new legend and inspiring personality of the Hundredth began to develop, Lt. Robert ‘Rosie’ Rosenthal, who brought back his B-17 with only two working engines from the second of the named missions, making his the only crew to return from the mission. He was awarded the Silver Star for this, only his third combat flight, and later became commander of two squadrons and flew 52 combat missions, the most of the entire 100th Bomb Group.

Berlin!

The autumn and winter of 1943/44, often hampered by bad non-flying weather, were not a walk in the park for the unit. However, her losses did not deviate from the established averages. The turning point came in a trio of attacks on the very heart of the Third Reich, Berlin, on March 3-6, 1944, when the One Hundredth lost first three, then one, and then fifteen aircraft. Berlin on March 6th, 1944, became the unit's most tragic mission during its existence. Despite heavy losses, the Squadron managed to accomplish the task during these missions and received the unit's second Distinguished (Presidential) Citation for its performance.

Popular Commander "Chick" Harding, who had a large part in the overall standing of the unit during these months, had to leave his post due to illness and was replaced by Col. Robert H. Kelly, who, however, was shot down during his first mission with the One Hundredth on April 28th, 1944, a week after taking command. Prior to the arrival of Col. Kelly, as well as after his being downed, the unit was temporarily led by Lt. Col. John Bennett, Air Executive and Commander of the 349th Squadron.

Then, at the beginning of May, 1944, came the arrival of Col. Thomas S. Jeffrey, who would remain for a significant length of time. Under his leadership, the unit participated both in the campaign against targets connected with fuel production, the so-called gasoline war, as well as in the preparation and support of the Allied landings in the western part of the continent and the opening of a second front.

The Battle of Fuel

On Friday, May 12th, 1944, the unit took part in the 8th Air Forces first raid against industrial targets in the former Czechoslovakia. The target was Most (Brüx) and was the first of many attacks on German oil refineries in the Battle of Fuel Campaign. During the Allied landings in Normandy on June 6th, 1944, The Hundredth had two combat missions to her credit that day. The third – the middle one of the day – was canceled by bad weather.

Also, the beautiful spring and summer of 1944, by when it was already clear that the war would end in favor of the Allies with their supremacy in the skies over Europe increasingly evident, saw several heavy missions and losses… such as May 24th, to Berlin, with the loss of nine aircraft; July 28th and 29th Merseburg, eleven aircraft both days; the 11th of September, 1944, Ruhland, thirteen aircraft. The latter mission became the second most tragic for the Bloody Hundredth. That day she saw a major air battle over the Czech-German border, and although the Luftwaffe was seemingly out of breath, it was not to be the last of the great battles that awaited the unit before the end of the war.

During this period, the Hundredth also flew two Russian Shuttle missions under the codename Frantic, where the bombers would land at airfields in Ukraine after completing their mission and then return to England via 15th Air Force bases in Italy. The first took place from June 21st to July 5th, 1944, the second between September 18th and the 22nd. The second Frantic mission was aimed at dropping supplies and weapons to aid the Warsaw Uprising. It was not the Hundredth’s first such operation, as the unit had previously participated in supplying the resistance movement in the south of France.

The apparent calm during the fall and early winter of 1944, when the unit flew another 45 sorties after the Ruhland mission with combat losses of seven aircraft, was shattered by the very end of the year with a raid on the refineries in Hamburg. On Sunday, December 31st, 1944, The Hundredth’s statistics were to fluctuate considerably again. The unexpected ferocity of Luftwaffe fighters and flak meant the loss of twelve aircraft.

In the following months, two Berlin missions, on February 3rd and March 18th, 1945, were among more the memorable for the Bloody Hundredth with the loss of four aircraft and their crews in each of them. With the loss of ‘only’ two machines, the mission to Buchen on April 7th, 1945 also went down in the history of the unit, with reasons for the losses being unusual for the unit. That day, some formations of American bombers were met with suicide attacks by German fighters. Even the Hundredth did not escape these attacks. In addition to two lost B-17s, there were also several that suffered serious damage, which by combination of miracle and pilot skill, managed to return home.

Germany Quits

On February 2nd, Col. Jeffrey was succeeded in the capacity of Commanding Officer, by Col. Jack Sutterlin. He led the unit until June 23rd, when he was succeeded by two more Commanders, Col. John Wallace and Col Harry F. Cruver.

On April 20th 1945, the 100th Bomb Group took off on its last bombing mission designated number 306. The target was Oranienburg railway station, and all returned home without loss.

Base No. 139, Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk, hosted around 7,000 members of the 100th Bomb Group and its support units during the war. In 22 months of operation over the European continent, the unit lost 229 aircraft, 757 men, some of them remain missing to this day, and 923 were captured.

