With but two interruptions for a mission to an aircraft plant at Handa on 23-24 July and one to Tokoyama Naval Arsenal 6-7 August, the 39th Bomb Group ran the rest of its combat missions within the set plan of the Bomber Command - later re-designated the Twentieth Air Force - policy of mounting incendiary attacks on four smaller urban areas in one night. In this operation one town was assigned to each of the four wings of the command - the 58th, 73rd, 313th and the 314th.

As the tabulation of the strike dates shown, they were run like clockwork. Sometimes we sent out a maximum effort and sometimes the effort was a normal one. Opposition to all the raids was practically negligible and the destruction was great. The pressure was on Japan and whether we realized it or not, the breaking point was steadily being reached.

None of these raids was spectacular. Actually they became in time almost routine and the combat crews were glad to run them off, as they added to the total number of missions toward that magic number THIRTY-FIVE!