IX Air Defense Command Historical and Statistical Summary 1 Jan. 1944 - 1 June 1945

IX Air Defense Command Historical and Statistical Summary 1 Jan. 1944 - 1 June 1945

Headquarters, IX Air Defense Command, Office of the Commanding General

The IX Air Defense Command was conceived in the early weeks of 1944 as that pert of the Ninth Air Force to be responsible for the defense, against enemy air attack, of all areas (except the forward ground combat zone) vital to U.S. forces during Operation Overlord - the invasion of the Continent from the West. The Command was born on 30 March 1944, and operated in the performance of the above mission in England, France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and Germany until after V-E day, 8 May 1945. The mission was accomplished - no vital area defended by the IX Air Defense Command suffered more than minor damage from what was once the greatest air force in the world.

This Command represents the only successful attempt in World War II to implement the doctrine and effect the technique of coordinated air defense, as laid down in the War Deportment field manuals. The integration of air, anti-aircraft, and signal elements into a unified team was not, however, accomplished without considerable opposition and difficulty. The doctrine proved sound, but the technique had to be modified in some respects to fit the mobile and expanding situation existing during an offensive campaign on a grand scale.

The AAA component of the Command was large and important (at peak operation 50 battalions in 8 brigades), but the IX Air Defense Command was not simply an anti-aircraft artillery command. During the early months of the campaign, 4 American and British night fighter squadrons, 5 signal air warning battalions, and 3 fighter control squadrons operated under the Command, and a Group of P-38s was earmarked to join. In the fall of 1944, however, the deterioration of the Luftwaffe permitted the diversion of all fighters of offensive roles, and the entrusting of all air defense primarily to Anti-aircraft Artillery.

Nor were the responsibilities of the Command confined to airdrome defense, as has been supposed by some. Although the 50-odd airdromes required for the operation of the Ninth Air Force were always a major concern of the IX Air Defense Command, so also were the ports, depot areas, and communications centers such as Omaha and Utah Beaches, Cherbourg, Marseilles, Le Havre, Paris, Antwerp, Reims, Verdun, Liege, Charleroi, the Rhine River crossings, and a host of other vital points.

This Summary presents, in as concise a manner as possible, some of the more important and interesting facts and figures pertaining to the organization and operation of the IX Air Defense Command.

William L. Richardson, Brigadier General, U.S. Army, Commanding

100 pages

52 photos/illustrations

4 maps

53 charts

Contents

• Foreword
• A Combined Effort
• Narrative
• Organization Chart of Command Headquarters
• Flow Charts
• Decorations
• Disposition Maps
• Types and Number of Units
• Strength In Personnel
• Total Claims
• Story of Antwerp "X"
• Health of the Command
• Judge Advocate General Section
• Battle of the Bulge
• AA in Ground Roles
• Communications
• Night Fighter Operations
• AAA Searchlights
• Weather
• Supply
• Ordnance
• New Year’s Day Raids 1945
• IX ADC Truck Companies
• Chaplain Section
• Chamonix Rest Center
• Information & Education
• Special Service