However, the 100th Bomb Group's operations in Europe were not yet over. At the end of April 1945, many territories were still under German rule, and the guns were far from silent. A large part of the Netherlands was plagued by famine, civilians suffering from Nazi tyrrany until the last days of the war. The Bloody Hundredth flew over the continent several more times. Between May 1st and 7th, 1945, like other American and British bomber units, it flew a total of six Chowhound missions, during which its B-17Gs dropped food parcels in low-flying aid missions. They flew at low altitudes over the territory still occupied by German troops. However, they were warned in advance not to interfere with the bombers carrying food.

In the weeks following the end of the war in Europe, the One Hundredth took part in repatriation flights for prisoners of war and conscripts of Western countries from various parts of Germany and Austria.

By the end of June, 1945, almost all aircraft were flown out of the base, with the exception of some radar pathfinders. Men for whom the war was over were returning home. Part of the unit moved to Germany, where it participated in the administration of the occupation. Some of the support units involved in the partial dismantling of the base remained at Thorpe Abbotts until late 1945. It then served until 1956, when it was closed and essentially forgotten.

It was not until many years after the war that the thick concrete slabs and asphalt of the runways and most taxiways and hardstands were removed. The landscape returned to something resembling its original state. However, the heroism of the men who, many decades previous, took off with trepidation from here on missions over occupied Europe into horrific air battles with the sky soaked with the stench of exploding flak shells, burning gasoline, gunpowder, blood, sweat and tears, is not forgotten. It remains in the legacy of the men and women of the greatest generation, so that we can be reminded of the value of our freedom, and how much it cost. Freedom of individuals and nations. And how important it is to fight evil, even though it seems we can never completely overcome it. However, the determination and faith of the men of the Bloody Hundredth remain an inspiration.

Post Scriptum: The Bloody Hundredth Family

In 1968, a meeting of several former members of the One Hundredth took place in the living room of Robert and Phillis Rosenthal. Among them were Harry Crosby and his wife, Horace Varian, Jack Kid and others. The meeting gave rise to the idea of ​​starting a veterans' organization with the two goals of starting a magazine and organizing a reunion. It was supposed to take place at the Rosenthal's in the garden. It was assumed that around 30 people would participate. After the first rounds of searching for former comrades and invitations, it turned out that there would be more than 200 participants, who would not all fit into Rosie’s garden. So the meeting took place in 1969 at Andrews Air Force Base. And so, the 100th Bomb Group Association was founded. Since then, veterans and their families have been meeting every few years. A few years ago, the Association turned into a Foundation. Its mission remains, even though most of the original members of the Blood Hundredth have left us. The task was taken over by their children and grandchildren, and now even the great-grandchildren of the veterans, together with unit historians, photo archivists and other friends of the Hundredth, working on a volunteer basis. The foundation maintains its core mission in terms of the Bloody Hundredth legacy, holding reunions and publishing a journal, as planned long ago in the Rosenthals' living room. The foundation also supports a number of educational and museum projects.

In 1977, Englishman Mike Harvey and a group of friends decided to save the still standing, but overgrown and neglected original control tower at Thorpe Abbotts and rebuild it as a memorial to the American airmen who had made a temporary home there many years prior. The owner of the land, Sir Rupert Mann, was sympathetic to the idea and leased the land, including the control tower, for 999 years. The long-lasting, demanding reconstruction and landscaping also included clearing the former control tower of the mess left by the wild pigs that lived there in the 50s and 60s. Already in the early days of the repair of the control tower, and the reconstruction of other buildings, strange visitors occasionally came around. They were curious American tourists wandering the English countryside. However, they were not just any tourists. Former members of the Bloody Hundredth, who spent several months of their youth there in the 1940s, came to see their forgotten base. Soon, the 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum in Thorpe Abbotts and the 100th Bomb Group Association linked up and museum photographs, uniforms, equipment, awards, notes, and memories began to surface. The museum opened in May, 1981. Over the following decades, the care of volunteers has made it a truly unique memorial to the history of the 100th Bomb Group, and it continues to grow. However, it is not just a collection of exhibits, but a truly living place that breathes history and where at every step you can meet those tremendous stories that were born right there and that today recreate the legend and legacy of the Bloody Hundredth. In 2022, the museum received the prestigious Queen's Award for Voluntary Service from the British Queen.

