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

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'

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

In article ,
(JDupre5762) writes:
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?

Danged unlikey, I'd say, since the Proximity Fuze hadn't been invented
yet. Those that did end up getting built, in 1944, required a special
deep fuze cavity in the shell to take the larger fuze (And they never
made it for the 3" gun at all).

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

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

"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

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

(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?

John Dupre'
The 3-inch ammo brought to Correigdor from Hawaii by USS Trout wasn't proximity
fused, but a modern 3-inch ammo that was from a supply headed for Manila
but the ship only made it as far as Hawaii when war began. It worked a lot
better than the stuff they had been shooting, but the rounds weren't Proximity
shells.

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