Brenner Pass, which is 59 miles long, and 4,497 feet at its highest point, is one of the lowest of the important Alpine passes. Thus, throughout history, Brenner Pass was of strategic importance. In time, 22 tunnels and 60 large bridges were built into the pass. As the Allies successfully pushed the German infantry north, the imposing Alps Mountains impeded enemy troops from reaching the safety of Austria. The only way to cross the Alps was through the mountain pass at Brenner. Brenner was important to the Germans in another way. The pass was the route used to funnel supplies down from Austria to the ground troops in Italy. Because of the importance of the pass, it came as no surprise that the Germans kept the pass heavily armed with artillery of all kinds. Destroying enemy activity through Brenner Pass soon become a prime tactical target for the Allies.The simplest and most accurate route for the B-26 Bombers to fly, was a north-south axis up the pass. With a visibility of over 50 miles through the pass, all the bridges would be visible in the bombsights. Likewise, all the bombers would become sitting targets for the German guns. If the B-26s were to take out the bridges in the pass, they would have to fly west to east across the pass, giving the lead bombardier only 15 seconds to sight the target before releasing his bombs. Flying over mountains more than 10,000 feet high, looking at one peak after another without the defined landmarks of a known city or countryside, a bombardier/navigator would not have an easy time determining his location. This was the situation that Ernest faced as lead bombardier of his squadron on November 17, 1944 at San Margherita, Italy.
Prior to the mission, one of the pursuit planes, a P-47 fighter, reconnoitered the intended route and, with a camera rigged on his plane, took pictures every second for two minutes before and after entering and leaving the target zone. Earnest's objective was simple. He had to take out one of the largest railroad bridges that spanned north-south over water flowing east-west by flying in from the west. Within 15 seconds, he had to spot a particular peak from across the pass on which lay the axis of the bridge, drop the bombs, make a U-turn, and high-tail it out of there without getting shot down. Ernest studied those pictures for hours, because his life, as well as the lives of his buddies, depended on hi s distinguishing one peak from another. Those same pictures were tacked up on a picture board inside the plane so they were available for constant reference. On the day of the mission, the planes flew in a tight wing tip to wing tip formation to insure the bomb clusters would be effective. The first squadron went in, and flew right back out again without releasing any bombs. Squadrons were flying five to ten minutes apart. A second squadron, attempted to locate the target, but could not. Both squadrons were shot at by the German gunners, comfortably entrenched in the crevices of the pass. The bombers were sitting ducks. In fact, one veteran of Brenner Pass described the situation by saying that, for the Germans, aiming their fire at the Allies flying over the pass, was as easy as "shooting trout in a barrel."
Then, it was Ernest 's turn to fly his squadron across the pass. By now, it was safe to say, the Germans defending the pass knew exactly where the bombers were appearing over the pass. Ernest entered his coordinates, including the one for wind, into the Norden bombsight. The wind vector was entered as a steady east-west direction. Within seconds after approaching the gap, Ernest identified a profile in one of the rocks that he was confident lay directly opposite the intended target.
In the 15 seconds it took to reach the edge of his intended drop site, astonishingly, the wind vector changed dramatically from an east-west to a north-south direction, at gale force! With no time to introduce new coordinates into the bombsight, Ernest flipped the switch on his Norden to override his settings, even though the users manual suggested never doing this. Flying the plane through the bombsight, Ernest instinctively banked the plane into a 40-degree turn to compensate for the change of wind. There was grave danger in this maneuver since the angle of the bank was far beyond the stress capabilities of the B-26. Such a drastic maneuver could have easily put the plane into a nosedive. In an instant, just like birds on the wing, the entire squadron banked to follow Ernest 's lead. Until he pulled out of his turn, the anti-aircraft from the ground couldn't touch him. The flak could only hit you when your plane was level. In fact, enemy ground fire had no problem aiming at a plane 's expected position once it had begun the bomb run. The Germans knew to wait for that moment to aim their guns since they knew the plane would not move off course once the PDI had been set by the bombardier. The surprise move of banking the planes at such a steep angle prevented the Germans from locating the bombers in their sights. Just out of the turn, Ernest leveled off the plane, released the bombs, and in an instant, the squadron was back out of the pass.
Every squadron had a photographer. After every mission there was a critique. Back at mission headquarters, Doc Hartwell presented each man with a shot of liquor before sitting down to the debriefing. On this particular day, with 150 men present from four squadrons, the pictures of the mission were displayed. The pictures indicated that the first two squadrons dropped no bombs. The third squadron to go in made a direct hit. The fourth squadron wasted their bombs. When Ernest and his crew realized that it was their squadron that had taken out the critical bridge, they let out a blood-curdling yell.
As a result of his actions, Ernest M. Yonovitz a. k. a. Young was cited for outstanding technical proficiency as bombardier. In his statement about Ernest, Major General Webster wrote that "despite the intense fire from artillery installations defending the target, he performed his sighting operation with great calm and decision, and directed the bomb release of the entire formation with full effect squarely on the target." In February 26, I945 Ernest, along with Irving Goldberg, his squadron navigator, received, for their "brilliant display of presence of mind and professional ability," the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Just days after destroying the enemy supply lines in Brenner Pass, the bombers flew their final mission from Corsica. Italy was now in the hand of the Allies. The Mediterranean Theater was history.
Dedication
by Chevy! Young Weinstein While people are busy living their lives, time goes by. And before long, the way of life they had once taken for granted, becomes part of an almost forgotten distant past. Though I had been born into the World War II era, for me, the story had always been something I had to learn in school to pass a test. It took this writer almost half a century to realize that World War II had been a real war, fought by real people, one of whom was my father.
The world is made up of kings and queens, presidents and generals. But, the average citizen has just as poignant a story to tell. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to interview my own father about his life at this time in history. The project was not easy. Many of the words he used needed to be explained. The battles he mentioned needed to be researched. But the effort was worth it, because now, for my family, especially, an important story will be remembered.
I want to thank my father for not only the gift of life, but for the sacrifice and dedication to duty, that made my entire generation possible. For that, I salute you. -Cheryl Young Weinstein
