Subject: WWII-L Digest - 23 Aug 1994 to 24 Aug 1994

From: Automatic digest processor <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 1994 00:01:26 -0400

There are 35 messages totalling 1691 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. Jap troop strength on home islands 1945? (3)
  2. Info: Liberty Ship in Boston
  3. WEAP: Ramming aircraft (question)
  4. [INF] USAAF 24 AUG 44
  5. Battle of Java Sea, Feb 42 (2)
  6. Battle of Java Sea
  7. HIST: Nisei troops at Dachau
  8. WEAP: Natter (was: Ramming aircraft (question))
  9. INF: USN Chronology 08-24-94
 10. USN Air, Jul-Aug 44
 11. Kamikaze
 12. SBD-2, BuNo 2106
 13. Seaplane Spitfire not all that bad (2)
 14. Jack McKillop's enli... (2)
 15. WEAP: Ramming aircraft
 16. INF: 50 Years Ago - 25-AUG-1944
 17. WSJ--Wednesday
 18. Jack McKillop's enlightening columns
 19. Swiss Bank Accounts
 20. Re[2]: German squad vs. U.S. Squad
 21. Natter
 22. WEAP: Ramming
 23. Media: Search for Hitler
 24. Russo-Finnish War
 25. 50th Anniv. of MARKET-GARDEN
 26. [INF] USAAF 25 AUG 44
 27. JAP TROOP STRENGTH
 28. Navy Pay (2)
 29. Free French Forces

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 23 Aug 1994 16:38:57 EST
From:    [email-masked]
Subject: Jap troop strength on home islands 1945?

        I am looking for information concerning Japanese troop strength
on the 4 main islands in the Summer of 1945 period.  I am specifically
interested in a breakdown by island as well as estimates of artillery,
tanks, etc.  None of the sources I have tried have such information.
Does anyone on the list know of likely sources or perhaps have the
information at hand?
Thanks,
*************************************************
(Roger) Brad Coon            "Lions are basically
[email-masked]          scavengers of
[email-masked]    hyaena kills."
                              Hans Kruuk

Kill a lion, save a hyaena!
Boycott Disney lionist propaganda!
*************************************************

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 23 Aug 1994 19:56:00 -0500
From:    "Colin Brace (617)726-5085" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Info: Liberty Ship in Boston

          S.S. John W. Brown, World War II Liberty ship, is in Boston at the
          Charlestown Navy Yary N.H.P. from now until August 28. According to
          the handout I was given by a park ranger, "visitors will be
          welcomed aboard each day, between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm". Also "A
          six hour, fee paid, cruise of Boston Harbor and environs will be
          available on August 27, 1994". The ranger didn't know the cost of
          this. It's across the pier from the U.S.S. Constitution and U.S.S.
          Cassion Young.

          I'll post the entire handout, if this would be appropiate.

          Thought this may be of interest.

          Colin Brace WA1KWA

          [email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 02:08:34 +0200
From:    Emmanuel Gustin <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: WEAP: Ramming aircraft (question)

On Tue, 23 Aug 1994, Tom Shirhall wrote:

> The German ramjet was launched vertically to an altitude above the bombers,
> glided/fell through the formation banging off a wing and getting off a shot
> or two on the way down. When it reached some altitude, a parachute deployed,
> and the aircraft landed. I don't think it was too popular with pilots. Talk
> about a kick in the ass on takeoff!

The operating mode sounds very much like that of the Bachem Ba 349 Natter.
The Ba 349 used pure rocket power, not a ramjet, and it was not designed
to ram enemy aircraft. But it was launched vertically; after the rockets
in the nose had been fired at the bombers, the thing broke up in the air,
and the pilot and the engine were recovered by parachute. The Natter
reached pseudo-operational status, and 36 were built, so it is likely
that the Smithonsian has one. It's a short, compact aircraft, with
stubby, straight tail surfaces and wings.

The only WWII aircraft flown that was specially designed with ramming
enemy aircraft in mind was not Japanese, Russian or German, but American!
The Northrop XP-79 was a flying wing fighter with two jet engines. The
leading edges of the wings were reinforced to make ramming attacks on the
tail surfaces of aircraft possible. On its first flight in 1945, the
pilot lost control and crashed.

Emmanuel Gustin

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 23 Aug 1994 21:07:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: [INF] USAAF 24 AUG 44

COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
THURSDAY, 24 AUGUST 1944
FTP SITES
  1. ftp.rutgers.edu in directory pub/wwii/usaf
  2. byrd.mu.wvnet.edu (129.71.32.152) in pub/history/military/airforce/
     wwii_chronology

AIRCRAFT MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT:
  A-20, Douglas Havoc
  B-17, Boeing Flying Fortress
  B-24, Consolidated Liberator
  B-25, North American Mitchell
  B-29, Boeing Superfortress
  C-47, Douglas Skytrain
  F-6, North American Mustang
  P-38, Lockheed Lightning
  P-47, Republic Thunderbolt
  P-51, North American Mustang

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 9 B-25s bomb Kangon; 3 P-47
flights support British troops NE of Pinbaw, hitting forces and gun
emplacements near Namyin Te and Nansankyin; 4 P-47s bomb Nankan; and 4 P-51s
strafe vehicles along the Shweli River and bomb a storage area S of Hopin.

  CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, town areas, river and road traffic,
railroad targets, and other targets of opportunity in or near Hengyang,
Chuchou, Siangtan, and Yangtien are attacked by 8 B-25s and 25 P-40s; 19
other P-40s hit similar targets of opportunity at Yungeheng, Anjen, along the
C Yangtze River, and S of Mangshih; and the 528th Fighter Squadron, 311th
Fighter Group, moves from Tingkawk Sakan, Burma to Shwangliu with P-51s.

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 568: 1,319 bombers and 739
fighters are dispatched on visual attacks on strategic targets in Germany
with some PFF on targets of opportunity; 26 bombers and 4 fighters are lost;
targets are (numbers in parenthesis indicate bombers attacking):
  1. 433 B-24s are dispatched to attack aviation industry targets at
Brunswick/Waggum (125), Brunswick/Querum (99) and Hannover/Langenhagen (72)
and an oil refinery at Misburg (88); 5 others hit targets of opportunity;
they claim 0-0-1 aircraft; 5 B-24s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 183
damaged; 1 airman is WIA and 54 MIA. Escort is provided by 248 P-38s, P-47s
and P-51s; they claim 2-0-0 aircraft in the air and 8-0-0 on the ground; 2
P-51s are lost and 2 damaged; 1 pilot is MIA.
  2. 451 B-17s are dispatched to hit Merseburg oil refinery (185), Weimar
(129) and Kolleda Airfield (30); targets of opportunity hit are airfields at
Goslar (37), Nordhausen (11), Vorden (11) and Stade (2), and Leipzig (10)
plus 7 others; they claim 10-3-3 aircraft; 16 B-17s are lost, 2 damaged
beyond repair and 189 damaged; 3 airmen are KIA, 39 WIA and 148 MIA. Escort
is provided by 121 of 152 P-51s; they claim 4-0-1 aircraft without loss.
  3. 383 B-17s are dispatched to hit oil industry targets at Brux (139),
Ruhland (135) and Freital (65); 15 hit targets of opportunity; 3 B-17s are
lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 143 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 5 WIA and 18
MIA. Escort is provided by 240 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 4-0-0 aircraft in
the air and 6-0-0 on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost (pilots are MIA) and 1 is
damaged.
  4. 43 of 52 B-24s hit Kiel/Walther; 3 others hit Hemmingstedt Airfield and
2 hit targets of opportunity; 2 B-24s are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and
32 damaged; 27 airmen are MIA. Escort is provided by 17 of 17 P-51s without
loss.
  Mission 569: 1 B-17 drops leaflets on Brest, France during the night.

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, weather cancels a IX
Bomber Command mission against 4 fuel dumps N of the Seine River; fighters
give air cover to ground forces, mainly for 3 armored and 2 infantry
divisions, bomb Seine River bridges, and fly armed reconnaissance along the
Seine and around Troyes, Orleans, and Tours; about 270 C-47s fly supply and
evacuation missions; HQ 303d Fighter Wing moves from Houesville to Rennes; HQ
10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance) and 12th Tactical Reconnaissance
Squadron move from Rennes/St-Jacques to Chateaudun with F-6s; and HQ 366th
Fighter Group and 389th and 391st Fighter Squadrons move from St Pierre du
Mont to Dreux/Vermouillet with P-47s. In England, the 90th Troop Carrier
Squadron, 438th Troop Carrier Group, that has been operating from Welford
Park returns to Greenham Common. The following units that have been operating
in Italy with C-47s return to base:
  - 91st, 92d and 94th Troop Carrier Squadrons, 439th Troop Carrier Group,
    from Orbetello Airfield to Upottery.
  - 95th, 96th and 97th Troop Carrier Squadrons, 440th Troop Carrier Group,
    from Ombrone Airfield to Exeter.
  - 99th, 100th, 301st and 302d Troop Carrier Squadrons, 441st Troop Carrier
    Group, from Grosseto to Merryfield.
  - 304th, 305th and 306th Troop Carrier Squadron, 442d Troop Carrier Group,
    from Follonica to Weston Zoyland.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (MTO)

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Fifteenth Air Force): 530+ B-17s and B-24s bomb 3 oil
refineries at Kolin and Pardubice, Czechoslovakia; marshalling yard at
Vinkovci, Yugoslavia; Szeged, Hungary; and Ferrara, Italy railroad bridge and
several targets of opportunity; around 70-80 fighters escort the
Czechoslovakian missions; and US bombers and escorting fighters claim nearly
40 air victories.

