IX Engineer Command

gasoline were landed at S and E fields made operational by the aviation engineers. More than 70,000,000 pounds of critical freight; 7,000,000 pounds of rations; and 3,000,000 pounds of ammunition went by air to the armies East of the Rhinc during this period.

Four evacuation hospitals were moved during this period, and once a complete convalescent hospital with 473 tons of equipment and personnel. On their return trips the planes transported equally important cargoes from the newly completed Engineer Command fields. More than 28,000 front-line casualties were evacuated by air, and over 34,000 liberated Allied prisoners were flown to the rear. This huge speedy transportation project was successful because of the earnestness and courage of small groups of aviation engineers.

Nine divisions were supplied almost entirely by cargo aircraft landing at advanced S and E fields during the first two weeks of the drive.

The lack of bridges over the Rhine during the early stages was a tremendous bottle-neck to moving adequate supplies. The speed with which the armies were moving further complicated the picture. During the early part of the drive, the nearest railhead available to the Third Army was at Trier, 90 miles by indifferent roads from the Rhine. The distance covered by that army during the first part of the campaign doubled time and again.

On V-E day, 120 fields had been constructed or rehabilitated in Germany, and at least 100 of these fields were East of the Rhine. More than 80 S and E fields had been made operational, some of them having a daily traffic of almost 400 aircraft, while others had relatively little traffic and were soon abandoned as ground armies sped to other areas farther into Germany.

Other battalions engaged in the S and E program during