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AAA at Bataan/Corregidor
Well, the people who know about this stuff know *all* about it through--to
them--obvious sources---post-war Wainwright staff debriefs, Duty Journals and other documents (so much for burning sensitive documents!) captured by the Japanese, shipped to Japan and recovered there at war's end, all on file at the National Archives. (Apparently one of the Japanese Monograph series has the Japanese side details; haven't seen it yet). I've been sent a few pages covering my questions. Here's an example of the detail available: * * * * * * 17. The first aerial attack on the fortified islands occurred on 29 December 1941, with Corregidor as its objective. It was a major attack lasting from 1145 until approximately 1415. The attacking forces consisted of three formations of twenty-seven planes each and also approximately ten lighter planes. There were no friendly planes in the air. The heavy bombers--Navy from Taiwan--approached in formation of twenty-seven, broke into smaller formation and, in waves, made approximately thirteen crossings over Corregidor in directions generally lengthwise of the island. Altitudes were 18,000 to 20,000 feet. It is estimated that more than sixty tons of bombs were dropped on Corregidor during this attack. Areas bombed were Topside (mainly), Middleside, Bottomside, and Kindley Field. There was also some machine gun strafing by the lighter planes and the Mariveles area and three boats in North Channel received some bombs. All batteries of the Defense, but mainly those at Forts Mills and Hughes and Globe in Bataan, participated in the action. Approximately 1100 rounds of 3-in ammunition were fired during this attack. In this day's action thirteen planes, nine heavy bombers by the gun defense, and four strafing planes by the machine gun defense-were shot down, crashing on the islands or immediate adjacent waters. Because of the effectiveness of the Machine Gun Defense only one passing attack was made by the strafing planes, four out of ten having been shot down in that passing attack. In fact no further low flying strafing attacks were made on Corregidor, except for occasional individual planes, until the final assault in May 1942. The action on 29 December resulted in the enemy's raising his bombing altitudes from 18,000-20,000 feet to 24,000-28,000 feet. The following commendation was issued by the Harbor Defense Commander: HEADQUARTERS HARBOR DEFENCE OF MANILA AND SUBIC BAY OFFICE OF THE HARBOR DEFENCE COMMANDER FORT MILLS, P.I. December 31, 1941 Subject: Commendation To: The Officers and Men of the Anti-Aircraft Command Thru: The Commanding Officer, 6Oth Coast Artillery (AA)) 1. The Commanding General, Philippine Coast Artillery Command, desire to make of record his commendation of the performance of all elements of the Anti-Aircraft Defense Command of these Harbor Defenses during the bombing raids on December 29, 1941. 2. On the many reports received at this headquarters, all have testified to the superior behavior of our Anti-Aircraft personnel under heavy bombing attacks is a proud record of soldierly action and a high caliber of discipline under fire which these officers and men have made in this first serious combat action of the war in the Harbor Defenses. s/t GEO. F. MOORE Major General, U.S. Army Commanding ************ The US defense had two radar sets and also monitored Japanese radio traffic, which was not observing any radio silence discipline and broadcasting in the clear. Apparently several Americans and Filipinos could understand Japanese. The Army Sally bombers that participated in the final attacks on Bataan at the end of March bombed from "9,600 yards" altitude and used a variety of bombs ranging from 50kg "daisy cutters" to 250kg demolition bombs, according to these debriefs, which consist of hundreds of pages of transcripts and documents. Hard to get decent accuracy from that altitude, so the US AAA must have been giving them fits. Chris Mark |
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The Army Sally bombers that participated in the final attacks on Bataan at
the end of March bombed from "9,600 yards" altitude and used a variety of bombs ranging from 50kg "daisy cutters" to 250kg demolition bombs, according to these debriefs, which consist of hundreds of pages of transcripts and documents. Hard to get decent accuracy from that altitude, so the US AAA must have been giving them fits. Any confirmation of the story that a supply of proximity fuse AA shells was brought to Corregidor by submarine and then hoarded until the Japanese planes presented a nearly perfect target? John Dupre' |
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JDupre5762 wrote:
The Army Sally bombers that participated in the final attacks on Bataan at the end of March bombed from "9,600 yards" altitude and used a variety of bombs ranging from 50kg "daisy cutters" to 250kg demolition bombs, according to these debriefs, which consist of hundreds of pages of transcripts and documents. Hard to get decent accuracy from that altitude, so the US AAA must have been giving them fits. Any confirmation of the story that a supply of proximity fuse AA shells was brought to Corregidor by submarine and then hoarded until the Japanese planes presented a nearly perfect target? Since the prox. fuse didn't enter service until early 1943(and then only for the 5"/38), this story is easily disproved. BTW, I wouldn't take the AA claims as gospel. I'm currently reading John Lundstrom's "The First Team At Guadalcanal," and AA and fighter claims (on both sides) are as exaggerated as you'd expect, given the large numbers of a/c involved. The marines at Guadalcanal had 90mm guns along with a pair of SCR-270s (one used for early warning/GCI). Betties normally approached Guadalcanal at altitudes of 7,500 - 8,500 meters, generally dropping about 1,000 meters or so for the bomb run itself. Guy |
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From: jdupre5762@
Any confirmation of the story that a supply of proximity fuse AA shells was brought to Corregidor by submarine and then hoarded until the Japanese planes presented a nearly perfect target? Couldn't have happened. The first combat use of this type shell was the middle of November 1942, when 5,000 rounds of proximity-fuzed projectiles in storage at Mare Island were sent to Noumea for distribution to ships. The first ship to fire them at enemy planes was the cruiser Helena. On January 5, 1943, four Japanese bombers attacked the task force and the Helena downed one with the second salvo of proximity-fuzed ammunition. The monograph "History of Communications-Electronics in the United States Navy" by Captain L. S. Howeth, USN (Retired) 1963, contains a good review of the development of the VT fuze. Chris Mark |
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"JDupre5762" wrote in message ... The Army Sally bombers that participated in the final attacks on Bataan at the end of March bombed from "9,600 yards" altitude and used a variety of bombs ranging from 50kg "daisy cutters" to 250kg demolition bombs, according to these debriefs, which consist of hundreds of pages of transcripts and documents. Hard to get decent accuracy from that altitude, so the US AAA must have been giving them fits. Any confirmation of the story that a supply of proximity fuse AA shells was brought to Corregidor by submarine and then hoarded until the Japanese planes presented a nearly perfect target? Given that none were available until 1943 it seems a tad unlikley. Keith |
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Another good book about radar's development in general is Tuxedo Park, by
Jennet Conant. Deals with the private lab set up by Alfred Loomis to study microwaves and anything else he was interested in. He would invite scientists to come up for the summer and word at his mansion. Amazing man and a good story. -- Jim Atkins Twentynine Palms CA USA "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx |
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