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): During the night of 23/24 Aug,
A-20s hit motor transport and targets of opportunity in the Rhone Valley of
France and at Genoa, Milan, and Turin, Italy; medium bombers bomb bridges at
Montpellier, Avignon, and Lunel, France and Solignano Nuovo, and Castel del
Rio, Italy, and score direct hits on gun positions in the Marseille, France
area; and fighters bomb and strafe gun positions, vehicles, roads and bridges
throughout SE France. In Italy, the 346th Fighter Squadron, 350th Fighter
Group, moves from Pomigliano to Tarquinia with P-47s (the detachment at
Piombino also moves to the new base).

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA)

  AAF, POA (Seventh Air Force): Saipan Island-based P-47s pound Aguijan and
Pagan Islands. Marshall Island-based B-24s bomb Truk Atoll while B-25s hit
Nauru Island.

  HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): The advanced air echelon of Brigadier General
Emmett O'Donnell Jr's HQ 73d Bombardment Wing (Very Heavy) arrives in the
Mariana Islands with B-29s, the first Twentieth AF contingent to arrive; the
ground echelon arrives by water on 16 Sep.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: Shipping in
Lembeh Strait, Celebes Island, is attacked by B-25s, while B-24s bomb
Lolobata Airfield on Halmahera Island. In New Guinea, HQ 307th Bombardment
Group (Heavy) moves from Los Negros Island to Wakde Island; the 100th
Bombardment Squadron (Medium), Thirteenth Air Force [attached to 42d
Bombardment Group (Medium)], moves from Stirling Island to Sansapor but
continues operating from Hollandia with B-25; and the 340th and 341st Fighter
Squadrons, 348th Fighter Group, move from Wakde Island to Noemfoor Island
with P-47s.

SOURCES:
AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS OF WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force History,
  Headquarters USAF, 1961, ISBN 0-912799-02-1
COMBAT SQUADRONS OF THE AIR FORCE, WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force
  History, Headquarters USAF 1982
THE ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II: COMBAT CHRONOLOGY, 1941-1945 by the
  Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, 1973
THE MIGHTY EIGHTH WAR DIARY by Roger A. Freeman, ISBN 1-85409-071-2

Jack McKillop
USAF (Airways and Air Communications Service)
1955-59

-------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jack McKillop         |  Those who have long enjoyed such      |
|  Bellcore              |  privileges as we enjoy forget in      |
|  Piscataway, NJ USA    |  time that men have died to win them.  |
|  [email-masked]  |                       FDR              |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

24/0110Z AUG

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 23 Aug 1994 21:48:46 -0500
From:    "Louis R. Coatney" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Battle of Java Sea, Feb 42

I trust you *meant* to say 42, Ron.  :-)

Lou Coatney

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 23 Aug 1994 23:35:32 PDT
From:    Sidney Allinson <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Battle of Java Sea

In "1940"  ?

--

------------------------------

Date:    Tue, 23 Aug 1994 23:59:10 PDT
From:    Sidney Allinson <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: HIST: Nisei troops at Dachau

The 442 (Nisei) Regimental Combat Team has often caught the interest
of historians. There are quite a few well-researched books on the unit.
The 442 also was the subject of a 1950s Hollywood movie
"GO FOR BROKE', titled from the Nisei unit's own motto.  The movie was
overly dramatized in parts, but still gave a fairly good portrayal of
the Japanese American troops combat record. AS I recall, the 442 was
the most highly decorated of all US army units.

--

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 02:19:16 -0500
From:    "Robert J. Granvin" <[email-masked]>
Subject: WEAP: Natter (was: Ramming aircraft (question))

In message World War II Discussion List writes:
> On Tue, 23 Aug 1994, Tom Shirhall wrote:
>
> > The German ramjet was launched vertically to an altitude above the bombers,
> > glided/fell through the formation banging off a wing and getting off a shot
> > or two on the way down. When it reached some altitude, a parachute
> > deployed,
> > and the aircraft landed. I don't think it was too popular with pilots. Talk
> > about a kick in the ass on takeoff!
>
> The operating mode sounds very much like that of the Bachem Ba 349 Natter.
> The Ba 349 used pure rocket power, not a ramjet, and it was not designed
> to ram enemy aircraft. But it was launched vertically; after the rockets
> in the nose had been fired at the bombers, the thing broke up in the air,
> and the pilot and the engine were recovered by parachute. The Natter
> reached pseudo-operational status, and 36 were built, so it is likely
> that the Smithonsian has one. It's a short, compact aircraft, with
> stubby, straight tail surfaces and wings.

Our Wing's Maintenance Officer has recently completed the translation of
many of the Natter's technical documents.  He has been building a full-
scale replica in his basement for a few years.  The aircraft was heavily
constructed of wood, apparently.  He plans to have a fully authentic replica
to place on display "sometime soon."

(He has rebuilt the wings three times.  Although obviously never intending
to fly, he has been unhappy with the results each time and improved the
construction each time he has restarted...)

--
Robert J. Granvin
Southern Minnesota Wing Confederate Air Force

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 01:36:33 PST
From:    "Keller, Theron P." <[email-masked]>
Subject: INF: USN Chronology 08-24-94

UNITED STATES NAVY CHRONOLOGY
from:
//byrd.mu.wvnet.edu/pub/history/military/wwii/naval_chronology/chr4(4,5).txt

1944
08/24 Thu.  United States naval vessel sunk:
             Submarine HARDER (SS-257), by depth charges, off west
              coast of Luzon, P. I.

Theron P. Keller
Logicon, Inc.
Dahlgren, VA  22448 USA
[email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 06:58:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: USN Air, Jul-Aug 44

USN NEWS, JULY - AUGUST 1944

>From the July-August 1944 issue of the NAVAL AVIATION NEWS published by
the US Naval Historical Center

 6 Jul 44:
  1. A special Air Unit was formed under Commander Aircraft Atlantic
(ComAirLant), with Commander James A. Smith as officer in charge, for the
transfer without delay to Commander Fleet Air Wing (FAW) 7 in Europe.  This
unit was to attack German V-1 and V-2 launching sites with Consolidated
PB4Y-1 Liberators converted to assault drones.
  2. The Bureau of Aeronautics authorized Douglas Aircraft to proceed with
the design and manufacture of 15 XBT2D-1 Destroyer II airplanes.  The
single-seat dive-bomber and torpedo plane thus initiated was designed jointly
by BuAer and Douglas engineers.  Through subsequent development and model
redesignation, these aircraft became the prototypes for the AD Skyraider
series of attack planes.

14 Jul 44: PB4Y Liberators of Bombing Squadron (VB) 109 based at Saipan
Island, Mariana Islands made the first strike on Iwo Jima Island, Volcano
Islands by shore-based planes.

 5 Aug 44: The Fast Carrier Task Force was reorganized into First and Second
Fast Carrier Task Forces, Pacific, commanded by Vice Admiral Mark A. Mitscher
and Vice Admiral John S. McCain, respectively.

10 Aug 44: The operating aircraft complement of Carrier Air Groups was
revised  to 54 fighters (VF), 24 scout-bombers (VB) and 18 torpedo (VT)
aircraft with  the provision that four night fighters and two photo planes be
included among  the 54 fighters.

24 Aug 44: The first night carrier air group, CVLG(N)-43, was established at
Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Charlestown, Rhode Island.  Its component
squadrons, VF(N)-43 and VT(N)-43, the latter the first of the night torpedo
squadrons, were established the same day.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jack McKillop              |  Those who have long enjoyed such |
|  Bellcore                   |  privileges as we enjoy forget in |
|  Piscataway, NJ USA         |  time that men have died to win   |
|  [email-masked]  |  them.                     FDR    |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 07:04:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: Kamikaze

The following article is from the July-August 1994 issue of NAVAL AVIATION
NEWS, published by the US Naval Historical Center.