The 100th Bomb Group was formally deactivated on the 21st of December, 1945. It was reactivated as a training unit with B-29s on May 29th, 1947 and decommissioned again on June 27th, 1949. It was later reactivated several more times as the 100th Bomb Wing (1956-1966, with B-47s), the 100th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (1966–1976, U-2s), the 100th Air Refueling Wing (1976–1983, KC-135s), followed by seven years on ice, after which the One Hundredth was reactivated as the 100th Air Division (1990–1991) and then again as the 100th Air Refueling Wing (1992–present, KC-135R aircraft). The unit is based in the UK at RAF Mildenhall, just a few minutes' flight from Thorpe Abbotts, and is the main USAF refueling unit for the European area. The members of the 100th ARW are justifiably proud of their generational connection to the 100th Bomb Group, which is shown, among other things, by sporting the ‘Square D’ on the tails of their giant Stratotankers, the designation used by the 100th Bomb Group during World War II. The 100th ARW representatives regularly attend 100th BGF reunions and occasionally volunteer to help out at the museum at Thorpe Abbotts. They faithfully familiarize themselves with the history that preceded their unit long before they themselves came into the world.

On Saturday, September 13th, 1997, after many years of research, the Museum of the Air Battle over the Ore Mountains, September 11, 1944, was established at Kovarska, in the Czech Republic. It is dedicated to the largest air battle over Czechoslovakia and at the same time the second most tragic mission of the Bloody Hundredth. It lost thirteen B-17Gs that day. Already after its opening, the Museum in Kovarska was recognized as part of the 100th Bomb Group Association, today Foundation. Together with the three entities described in this chapter above, that is, the Foundation itself, the museum at Thorpe Abbotts and the 100th ARW USAF, they form, as the youngest of them, an informal community called the 100th BG Family, or The Bloody Hundredth Family. It is thus its only non-Anglo-American component and also the only representative of the Bloody Hundredth in continental Europe, the places where the unit fought in the years 1943-45.

A large number of books have been written about the 100th Bomb Group since the war, most of them by the members of the unit themselves, and the unit has become the basis of the famous film ‘Twelve O'Clock High’ from 1949. Space is dedicated to it in many museums in the United States and Europe, and, more recently, has inspired a book by Don Miller, leading to a miniseries released in January, 2024, called ‘Masters of the Air’ from the production team of Gary Goetzman, Kirk Saduski, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. The series brought the fate of the Bloody Hundredth and, through it, other allied air units in World War II to a very wide audience.

The Eduard Model Accessories release of the B-17F in 1:48th scale as ‘The Bloody Hundredth 1943’ Limited Edition model kit, prepared in collaboration with the 100th BG Foundation focusing on the early months of the 100th Bomb Group's fighting in Europe, is a significant element in the field of plastic modeling which draws on the history of the 100th Bomb Group while helping to preserve its legacy.

Sources (common for this article, also as for the following eleven articles about featured aircraft from the 100th BG):

- Century Bombers, Richard LeStrange, 1997

- Plane Names & Bloody Noses, Ray Bowden, 2000

- The Story of the Century, John R. Nilsson, 1946 - High Noon over Haseluenne, Luc Dewez & Michael P. Faley, 2009 - The Forgotten Man, The Mechanic, Kenneth A. Lemmons, Cindy Goodman, Jan Riddling, 1999

- Seven Days In October, Paul Andrews, Michael P. Faley, 2005, 2015

- Damn Lucky, Kevin Maurer, 2022

- With crew #13, Earl Benham, 1990

- 100th Bomb Group Foundation Archives

- Archives of the US Air Force Research Agency, Maxwell, Alabama

- National Archives and Record Administration, College Park, MD

- Archive of the Museum of Air Battle over the Ore Mountains on September 11th, 1944

- Ray Bowden/USAAF Nose Art Research Project

- Personal conversation with 100th BG veterans and historians

- Abbreviated History of the 100th Bomb Group, Harry Crosby, Jan Riddling and Michael Faley

- Bloody Hundredth, The Most Famous Heavy Bomb Group of World War II, Dewey Christopher

- Hang the Expense, a History of the “Big Frank” Valesh Crew, John R. “Dick” Johnson

- I Saw Regensburg Destroyed, Bernie Lay, Jr., Saturday Evening Post Magazine, 1943

- Original 100th, Crew #22, Piccadilly Lily, Paul M. Andrews and David Aiken

- Port Arthur News, March 23 1944

- Schweinfurt – 14 Oct 43 “Black Thursday”, Robert Hughes

- The Jeffersonian Democrat, Sept 30 1943 - Sgt. Walters shoots down enemy plane…, local newspaper article, 10 December 1943

- The unmanned plane, Sven Persson, www.forcedlandingcollection.se

- The US Eighth Air Force in Europe / Black Thursday Blood and Oil; Martin Bowman, 2012

- www.100bgmus.org.uk

- www.100thbg.com

- www.mildenhall.af.mil