Us Official Photographs

B-26 Marauders over Collecchio

Martin B-26 Marauders of the 1st Tactical Air Force break sharply away from their target, while another flight of the speedy, twin-engined bombers nimbly dodges a column of smoke 8,000-feet high, rising from a Nazi fuel dump at Collecchio, in the Po Valley of Italy. Tremendous explosions pelted the Marauders with debris at heights of over 10,000-feet. Cited for their work on the Rome and Florence rail yards during Operation Strangle, these B-26's of the Mediterranean's oldest Medium bomb group are hitting the Huns hard along vulnerable supply and communications lines. 319th B.G.