THE KAMIKAZES: JAPANESE SUICIDE UNITS
by Commander Peter B. Mersky, USNR (Retired)
     Tatsuno was leading the last V in an all-but-defunct navy plane, a
Mitsubishi Type 96 (Mitsubishi A5M, Navy Type 96 Carrier Fighter, Allied Code
Name Claude).
     Already the 12 had opened their cockpits and fluttered their silk
scarves in the wind.  Always the wind-the divine wind ...
    Now, we seem to be almost on top of them! I am sweating watching ... that
Mitsubishi.  It's Tatsuno! Yes, I'm positive ...
    The two of them are diving, knifing for the convoy's core.  Suddenly the
trainer next to him is hit, virtually clubbed from the sky.  His wing and
tail rip off, and he corkscrews insanely away, out of my line of vision.
     Tatsuno is alone now, still unhit, making a perfect run, better than
they ever taught us in school.  Tatsuno! Tatsuno! Fire sprouts from his tail
section, but he keeps going.  The orange fingers reach out.  His plane is a
moving sheet of flame, but they can't stop him.  Tatsuno! A tanker looms,
ploughing the leaden liquid.  They're closing! A hit! An enormous explosion
rocks the atmosphere.  For a curious instant embers seem to roll and dance.
Now a staccato series of smaller bursts and one mighty blast, shaking the sea
like a blanket.  The tanker is going down.  No trace but the widening shroud
of oil.
     That was my friend.

