page_title: 319th Operations Group
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 319th Operations Group / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: B-26s of the 319th Bombardment Group take off en-masse
context_page_description: The 319th Operations Group is a United States Air Force unit assigned to 319th Reconnaissance Wing Air Combat Command. It is stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota operating RQ-4 Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft in the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance role.
  The group was first activated during World War II as the 319th Bombardment Group, the first Martin B-26 Marauder group in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations during the war. The group received two Distinguished Unit Citations during the war. In 1945, the group was re-equipped with the North American B-25 Mitchell in combat in the MTO before returning to the US to transition to the Douglas A-26 Invader. After retraining the group deployed to Okinawa, where it flew combat missions over China as part of Seventh Air Force against Imperial Japanese forces until the war's end. One of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, Deke Slayton, flew A-26s from Okinawa as a part of the group's 438th Bombardment Squadron in 1945.
  The group was reactivated in the reserve in December 1946.
context_section_description: Media related to United States Army Air Forces 319th Bombardment Group at Wikimedia Commons
  The 319th Bombardment Group trained in Louisiana in Martin B-26 Marauders and after completing initial training, the group reported in October and November 1942 to England for staging to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it was assigned to the Twelfth Air Force.
  After it moved to Algeria as the first Marauder unit in that theater, arriving with just 15 aircraft and losing group commander Col. Alvord Rutherford over France en route, the 319th entered combat for the first time on 28 November, bombing and strafing warehouses, docks, and railroad yards at Sfax in Tunisia. From then to March 1943, the group bombed German and Italian targets in Tunisia and Libya, including airfields and enemy shipping along the Mediterranean Coast. The 319th trained in French Morocco from March, then returned to combat in June 1943, attacking enemy targets on Italian islands in the Mediterranean, including Sicily, Sardinia, and Pantelleria. From bases in Algeria and Tunisia, the group supported the Allied invasion of Italy, bombing bridges and marshalling yards during the late summer and early autumn of 1943. In November, it moved to Sardinia, to strike Axis targets in central Italy. Early in 1944, the 319th supported Allied ground forces as they advanced in the Cassino and Anzio areas. Later in the year, using North American B-25 Mitchell bombers the group attacked German supply lines in northern Italy, bombing bridges, marshalling yards, and roads. In March, it earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for raids on marshalling yards in Rome and Florence that damaged enemy communications without destroying cultural monuments. For supporting the Allied ground advance in Italy during April, May, and June 1944, the group earned the French Croix de Guerre with Palm. During the summer, it bombed bridges over the Po River in northern Italy using B-25 bombers to block the stream of German supplies and reinforcements going southward. The 319th Bombardment Group supported the invasion of southern France in August 1944 by attacking coastal batteries, radar stations, and bridges. From Corsica, it hit railroad bridges in Northern Italy and late in the year attacked railroad lines through the Brenner Pass that connected Germany and Austria with Italy.
  In January 1945, the 319th returned to the United States, where it began to train with Douglas A-26 Invader aircraft for operations in the Pacific Ocean Theater. Between May and July 1945, the group moved by ship to Okinawa, and on 16 July flew its first mission against Japan. From then until the end of the fighting in early August, the 319th attacked enemy targets such as airfields and industrial centers on Kyūshū and occupied Shanghai area of China, and shipping around the Ryukyu Islands and in the East China Sea. In November and December 1945, the group returned to the United States.
caption: 319th Bomb Group B-26 Marauders taking off en-masse from a desert base in North Africa, 1943
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