Word: 480th
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Dates: during 1943-1943
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Although the U.S. public had never heard of the 480th Anti-Submarine Group, the Germans knew them well. Last week the 480th was home for good, and the Army Air Forces told some of the stories behind the silhouettes and swastikas painted on their specially equipped Liberators...
...480th met the Germans most often at "Coffin Corner," 700 miles off the coast of Spain, where the U-boats surfaced to charge their batteries. The A.A.F. and their comrades of the R.A.F. Coastal Command believed in hitting the sea wolves before they ganged up in packs. At Coffin Corner the 480th fought Germans under the sea and on the surface, also had to fight them in the air. For Junkers 88s and Focke-Wulf 200s patrolled the hunting grounds, first in pairs, finally in formations of eight...
Tall, Georgia-born Colonel Jack Roberts, 31-year-old Group Commander, told newsmen about his men and their work. More than half the 480th combat strength were casualties. Although outnumbered 3-to-1 in the air, the 480th knocked down two German planes for every Liberator lost. Best measure of its effectiveness against subs was the drop in shipping losses-one ship in five months...
...480th were glad to get home. They had done much of the pioneering; they would not have to go back to sea. While they and many another outfit were at work, the U.S. Navy had asserted one of its favorite doctrines: that only Navymen should patrol the seas. In planes taken over from the Army, new Navy crews are now at work against German subs. The Army, which was on the job when the going was hottest, will hunt them no more...