              -From KAMIKAZE by Yasuo Kuwahara and Gordon T. Alfred

     While the heat of battle might occasionally force someone to decide
whether or not to lay down his life, there are only a few examples of
organized units whose mission was to sacrifice themselves.  In modern
history, no group is as well known as the kamikaze pilots of Japan during the
late Pacific war.
     The so-called suicide pilots of the Imperial Army and Navy were not the
drug- or sake-soaked automatons that the western press made them out to be.
This form of wartime journalism, however understandable, was largely untrue.
Ridicule was the only way to explain to an incredulously fearful hometown
audience, as well as the sailors in the targeted ships, why an enemy pilot
would deliberately plunge himself and his aircraft into their ship, blowing
himself to atoms.
     Soviet air force pilots occasionally rammed German bombers during the
opening phases of the Nazi onslaught.  Japanese army pilots also resorted to
ramming American B-29s as fleets of the giant, well-protected bombers roamed
over the home islands by late 1944.
     Nazi Germany tried several desperate measures to counter the growing
fleets of Allied bombers.  The Bachem Ba 349 Natter (Viper), a vertically
launched, rocket-propelled interceptor, was armed with 24 73mm unguided
rockets in the nose.  The Natter, though flight tested with limited success,
was never used in combat.  The Japanese were interested in this disposable
interceptor but only constructed a few examples before war's end.
     By late 1943, many Japanese senior officers knew that the overwhelming
strength of the Allies, spearheaded by American industry and technical
expertise, would soon win the war, no matter how strenuous a defense the
Japanese offered.  A way had to be found to slow the advance toward the home
islands, or to make the Allied offensive as costly as possible.
     Turning to the innate dedication to their emperor, several leaders
considered suicide squadrons, whose pilots would use outmoded aircraft loaded
with bombs in a final long-reaching thrust against the Allied carrier groups
that were edging toward Japan.
     In June 1944, senior commanders offered a plan to Vice Admiral Takijiro
Onishi to form dedicated suicide squadrons.  "Provide me with 300 planes, and
I will turn the tide of the war," promised Captain Motoharu Okamura, an air
group commander.
     Onishi finally gave his permission to organize these units, designated
"special-attack" squadrons that would become the kamikaze (divine wind) to
repel the Allied invaders-much as a legendary wind had risen to disperse a
Mongol fleet in 1281.  Each suicide unit used a different name-such as tokko
tai (special attack), shimpu (another way of reading the letters that spelled
"kamikaze") and tai-atari (body-crashing), but "kamikaze" has come to mean
the entire corps of special-attack squadrons.
    The kamikazes were dead men the moment they took off and had no honorable
choice but to complete their missions or be shot down in the process.  We can
only guess at these pilots' last thoughts.  Historians have speculated over
the years on how many of the kamikazes were truly volunteers.  The ideals of
family honor, patriotism and, above all, devotion to the emperor were strong
motivations.  Even the most unrelenting Japanese had only to look skyward at
the fleets of Allied bombers over the homeland or out to sea at the vast
array of ships of all types that dotted the waters of harbors, once home to
only the Imperial Navy.
     Eventually, members of the 201st Air Group in the Philippines were
selected to mount the first special attack operation against the invading
American fleet in October 1944.  Lieutenant Yukio Seki, a graduate of the
Japanese naval academy at Eta Jima, would lead the flight.
     At dawn on 20 October, Lieutenant Seki led his squadron off, but they
soon returned, unable to locate any Allied ships in bad weather.  After three
more days of launches and aborted attacks, the special-attack corps
accomplished its first strikes.
     On October 25, Seki and his fellow pilots found a task force of U.S.
aircraft carriers in Leyte Gulf.  He dove his Zero, followed by four other
pilots, into the carriers.  Seki is generally credited with hitting the
escort carrier St. Lo (CVE 63), which eventually sank, while the other
kamikaze pilots damaged USS Kalinin Bay (CVE 68), USS Kitkun Bay (CVE 71) and
USS White Plains (CVE 66).
     The initiation of the suicide squadrons was a bloody introduction for
Allied crews, who would take the brunt of the furious kamikaze attacks off
Okinawa and Japan beginning in March 1945.
     Two dedicated suicide weapons were the MXY-7 Ohka (Cherry Blossom) and
the Kaiten (human torpedo).   The Ohka was a single-seat, rocket-propelled
aircraft that was more of a flying bomb.  Mass produced between September
1944 and March 1945, 755 Model 11 Ohkas were delivered; 852 Ohkas of all
models were produced, including Model 22s (a smaller version), Model 33s
(larger Ohkas) and Model 43s (two-seaters).  The Model 11 carried a 2,646-
pound (1200 kg) warhead in the nose, a fairly large amount of explosive.
     Modified Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" bombers carried the Model 11 to the
battle zone before releasing the Ohka about 20 miles (32 km) from the target.
The Ohka's three-rocket engine produced 1,764 pounds of thrust for
approximately 10 seconds, allowing the tiny aircraft to reach just over 400
mph (644 km/h) before the pilot started his dive.
    The first Ohka operation came on 21 March 1945 when 18 Bettys approached
Task Group 58, the American fleet nearing Okinawa.  Three Hellcat squadrons
intercepted the enemy force some 70 miles (113 km) from the task group.
VF-17 and VBF-17 from USS Hornet (CV-12) and VF-30 from USS Belleau Wood
(CVL 24) fought a 20-minute engagement, eventually destroying all 18 Bettys
and 12 of their Zero fighter escorts, Lieutenant (jg) Murray Winfield of
VF-17 shot down 4.5 Bettys, sharing the fifth kill with an F4U pilot.
     VF-30's Ensign James V. Ward accounted for three Bettys.  He came up
under the large Betty formation, and to his surprise, he could see what
appeared to be tiny aircraft hitching a ride beneath the ponderous, twin-
engine Mitsubishi bombers.  Not sure what the little planes were, Ward called
them "Gizmos" in his debrief.  However, the name that has stuck through the
years was the Japanese word for "fool," Baka.
     Ohkas scored their first success on 1 April, D day for the Okinawa
invasion.  They hit and damaged four American ships but did not sink their
first victim until 12 April when the destroyer USS Mannert L. Abele (DD 733)
went down off Okinawa after taking kamikaze strikes from a bomb-carrying Zero
and an Ohka.  The same day, another destroyer, USS Stanly (DD 478), took two
Ohka strikes in 10 minutes but survived.
     Seventy-four Ohkas sortied beneath their Betty carrier planes, and 56
were released or shot down while still attached to their mother aircraft.
Fifty Ohkas were lost when the giant carrier Shinano was sunk on 29 November
1944 off the port city of Osaka by the U.S. submarine USS Archerfish (SS-311).
     While perhaps the most common form of suicide attack vehicles and crew,
aircraft were not the only type of the fearsome weapon.  The Japanese
designed the Kaiten, a modification of the famous Long Lance torpedo, one of
the best torpedoes of the war.  The Kaiten was 54 feet (16.4 m) long and
carried a huge 3,000-pound (1,361 kg) warhead.
     The Kaiten went into battle on the deck of a submarine and after its
pilot had entered the torpedo, the Kaiten launched, accelerating to its top
speed of 40 knots.  The pilot sat in a small compartment using a periscope to
navigate toward his target.
     The first Kaiten operations, in November 1944, involved VP-17, a
squadron of PBM Mariners based at Ulithi Atoll, Mariana Islands, a major U.S.
anchorage.  VP-17's Crew No. 1 flew five night patrols around the harbor and
engaged Kaitens twice.  On 16 November, Crew No. 1 was nearing the end of
their patrol just before dawn when their radar operator got a contact running
on the surface.
     The target turned out to be the Imperial Navy submarine I-36.  Alerted
for action, the PBM crew dropped sonobuoys over the bubbles left by the
submarine, which had crash dived at the Mariners approach.
     Three nights later, the I-47 launched four Kaitens, and the I-36
launched one against the Ulithi anchorage.  Crew No. 1 was up at this time,
too, and saw a ship erupt in flames.  It was the fleet oiler USS Mississinewa
(AO 59) carrying 400,000 US gallons (1.5 million l) of aviation fuel.  The
oiler went down at anchor, along with 50 of her crew.
     On 28 June 1945, the destroyer USS Sproston (DD 577) was attacked by a
Kaiten launched from the Japanese submarine I-36 near the Marshall Islands.
Lookouts had spotted the tell-tale wake of a periscope, and the destroyer
turned toward the threat.
     The submarine's crew was intent on watching the Kaitens progress and
did not see or hear the destroyer approach on a ramming course.
     Finally, a sonarman alerted the Japanese skipper, who crash dived to
escape the looming destroyer.   Although the collision was missed by scant
feet as the sub slid beneath the tin can, Sproston depth charged the I-36.
Hampered by its load of Kaitens, the 1-36 was moments away from sinking.
    Several Kaiten pilots volunteered to counterattack.  Launching from the
stricken submarine, one of them headed toward the American destroyer, but the
gun crews on Sproston were ready and blasted the conning tower off the
suicide torpedo.  Distracted by the Kaiten attack, the destroyer turned away
from the I-36, which escaped, arriving back in port by 6 July.
     Ultimately, the Kaitens were not as successful as the "conventional"
kamikaze vehicles.  Kaiten attacks accounted for only two U.S. ships sunk,
while eight of the submarine carriers were sunk, along with their crews and
Kaiten pilots.
     Another dedicated kamikaze design was the Nakajima Ki. 115 Tsurugi
(Sabre), 105 of which were produced between March and August 1 945.  None of
these small, single-engine aircraft was used in combat; however, their main
use was intended for the anticipated invasion of the home islands that would
come sometime in 1946.
     While all types of aircraft were used in kamikaze operations, some were
heavily modified for the special-attack mission.  One such modification was
the Ki.67-1 KAI, a variant of the highly successful Mitsubishi Ki.67 Hiryu
(Flying Dragon), codenamed "Peggy" by the Allies.  One of the Imperial Army's
best bombers, the twin-engined Hiryu was fast, lending itself to the kamikaze
mission.
     The bomber's gun turrets were removed and the normal six-man crew
reduced to three.  A long, nose-mounted rod would explode the warload, which
could be two 800 kg (1,764-pound) bombs, or a single 2,900 kg (6,393-pound)
charge.
     Kamikaze attacks continued unabated through most of the last six months
of the war, wherever and whenever the Japanese could assemble a strike force.
The massive Allied fleet, spearheaded by U.S.  ships and aircraft carriers
filled with thousands of sailors and Marines, took the brunt of the
terrifying suicide dives.  The only defense seemed to be smothering curtains
of antiaircraft fire and orbiting patrols of fighters, whose pilots often
braved their own forces' flak to get to the frantic Japanese pilots bent on
their own destruction.
      In truth, the Japanese were not in complete agreement amongst
themselves as to the value and effectiveness of their suicide squadrons.  Top
fighter ace Saburo Sakai had originally supported the formation of the
kamikazes.  Badly wounded over Guadalcanal in August 1942, he had lost most
of the sight in his right eye, yet had returned to full flight status by
early 1944 and went on a one-way mission in early July 1944.
     Based on Iwo Jima, Sakai took off at 1600 hours local with eight other
Zero pilots and eight torpedo bombers to strike American ships to the south.
The light began to go and the weather worsened.  The Japanese pilots could
not find their targets, and soon they were engaged by the Hellcat combat air
patrol.  Under orders to avoid aerial combat, Sakai and his fellow escort
pilots desperately tried to escape until they realized there was no other way
but to shoot their way out of the trap.  Sakai shot one Grumman fighter down,
but as the weather deteriorated, he decided to ignore orders and bring his
flight home.  Enraged and embarrassed at being sent out on this futile
mission, Sakai was gratified to find that other pilots had also decided to
abort the mission.
     Later on, he realized how ineffective the kamikazes had been, no matter
how pure their motivation.  He questioned the obvious pressure the young,
inexperienced pilots were under to volunteer and carry out their missions.
Failing to enthusiastically volunteer was a disgrace to the family and to
oneself.
     Sakai also knew that many attacks had resulted in only misses.  As a
former test pilot, he knew that the lightly built Japanese aircraft, such as
the Zero, were not intended for near-vertical dives and frequently broke
apart under the stress of the dive.
     In the final months of the war, July and August, as the Japanese waited
for the inevitable invasion of the home islands, they consolidated their
remaining resources, marshaling the last aircraft, crews and bombs to
confront the huge Allied fleet that would soon appear off the beaches of the
home islands.  Aviation gasoline was scarce, and school children scoured
mountain forests to gather pine cones to process into oil that would fuel
ancient biplane trainers for a huge, final kamikaze attack.
     Although kamikaze strikes continued till the end of the war, no greater
concentration was mounted than during the bloody three-month Okinawa
campaign.  Men and ships that had survived previous combat tours died in the
flames of the diving Zeros. (Actually, Zeros were only a portion of the
different types that the Japanese used.  Anything that flew and could carry a
bomb eventually made the one-way mission.)
     For the kamikaze pilots, the main prize was either the battleship or the
aircraft carrier.  Two big attack carriers (CVs) became symbols of the
kamikaze campaign as they weathered devastating attacks, but survived to
return home.
     USS Franklin (CV 13) took a kamikaze strike on 19 March 1945 while
engaged in strikes against the home islands.  The Japanese plane and its two
small bombs exploded on the hangar deck, killing everyone in the area and
starting more fires around other aircraft that were fueled and armed, waiting
to go on another strike.
     Smoke and fire quickly enveloped the stricken carrier as her men strove
to save her.  Franklin eventually made it back to the States under her own
power to be repaired, having lost 832 of her crew.
     On 1 1 May 1945, USS Bunker Hill (CV 17) took a Zero, then a "Judy"
divebomber, which also released a bomb before it crashed onto the carrier's
flight deck.  As her crew fought the fire, task force commander Vice Admiral
Marc Mitscher had to transfer his flag to another ship.  Finally, the fires
were brought under control and, with 389 dead, Bunker Hill also returned to
the U.S.
     Another veteran carrier to be hit by kamikazes was USS Enterprise
(CV 6), at one time in mid-1942 the only operating American carrier in the
Pacific after Pearl Harbor.  Although damaged on 20 March 1945, Enterprise
was repaired at Ulithi and returned to the fight.
     However, on 14 May, an early morning attack by kamikazes did far more
damage to the "Big E." A bomb-carrying Zero hit the carrier's flight deck
just behind the forward elevator.  The Zero pilot, originally mistakenly
identified as Tomi Zai, was actually Lieutenant (jg) Shunsuke Tomiyasu.
Superb preparedness and firefighting techniques saved the ship from the
breadth of damage suffered by Franklin and Bunker Hill.  But the strike was
enough to take the carrier out of the war for good, although she remained on
station for two more days before heading for Pearl Harbor.
     When the Japanese accepted Allied terms for surrender on 14 August 1945,
some 2,600 kamikaze sorties had been flown.  For such a simple, nontechnical
weapon, the suicide squadrons caused a lot of damage and killed a lot of
people besides their own pilots.  In May alone, kamikazes killed 330 carrier
crewmen, destroyed 90 carrier aircraft and put 4 fleet carriers out of
action, not to mention other damaging attacks against other carriers and
battleships.
     Overall, 474 U.S. ships were victims of kamikaze attacks, and 3,253
officers and men were killed.  Three escort carriers were sunk and 28 other
carriers damaged, including 12 big fleet carriers.  Several carriers took two
or more strikes, sometimes on the same day.  USS Intrepid (CV 11) and USS
Enterprise each sustained four separate kamikaze hits, while USS Franklin was
hit twice before the cataclysmic strike on 19 March 1945.
     For all the terrifying holocaust of the kamikazes, the eventual outcome
of the war was never in doubt.  What Admiral William F. Halsey, commander of
the U.S. Third Fleet, referred to as "the only weapon I feared in the war"
did little to forestall the Allied victory.
     After the war, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief,
Pacific, said, "Nothing that happened during the war was a surprise ...
except the kamikazes ...  we had not visualized these."
     Learning of the emperor's acceptance of the Allies' surrender terms on
15 August, Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi followed the young pilots of his
kamikaze corps and committed suicide, leaving a note, which said, in part:
     "I wish to express my deep appreciation to the souls of the brave
special attackers.  They fought and died valiantly ....  In death I wish to
atone for my part in the failure to achieve victory ...  I wish the young
people of Japan to find a moral in my death.  To be reckless is only to aid
the enemy....  You are the treasure of the nation... strive for the welfare
of Japan and for peace throughout the world."

