 The 452nd BG entered combat on 5 February 1944 with an attack against aircraft assembly plants at Brunswick.It was engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic targets, including the marshalling yards at Frankfurt, aircraft assembly plants at Regensburg, aircraft component works at Kassel, the ball-bearing industry at Schweinfurt, a synthetic rubber plant at Hanover, and oil installations at Bohlen.First Lieutenant Donald Gott and Second Lieutenant William E Metzger Jr were each awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for remaining with their aircraft crippled during a mission over Germany on 9 November 1944.