Bombardment Group before opening fire. 492d Bombardment Group was temporarily without fighter cover. Within about a minute the entire squadron of twelve B-24s had been annihilated. The Germans claimed 28 USAAF 2nd Air Division B-24 bombers that day and were credited with at least 21. The majority to the Sturmgruppe attack. This figure includes one B-24 bomber claimed shot down by Romm. In total, Luftwaffe pilots claimed the destruction of 60 bombers while actual losses were 28 bombers destroyed and further bombers returned with various levels of combat damage. The authors Prien, Stemmer and Bock state that the consolidated attack flown in close formation by the Sturmgruppe resulted in overclaiming of aerial victories caused by the confusing combat situation. During these attacks, multiple pilots may have simultaneously fired at the same bomber. It was therefore unclear who was responsible for the destruction of the bomber. On 18 July, the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force attacked the Luftwaffe Memmingen Airfield. The Sturmgruppe intercepted the bombers and following the mission, the pilots claimed 36 heavy bombers shot down, including three Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers by Romm. Two days later, the Sturmgruppe moved to an airfield at Schwaighofen near Neu-Ulm where they stayed until 30 July. The Sturmgruppe then moved to Schongau. There, 12. Sturmstaffel was renamed to 15. Sturmstaffel on 10 August. In October 1944, Romm was transferred to I. Gruppe of JG 3 where he was tasked with the creation of a newly formed 4. Staffel. At the time, I. Gruppe was based at Bindersleben Airfield and commanded by Hauptmann Horst Haase. Command of 15. Sturmstaffel was then passed to Hauptmann Hubert-York Weydenhammer. Romm claimed his only aerial victory while serving with 4. Staffel on 2 November when he shot down a USAAF North American P-51 Mustang fighter. That day, the Eighth Air Force attacked the synthetic fuel factories at Leuna. The day ended with a defeat for the Luftwaffe with 72 pilots killed in action and further 32 pilots wounded. The USAAF lost 40 heavy bombers, further two crashed on their return to England, and 14 escort P-51 fighters shot down. In early December, Romm was transferred to I. Gruppe of Ergänzungs-Jagdgeschwader 1, a replacement training unit for fighter pilots. Command of 4. Staffel was then passed to Leutnant Franz Ruhl. Eastern Front and end of war On 12 January 1945, Soviet forces launched the Vistula–Oder offensive advancing into German-held