SELECTED RESULTS FROM KAMIKAZE RAIDS
1. Philippines
  421 sorties
  378 expended
  16 ships sunk including 2 CVEs and 3 DDs
  87 ships damaged including 7 CVs, 2 CVLs, 13 CVEs and 5 BBs
2. Okinawa
  1,809 sorties
    930 expended
  17 ships sunk including 1 CVE and 10 DDs
  198 ships damaged included 8 CVs, 4 CVEs and 10 BBs
3. Overall
  2,314 sorties
  1,228 expended
  34 ships sunk including 3 CVEs and 13 DDs
  288 ships damaged including 16 CVs, 3 CVLs, 17 CVEs and 15 BBs

Commander Mersky is assistant editor of APPROACH magazine.

Acknowledgement: The author would like to thank Henry Sakaida and Robert
Mikesh for their help in preparing this article.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jack McKillop              |  Those who have long enjoyed such |
|  Bellcore                   |  privileges as we enjoy forget in |
|  Piscataway, NJ USA         |  time that men have died to win   |
|  [email-masked]  |  them.                     FDR    |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 07:08:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: SBD-2, BuNo 2106

This is from the July-August 1994 issue of the NAVAL AVIATION NEWS
published by the US Naval Historical Center.

DAUNTLESS IN WAR: DOUGLAS SBD-2 BuNo 2106

by Robert J Cressman

  On the morning of 11 June 1943, Second Lieutenant Donald A. Douglas, Jr.,
USMCR, took off from Naval Air Station (NAS), Glenview, Illinois, for a
routine  carrier qualification flight in a Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless, Bureau
Number (BuNo) 2106.  The plane bore the white side number B-7; its cowling
bore the stenciled black name "MIDWAY MADNESS" that hinted at the plane's
previous career.  That morning, Douglas made his approach to the converted
sidewheeler USS Sable (IX 81), one of the two "training carriers" operating
on Lake Michigan.  Sable's landing signal officer, however, was not pleased
with Douglas's approach and waved him off.
  Up to that moment, the young Marine pilot had enjoyed 377.7 accident-free
hours of flying.  Turning left to clear the ship, he applied the throttle.
BuNo 2106's engine sputtered but then caught.  He had turned too steeply, and
with insufficient power available to keep it aloft, the warweary SBD-2 spun
into Lake Michigan and sank.  Fortunately, one of the two 83-foot (25.2 m)
Coast Guard cutters serving as Sable's "plane guard" plucked Douglas from the
water soon thereafter.  Subsequently, accident investigators attributed
Douglas's misfortune to pilot error (40% judgment, 35% technique) and power
plant failure (25%).
  BuNo 2106 rested on the bottom of Lake Michigan until discovered a little
over a half-century later, in October 1993.  The raising of this particular
Dauntless, and its subsequent arrival at the National Museum of Naval
Aviation, Pensacola, Florida, in January 1994, prompted a search into its
colorful past.
  In April 1940, the Bureau of Aeronautics originally allocated Douglas SBD-2
BuNo 2106, a product of the El Segundo (California) Division of the Douglas
Aircraft Company, to Scouting Squadron (VS) 5, of the Yorktown (CV 5) Air
Group.  Production delays, however, resulted in the block of SBD-2s to which
2106 belonged being allocated to Bombing Squadron (VB) 2 of the Lexington
(CV 2) Air Group instead.  Flown from El Segundo on 28 December to the Battle
Force pool at San Diego, California, BuNo 2106 ultimately reached its
assigned squadron on the last day of the year 1940.
  For nearly one year, the scout bomber served in the Lexington Air Group,
while the diplomatic situation between the United States and Japan
deteriorated.  As part of the eleventh hour reinforcement of outlying Pacific
bases, USS Lexington embarked Marine Scout Bombing Squadron (VMSB) 231 and
sailed on 5 December 1941 to reinforce Midway Island.
  BuNo 2106, however, stayed behind in the Battle Force pool at Pearl Harbor.
Probably in the overhaul shop on Ford Island on 7 December, the plane
survived the devastating Japanese attack upon the Pacific Fleet and nearby
military installations and apparently received an engine change during its
brief stay.  The Lexington Air Group again took BuNo 2106 on charge soon
thereafter, during the ship's brief return to port after patroling the Oahu-
Johnston Island-Midway Island triangle, before "Lady Lex" stood out to sea to
support the abortive attempt to relieve Wake Island in late December.  USS
Lexington then headed for the South Pacific.
  On the morning of 10 March 1942, Lieutenant (junior grade) Mark T.
Whittier, A-V(N), USNR, with Aviation Radioman Second Class Forest G. Stanley
as his radio-gunner, took off in BuNo 2106 (which bore the side number 2-B-2)
bound for the east coast of New Guinea, as USS Lexington's air group teamed
with USS Yorktown's in putting aloft 104 planes to fly across the towering
Owen Stanley Mountains to attack Japanese ships off the settlements of Lae
and Salamaua.  At 0922 hours local, SBDs from Lexington's VS-2 sighted the
objective and soon began pushing over into their dives, putting teeth into
the expression "Remember Pearl Harbor."
  Scouting 2, under Lieutenant Commander Robert E. Dixon, attacked the
transports Tenyo Maru and Kokai Maru and the armed merchant cruiser
("converted gunboat") Kongo Maru off Lae in the face of an increasing volume
of antiaircraft fire.  Accompanying fighters, however, soon began strafing
the batteries to suppress the fire that early on holed one SBD and blew a
second into fiery fragments with a direct hit.  Six minutes after VS-2 had
provided the curtain raiser for the first act of the drama, Torpedo Squadron
2 and VB-2 arrived.  From his SBD, Lieutenant Commander Weldon Hamilton,
VB-2's skipper, intently scanned the waters below with his binoculars from
15,000 feet (4,572 m), looking for worthwhile targets, and then split his
squadron into two six-plane divisions.  The first attacked what looked like a
"heavy cruiser" (actually the large minelayer Tsugaru) but, hampered by
fogging bombsights and windshields when the SBDs hit the comparatively warm,
moist lower air, managed only two "close misses" out of the six 1,000
pounders (454 kg) dropped.  The second division, armed with 500-pounders (227
kg) but also vexed by fogged sights and windshields, took on the transports.
Although China Maru disappeared in geysers of spray from near-misses close
aboard, Bombing 2 had not managed a single hit.
  Lack of familiarity with Japanese ship types and the rudimentary nature of
antishipping tactics made damage assessment difficult, and the eager
Americans magnified a destroyer into a light cruiser while a light cruiser
and a large minelayer became heavy cruisers.  The Japanese exaggerated, too,
somewhat optimistically counting 11 American planes shot down when, in fact,
all American planes save 1 returned to their carriers.  Smoke screens and
radical maneuvering confused the Americans as to "numbers, location, and
damage."  While the Japanese rated the Americans' skill at bombing and
torpedo attacks of a "low order," they also complained that there were simply
too many attacking planes to deal with and that shipboard antiaircraft
defenses were inadequate.
  The "first coordinated attack against enemy ships and shore establishments
by two carrier air groups" resulted in USS Lexington and USS Yorktown planes
sinking Kongo Maru, transports Tenyo Maru and Yokohama Maru and minesweeper
Tama Maru No.2. Nearmisses and strafing accounted for damage to light cruiser
Yubari; destroyers Oite, Yunagi and Asanagi; minesweeper Tama Maru; seaplane
tender Kiyokawa Maru; transport Kokai Maru; and minelayer Tsugaru.   All
told, 130 men had been killed, another 245 wounded.
  To the Americans, who had inflicted far more damage than they had received,
the raid buoyed spirits and many pilots, Mark Whittier among them, would be
decorated. (He was awarded a Navy Cross for pressing home his attack in the
face of the antiaircraft fire.)  Vice Admiral Wilson Brown, commander of the
American force, considered the strike "highly successful," while President
Roosevelt confided in a message to Prime Minister Winston Churchill that
"[Lae-Salamaua] was by all means the best day's work we have had."
  Admiral Chester W. Nimitz dissented, believing that the raid had
accomplished little.  But the transmountain raid forced the enemy--already
overextended in the region and operating with little reserve strength--to
postpone their projected movement toward Tulagi and Port Moresby for one
month until more amphibious shipping could be gathered to cover the losses
incurred off Lae and Salamaua, and air support marshaled for the thrust.  The
presence of American carriers constituted a dangerous variable in the enemy's
invasion equations, because Japan had none of theirs in the South Pacific to
deal with the Americans if the need arose.
  And that need would surely arise, as Admiral Nimitz was deploying his
carriers, too.  While USS Yorktown remained in the Coral Sea, USS Lexington
returned to Pearl Harbor for a brief modernization overhaul, while her
embarked squadrons prepared for the next war cruise.  She then rejoined USS
Yorktown in the South Pacific and, together, the two carriers and their
supporting screening ships met and foiled another Japanese move toward Port
Moresby in the Battle of the Coral Sea between 4 and 8 May 1942--a pivotal
engagement that had been precipitated by the Lae-Salamaua strike.
  While the Lae-Salamaua Raid and the Battle of the Coral Sea had slowed down
and then halted the Japanese movement toward Port Moresby, those two setbacks
did not cause any appreciable lack of confidence on the part of Japanese
decision makers to press forward with an intricate plan to draw out the
troublesome American aircraft carriers at Midway and defeat them.  What the
enemy did not realize was that thanks to the American ability to break enough
of the Japanese naval code to form a good picture of Japanese intentions,
Admiral Nimitz was planning an ambush of his own.
  As part of the accelerated strengthening of Midway, VMSB-241 (redesignated
VMSB-231), the Marine scout bomber squadron based there, would receive ex-
Navy SBDs.  When USS Lexington and her embarked air group had sailed for the
South Pacific in late April, BuNo 2106 had remained behind-to be shuffled
over the next month from the Battle Force pool to Carrier Aircraft Service
Unit (CASU) 1, to VB-3, to another pool, and, ultimately, late in May 1942,
to the Second Marine Aircraft Wing.  Subsequently, BuNo 2106 became 1 of 19
SBD-2s shipped to Midway in the aircraft transport USS Kitty Hawk (APV 1)
that arrived there on 26 May 1942.  Over the next few days, the Marine pilots
familiarized themselves as best they could with their new "mounts," but a
fuel shortage limited the flights they could take.
  On the morning of 4 June 1942, after the Japanese carrier force had been
spotted by a prowling Consolidated PBY Catalina, VMSB-241 (Major Lofton R.
Henderson) took off to attack the enemy.  First Lieutenant Daniel Iverson,
Jr., flew BuNo 2106, which bore the individual plane number 6. Private First
Class (PFC) Wallace J. Reid manned the single .30-caliber (7.62 mm) Browning
machine gun in the aft cockpit.
  After an uneventful flight to the objective, Henderson and his group,
flying at 9,500 feet (2,896 m), sighted the wakes of the Japanese force at
0755 hours local on the squadron's port bow. Henderson, who had been flying
off to one side of the group, shepherding it along (many of his pilots were
inexperienced second lieutenants), then slid back into the lead of the
formation to take it in.  As Henderson and his men began to let down to
attack Hiryu, the combat air patrol slashed the squadron's box formations to
ribbons.  Dan Iverson, whose radio was out of commission and who had just
joined up in the squadron commander's box, saw Zero (Mitsubishi A6M, Navy
Type 0 Carrier Fighter, Allied Code Name Zeke) fighters send Henderson's
Dauntless slanting toward the water, trailing smoke.
  Most of 241's SBDs apparently attacked Hiryu.  Dan Iverson, in his dive
with two Zeroes astern and firing, yanked his bomb release at 800 feet (244
m) before he pulled out, Two additional fighters joined up on his two
tormentors, seemingly taking turns trying to knock him down as he headed for
the clouds at full throttle.  "I could not estimate my speed," he related
later, "as my airspeed indicator was out of commission."  On top of that, a
bullet had severed his throat microphone chord.  PFC Reid, although slightly
wounded in the back and arms, kept the enemy fighters at bay and claimed to
have downed one of their pursuers.
  The battered remnant of Henderson's boxes cleared Hiryu's vicinity, having
lost 6 of their number to the defending Zeroes and having scored only 1
near-miss.  Two other bombs splashed 50 meter (164 feet) from the ship; a
third, 80 meters (262 feet); and a fourth, 150 meters (492 feet).  Radio-
gunners in the SBDs managed to exact some measure of retribution, however,
downing a section leader from Hiryu.  The Zeroes hounded the surviving SBDs
for several minutes before the Marines managed to escape into the clouds with
their bullet-riddled planes. Iverson's BuNo 2106 had taken 219 hits.  His
hydraulic system shot away, he managed to land at Midway on one wheel.  For
their heroism during the Battle of Midway, Iverson received a Navy Cross;
Reid a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).
  While Whittier, Stanley, Iverson and Reid moved on to other assignments,
so, too, did BuNo 2106, for it was taken stateside and ultimately assigned to
the Carrier Qualification Training Unit at NAS Glenview for training duty.
Mark Whittier went on to earn a DFC and four Air Medals in the Pacific
theater, commanding Composite Squadron (VC) 97 as it operated from the escort
carriers USS Shipley Bay (CVE 85) and USS Makassar Strait (CVE 91).  He
survived WW II and eventually retired as a captain.
  Forest Stanley fought in VB-2 in the Battle of the Coral Sea, where he was
credited with downing an attacking fighter during the attack on the Japanese
small carrier Shoho, earning a DFC.  Transferred to VB-10 in USS Enterprise
(CV 6) and attaining the rate of Aviation Radioman First Class, he was killed
in action in November 1942 during an attack on Japanese transports off
Guadalcanal.  He was awarded a second air medal, posthumously.
  Iverson and Reid each earned a Silver Star at Guadalcanal.  Iverson
attained the rank of major and was serving as a flight instructor at NAS Vero
Beach, Florida when he died in a midair collision in January 1944 20 miles
(32 km) off the east coast of Florida; Reid, who would earn two more DFCs and
eight Air Medals in the Solomons and Bismarck Archipelago campaigns,
ultimately attained the rank of second lieutenant and died in combat on the
Pusan Perimeter, during the Korean War, in August 1950.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jack McKillop              |  Those who have long enjoyed such |
|  Bellcore                   |  privileges as we enjoy forget in |
|  Piscataway, NJ USA         |  time that men have died to win   |
|  [email-masked]  |  them.                     FDR    |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 07:46:54 -0400
From:    Robert E George <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Seaplane Spitfire not all that bad

