XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional)

The unit was formed in France in the fall of 1944 as XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional), drawing its cadre from the 84th and 303d Fighter Wings.[3] The two wings served as task force headquarters for the command, with groups and squadrons attached to them as needed.[4][5] The command's commanding general throughout its existence was Brigadier General Richard E. Nugent[2]

The primary mission of the command was to provide tactical close air support of the United States Ninth Army ground forces to interdict concentration of enemy forces, attack communications and ammunition dumps, and harass the enemy's retreat as well as providing reconnaissance to bombing support. It initially attacked enemy forces in occupied France and the Low Countries Targets included bridges, roads, railroads and enemy interceptor aircraft both on the ground as well as in air-to-air combat. The command provided tactical air support in the final reduction of the German forces holding out in the French port of Brest. After the surrender of the town fifteen days later, Ninth Army was sent east to take its place in the line. It came into the line in between Third and First Army.

In November, Ninth Army undertook offensive attacks in the Roer River sector to the left flank of 12th Army Group. On December 16 the enemy opened the last great offensive of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. During the fierce combat, the XXIX attacked enemy targets in the Northern Rhineland during the Rhineland Campaign and supported Operation Grenade, which was the southern prong of a pincer attack coordinated with Canadian First Army's Operation Veritable. These operations had the objective of closing the front up to the Rhine River. By 10 March, the Rhine had been reached in all sectors of Ninth Army's front, and after 20 March that Ninth Army units first crossed the Rhine itself.

XXIX Tactical Air Command attacked ground targets in the Ruhr, providing air support as Allied ground forces encircled enemy forces in the Ruhr pocket, essentially ending organized enemy resistance in Western Germany. Ninth Army halted its advance at the Elbe River in late April 1945, the Command engaging targets of opportunity in enemy-controlled areas until combat was ended in May 1945. The command was cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for the periods 1 October 1944 – 17 December 1944 and 18 December 1944 – 15 January 1945, for which it was awarded the Belgian Fourragère.[1]

The unit remained in Europe after the war as part of United States Air Forces in Europe, performing occupation duty and the destruction or shipment to the United States of captured enemy combat equipment. It was demobilized in Germany and the organization was inactivated on 20 November 1945.

• Designated as the XXIX Tactical Air Command (Provisional) and organized on 15 September 1944

Redesignated XXIX Tactical Air Command and converted to regular status on 8 June 1945

Inactivated 25 October 1945

Disbanded on 8 October 1948

• Mission Accomplished: The Story of the XXIX TAC