preparation for the advance toward Rome. In a disastrous error on 28 January 1944, the group destroyed a train loaded with Allied POWs on a bridge at Orvieto North, Italy. The death toll has been reported at 450. The 320th Bombardment Group received the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for action in preparation for and in support of Allied offensive operations in central Italy, April–June 1944. It was the first such citation to be awarded to an American unit by the provisional French government in World War II. The unit also received a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for a mission on 12 May 1944 when, in the face of an intense antiaircraft barrage, the group bombed enemy troop concentrations near Fondi in support of the U.S. Fifth Army's advance toward Rome. From June to November 1944 operations included interdictory missions in the Po Valley, support for the invasion of Southern France and attacks on enemy communications in northern Italy. The 320th was then moved to France in November 1944 and bombed bridges, rail lines, gun positions, barracks, supply points, ammunition dumps, and other targets in France and Germany until V-E Day. The group received a second DUC for operations on 15 March 1945 when the group bombed pillboxes, trenches, weapon pits, and roads within the Siegfried Line to enable a breakthrough by the Seventh United States Army. With the end of hostilities in Europe, the group moved to Germany in June 1945 and participated in the disarmament program. It returned to the United States, November–December 1945, and was inactivated on 4 December 1945. Strategic Air Command Medium Bomber Era The 320th Bombardment Wing, Medium (BW) was activated at March Air Force Base, California on 1 December 1952. The 320th BW assumed the assets of the 106th Bombardment Wing, a federalized New York Air National Guard unit which was brought onto active duty during the Korean War. At March, the wing was initially equipped with second-line Boeing B-29 Superfortresses and conducted global bombardment training and air refueling operations to meet Strategic Air Command (SAC) commitments. The wing was also employed for training Air Force Reservists and Air National Guardsmen to backfill rotating B-29 Superfortress combat crews which were deployed by Fifteenth Air Force to Far East Air Forces serving in the Korean War. The wing replaced its propeller-driven B-29s with new Boeing B-47E Stratojet swept-wing medium bombers capable of flying