>
> >
> > Emmanuel,
> >
> >      I read somewhere that the SeaSpit's perf was NOT all that
> > bad.  (Please don't push me for the ref.)
> >
> >      PRINCE OF WALES and REPULSE certainly could have used a
> > few.
> >
> > Lou Coatney
> >
> They certaintly wern't bad. But they wern't great either. They were a
> compromise - and like most compromises experienced adaptability
> problems. They certainly proved useful in both the Med and in the
> Pacific. Without them the British Fleet would certainly have fared far
> worse. Prince of Wales and Repulse only had the option of protection
> by the hoplessly outclassed Boomerang. As it turned out, they were
> nowhere nearby when needed - fortunately for the boomerang pilots.
>
> Jamie
>

     Do you mean "Buffalo" rather than "Boomerang"? The Boomerang
was an Australian a/c. The Buffalo was the main British fighter in
SE Asia in early 1942.

     Rob George

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 10:51:52 EDT
From:    John Sloan <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Jack McKillop's enli...

Steve  Pudlo is asking about aircraft ramming, in reaction to metion in the
great daily report Jack McKillop is providing on the USAF,  Steve, there were
many almost routine ramming incidents conducted by Soviet pilots in the early
part of WWII when they often had little other choice, given the odds against
them in aerial combat.
john sloan

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 10:28:29 CCS
From:    Jorge Merino <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: WEAP: Ramming aircraft

The Ba-349 was launched vertically, assisted by four auxiliary rockets (two
on each side). Shortly after takeoff, the auxiliary rockets were jettisoned,
and when this thing reached enough altitude, it dived over the allied bombers
and launched all of the rockets it had in the rocket launcher, located
at the nose. After that, the front section separated from the rear (engine)
section, and the pilot had to jump free. Both pilot and read section had
to land using parachutes. Many prototypes were built, including unpowered
versions, and one prototype with fixed landing gear for evaluation only.
The first version, Ba-349A (36 built) was semi-operational. The first manned
flight killed the test pilot, Lothar Siebert (I think the cockpit opened
after takeoff, and he got unconscious, so, the plane crashed). Other three
manned flights were succesful. The final version, Ba-349B, with many changes,
was about to reach operational status when the factory was captured by the
allied forces.

As Emmanuel stated, it operated very similar to the aircraft you've described,
but it was not intended as a rammer. It was very small (about 18 feet long
and 12 feet wing span). I think it couldn't survive if used for ramming
purposes, since it was semi-expendable.

I think the Fi-103 would be more suitable for ramming, if modified properly.
But I only know about bomb versions (including the manned R.I-R.IV series)

Jorge Merino

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 12:03:34 -0400
From:    Ron Babuka <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Battle of Java Sea, Feb 42

>I trust you *meant* to say 42, Ron.  :-)
>
>Lou Coatney

In the words ohhhhh Mr. Miller Lite - "Yes I did"  :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Babuka                                         National Warplane Museum
Cornell University                                 Geneseo, New York
CIT - Information Resources
Ithaca, New York 14850
(607) 254-6492

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 12:13:16 -0500
From:    Mike Yaklich <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Jap troop strength on home islands 1945?

Have you tried Saburo Hayashi's "Kogun?"  The info may not be as detailed
as you need, but I do recall listings of divisions for proposed defense of
the home islands in '45.  It was published by Marine Corps Assoc, Quantico,
in 1959

Regards

Mike Yaklich

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 09:50:18 -0700
From:    John Davis <[email-masked]>
Subject: INF: 50 Years Ago - 25-AUG-1944

On 25-AUG-1944, the following occurred -

World War II - The Battlefronts
-------------------------------
Northern France - The French 2nd Armoured Division enters Paris from the
southwest at 7:00 am. Half and hour later the US 4th Division moves in from
the south. General Deitrich von Choltitz refuses Hitler's oders to mine the
public buildings, museums and bridges of Paris. At 3:15 pm he surrenders to
General Leclerc. The British 15th Division (XII Corps, 2nd Army) prepares to
cross the Seine opposite Louviers. The British 43rd Division establishes a
bridgehead at Vernon. The US VIII Corps (3rd Army) begins an offensive against
Brest, in Brittany. The German garrison in Brest is not giving up without a
fight however.

Southern France - The US 3rd Division enters Avignon. Fighting continues for
Marseilles and Toulon.

Eastern Front - In the northern sector, the 3rd Baltic Front captures Tartu,
in Estonia.

Italian Front - The British 8th Army attacks the Gothic line from the river
Metauro. The Germans are caught be surprise and put up a patchy defence.

New Guinea - General Krueger formally announces that operations in the Aitape
sector are complete. In the course of this offensive, the Allies have lost
3,000 killed, wounded and missing. The Japanese have lost 8,821 dead and 98
prisoners. In the northwest corner of the Vogelkop peninsula, the Japanese
carry out a daylight air raid.

Naval Dispatches
----------------
Japanese destroyer YUNAGI sunk by submarine PICUDA (SS-382), Philippine
Islands area.

Foreign Affairs
---------------
Rumania At War With Germany - Rumania has declared war against Germany after
the Germans bomb Bucharest, attack Rumanian troops and strafe civilians.

=============================================================================

Sources: "2194 Days of War" by Cesare Salmaggi and Alfredo Pallavisimi, "The
World Almanac Book Of WW II" by Peter Young, "United States Naval Chronology,
World War II" by Naval Historical Division - United States Navy, "Facts On
File Yearbook 1944, Person's Index Of World Events" edited by R.L. Lapica.

----------
John Davis  [email-masked]
Cary, N.C.
----------

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 12:46:26 GMT-6
From:    "Robert T. Moore" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: WSJ--Wednesday

Hello, Tony!

> Any estimates of unexploded bombs around today?

    There are many, to say the least. If memory serves me correctly,
for example, there are 40-50 nomadic Arabs who lose their lives
yearly to unexploded mines laid in the Western Desert of Africa
during the war in that theater of operations.

    I suspect that much more unexploded ordnance will be discovered
during the forseeable future.

    Terry

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 12:51:01 GMT-6
From:    "Robert T. Moore" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Jack McKillop's enlightening columns

Hello, Tom!

Regarding the Rammjaeger, I think the squadron's designation was JG-
300 and commanded by Oberst Walther-Hermann Dahl. The idea was to
basically land the fighter on one of the wings of the invading
bombers. This attempt would effectively disable the bomber while
allowing the pilot the chance to successfully bale out. I have an
artist's conception of this tactic in my autograph collection
supplied me by a fellow-collector.

I will have to check my sources, but I don't think this was attempted.

Hope this helps.

Terry

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 12:56:20 GMT-6
From:    "Robert T. Moore" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Swiss Bank Accounts

Hello, Tim!

Will try to answer your question.

> My roomate and I were talking about the end of the war in Europe, and
> what happened to the Senior Nazi's.  We started talking about the
> financial looting--and then about Swiss Bank accounts--Did senior Nazi's
> hide money in Swiss Bank accounts, and if they were people like Goering,
> and didn;t get free--what happened to the money--is it still sitting in
> the bank accounts acruing interest?????

    Yes, if the money wasn't claimed in the first place. It should
still be there, if there wasn't some sort of statute of limitations
placed on the longevity of the account, and to my knowledge, there
isn't one.

    Hope this helps somewhat.

    Terry

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 12:58:39 GMT-6
From:    "Robert T. Moore" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Re[2]: German squad vs. U.S. Squad

Hello, Tim!

> Did anyone see the "Search for Hitler" special Satiruday night on ABC.
> I caught the tail end of it.  THEY FOUND HITLER'S BRAIN!  AHHHHH TAS

    Yes, I did, but missed the first 2 minutes of it before I
realized what it was. I don't think it was advertized that much, and
do you know if it will be rebroadcast, because I understand that it
may have been a substitute program for a baseball game that was to be
televised?

    Please advise.

    Terry

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 13:40:03 CDT
From:    Perry Otis <Otis=[email-masked]>
Subject: Natter

In the book _World War II Fighting Jets_  the Bachem Natter is described as
a "semi-expendable rocket powered interceptor".  After making his attack the
pilot would disengage the nose section, >The entire nose section in front of
the pilot >including the windscreen, would then fall away and as it parted
company from the >rest of the machine a cable would eject from its housing a
large recovery >parachute attached to the rear fuselage.  The rear part of
the aircraft would then >slow up suddenly, and the pilot's weight would
carry him safely clear of his seat >allowing him to complete the descent
using his own parachute.
>After the main part of the aircraft reached the ground the most expensive
parts - >the rocket motor and the autopilot in particular - were to be
removed for re-use.  >The mainly wooden airframe was not built to withstand
the stresses of landing, >and was to be scrapped after each flight.
>Although the operational concept might appear quaint to modern eyes, it is
worth >pointing out at this stage that  the Natter was the world's first
practical design for a >fighter capable of vertical take-off and landing
performance.

Perry Otis

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"DON'T PANIC"----Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 15:57:26 EDT
From:    Doug McCabe <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: WEAP: Ramming

                   Ohio University Electronic Communication

   Date:  24-Aug-1994 03:53pm EST

     To:  Remote Addressee                     ( _MX%"[email-masked]" )

   From:  Doug McCabe                                Dept:  Library
          MCCABE                                   Tel No:  (614) 593-2715

Subject:  Re: WEAP: Ramming

    I thought I read somewhere that early in the Russo-German War the
    Soviets added metal to the propeller blades of the little YAK mono-wing
    fighter (already very out-of-date) so the pilot could use the blades to
    chop off the tail of German aircraft.  Anyone else remember such a
    story?

    Doug McCabe
    [email-masked]

Received:  24-Aug-1994 03:57pm

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 16:07:12 EDT
From:    Doug McCabe <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Media: Search for Hitler

                   Ohio University Electronic Communication

   Date:  24-Aug-1994 03:59pm EST

     To:  Remote Addressee                     ( _MX%"[email-masked]" )

   From:  Doug McCabe                                Dept:  Library
          MCCABE                                   Tel No:  (614) 593-2715

Subject:  Re: Media: Search for Hitler

    Little late responding to this....

    Somewhere there was/is a complete dental set of Hitler because the
    Soviets used it to positively identify Hitler's remains shortly after
    the capture of Berlin.  The Soviets had both Hitler's dentist and
    dental assistant draw for them Hitler's dental "layout" and used these
    drawings to match with the body.  For (still?) unexplained reasons they
    did not reveal they had ID'd the body.  The dental assistant, Katherina
    Heusmann, spent a number of years in solitary confinement, presumable
    because she had provided evidence of Hitler's bridgework.
      - from Cornelius Ryan's _The Last Battle_ and the Ryan archives,
    which, by the way, contains a recreation of the dental drawing done by
    Heusmann herself.

    Doug McCabe
    [email-masked]

Received:  24-Aug-1994 04:07pm

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 16:11:47 EDT
From:    Doug McCabe <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Russo-Finnish War

                   Ohio University Electronic Communication

   Date:  24-Aug-1994 04:08pm EST

     To:  Remote Addressee                     ( _MX%"[email-masked]" )

   From:  Doug McCabe                                Dept:  Library
          MCCABE                                   Tel No:  (614) 593-2715

Subject:  Re: Russo-Finnish War

    Those of you interested in the diplomatic moves (or lack of them)
    leading up to the Soviet attack on brave little Finland may want to
    read Max Jakobson's _The Diplomacy of the Winter War: An Account of the
    Russo-Finnish Conflict, 1939-1940 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
    Press, 1961).  It's dated, but good.

    Doug McCabe
    [email-masked]

Received:  24-Aug-1994 04:11pm

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 16:41:12 EDT
From:    Doug McCabe <[email-masked]>
Subject: 50th Anniv. of MARKET-GARDEN

                   Ohio University Electronic Communication

   Date:  24-Aug-1994 04:12pm EST

     To:  Remote Addressee                     ( _MX%"[email-masked]" )

   From:  Doug McCabe                                Dept:  Library
          MCCABE                                   Tel No:  (614) 593-2715

Subject:  50th Anniv. of MARKET-GARDEN

    A shameless plug and the reason I've been silent on WWII-L for quite
    some time:

    Ohio University's Archives and Special Collections will present one
    exhibit and two displays as part of the commemoration exercises marking
    the 50th anniversary of operation MARKET-GARDEN in The Netherlands
    during September.  Called "Untold Stories from _A Bridge Too Far_"
    highlighting text and photographs from the files of author Cornelius
    Ryan, the main exhibit will at Open Huis in the Nijmegen City Hall.
    One display will be in the Liberation 1944 Museum in Groesbeek (82nd
    Airborne Div. operation area) and the other display will be at the
    Hartenstein Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek (1st British Airborne Div.
    and Polish 1st Air Landing Brigade operation area).  The exhibit and
    displays will be open for viewing by 9 September and stay up for at
    least a month.

    The Untold Stories are from Ryan's files and were not included in the
    book.  Topics include humor, tragedy, civilian reactions, combat
    stories from Americans, British, Polish, Dutch, and Germans.  These
    stories may have circulated over glasses of ale but none have been
    displayed or printed before.  Several photographs also have never been
    seen by the public.

    Our delegation will attend many of the ceremonies from Margraten up
    Hell's Highway through Eindhoven, Nijmegen, and Arnhem.  We will start
    at the American Cemetery in Maastricht where we will lay flowers at the
    grave of an Athens, OH KIA and a wreath honoring Ohio KIA and MIA.
    Anyone (Sparks?) need rubbings?  - Let me know.  On the Hell's Highway
    run some of us will hitch rides with "Keep Them Rolling," a Dutch
    organization with includes hundreds of refurbished American combat
    vehicles.  Events in the Nijmegen/Arnhem area will include para drops
    by vets and currently serving soldiers, memorial services, concerts,
    a crossing of the Waal River in honor of the 82nd, tanks across the
    bridge, etc.  We will also honor the only CMOH awardee (John "Jack"
    Towle, 82nd AB, from Cleveland, OH) with a special service along the
    dike road near Lent.  Towle's nephew, Tom Ryan, will be there as a
    special guest of our University's vice president of university
    relations and his brother, who were both children during the battle and
    played on one of the tanks Towle shot.

    Y'all come on over for a look-see.  I'm easy to spot: I'm the American
    talking like I have something to say. 8-)  (Actually, I plan on doing a
    lot of listening and learning.)  I'll be going no-mail between 2 and 22
    September, so if anyone has commo about any of the above flash it to me
    quick.

    Doug McCabe
    [email-masked]

Received:  24-Aug-1994 04:41pm

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 18:42:37 -0400
From:    Tom Shirhall <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Seaplane Spitfire not all that bad

Actually, the Spitfire began life as a seaplane, for some series of famous
air races. My source of information is a 1930's movie starring Leslie Howard.
:-)

Tom Shirhall

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 14:51:25 CDT
From:    Henry Sirotin <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Jap troop strength on home islands 1945?

Troops, by units, no problem. Tanks and Arty much tougher. Try Coox and
Hayashi, KOGUN, or give me a couple of days.

Henry Sirotin

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 16:53:10 -0500
From:    Mike Yaklich <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Jack McKillop's enli...

Anyone wishing to read a bit more about Soviet ramming tactics ("taran")
will find a good short summary in the "Barbarossa" chapter of Stephen Boyd's
"The Soviet Air Force 1918-45."

Regards

Mike Yaklich

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 20:32:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: [INF] USAAF 25 AUG 44

COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
FRIDAY, 25 AUGUST 1944
FTP SITES
  1. ftp.rutgers.edu in directory pub/wwii/usaf
  2. byrd.mu.wvnet.edu (129.71.32.152) in pub/history/military/airforce/
     wwii_chronology

AIRCRAFT MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT:
  A-20, Douglas Havoc
  B-17, Boeing Flying Fortress
  B-24, Consolidated Liberator
  B-25, North American Mitchell
  B-26, Martin Marauder
  C-47, Douglas Skytrain
  F-5, Lockheed Lightning
  L-5, Stinson Sentinel
  P-38, Lockheed Lightning
  P-39, Bell Airacobra
  P-40, Curtiss
  P-47, Republic Thunderbolt
  P-51, North American Mustang

AMERICAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): In the Kurile Islands, 1 B-24 flies
reconnaissance over Shasukotan, Onnekotan, and Harumukotan Islands but drops
no bombs due to accurate AA fire.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 9 B-25s bomb Kondangyi; 4 P-47s
knock out a bridge S of Bhamo and hit several targets of opportunity in the
area; 2 P-51s bomb a probable factory at Hopin; 6 flights of P-51s attack
buildings and targets of opportunity at Pinlon and Kyagyigon; 32 other P-51s
support ground forces at Ingyingon and along the Hsai-hkao and Namsang River;
and the detachment of the 20th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 8th
Photographic Reconnaissance Group, ceases operating from Myitkyina with P-40s
and returns to base at Kisselbari, India (the squadron is operating from
Tingkawk Sakan).

  CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): 3 B-24s bomb Kowloon docks in Hong Kong; 3
B-25s and 12 P-40s hit buildings, troop compounds, and general targets of
opportunity in the Yangtien area; 4 B-25s and 21 P-40s attack similar targets
in and around Anjen; 2 B-25s bomb the fighter strip at Leiyang and 2 others
hit the town of Nanyo; 40 P-51s and P-40s attack a wide variety of targets of
opportunity throughout the Hengyang, Siangyin, Siangtan, and Siangsiang
areas, Chenghsien, Lishui, Samshui, Chiangmen, Luichow Peninsula, and the Red
River delta.

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Four missions are flown.
  Mission 570: 1,191 bombers and 708 fighters make visual bombing attacks
against aircraft component plants, Luftwaffe experimental stations and the
synthetic oil industry; 18 bombers and 7 fighters are lost; numbers in
parenthesis indicate number of bombers attacking the target:
  1. 435 B-24s are dispatched to hit aircraft component plants at Rostock
(116), Schwerin (106), Wismar (91) and Lubeck (81); 11 others hit
Grossenbrode Airfield and 4 hit targets of opportunity; 5 B-24s are lost, 2
damaged beyond repair and 55 damaged; 5 airmen are WIA and 64 MIA. Escort is
provided by 243 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 11-2-3 aircraft; 1 P-51 is lost.
  2. 380 B-17s are dispatched to the Rechlin Experimental Station (179) and
oil refinery at Politz (169); 6 others hit targets of opportunity; 8 B-17s
are lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 182 damaged; 10 airmen are WIA and 64
MIA. Escort is provided by 215 P-47s and P-51s; they claim 4-0-2 aircraft on
the ground; 4 P-51s are lost.
  3. 376 B-17s are dispatched to the Peenemunde Experimental Station (146),
Neubrandenburg Airfield (108) and Anklam Airfield (73); 21 others hit Parow
Airfield and 5 hit targets of opportunity; 5 B-17s are lost and 75 damaged; 1
airman is KIA, 9 WIA and 45 MIA. Escort is provided by 171 P-47s and P-51s;
they claim 36-0-28 aircraft on the ground; 2 P-51s are lost.
  Mission 571: 10 of 10 B-24s fly an Azon glide bomb mission to Moerdijke,
the Netherlands but the target is missed. Escort is provided by 36 of 36
P-47s without loss.
  Mission 572: 107 bombers and 172 fighters are dispatched to make visual
attacks on liquid oxygen and ammonia plants in Belgium and N France:
  1. 31 of 38 B-17s hit Henin Littard without loss.
  2. 69 B-24s are dispatched to hit Willerbroeck (18), Tertre (17), Tiller/
Liege (12) and La Louviere (10); 4 others hit St Trond Airfield and 1 hits a
target of opportunity; 24 B-24s are damaged and 4 airmen are WIA.
  Escort for Mission 572 is provided by 152 P-38s and P-51s without loss.
  Mission 573: 6 of 6 B-17s drop leaflets on France and Belgium during the
night.
  1 C-47 flies a CARPETBAGGER mission during the night.

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): In France, about 240 A-20s and B-26s
attack various enemy strongholds in and around Brest supporting the ground
forces' attempt to capture Brest harbor; fighters provide air cover for 5
divisions, fly armed reconnaissance along the Seine River, and sweeps in wide
areas around Paris which is liberated; fighters of the IX Tactical Air
Command raid, and set afire with napalm tanks, the reported HQ of Field
Marshall Walter Model (Commander-in-Chief West) and Verzy; HQ IX Air Defense
Command moves from Ecrammeville to Rennes; HQ 394th Bombardment Group
(Medium) moves from Holmsley, England to Tour-en-Bassin; the 14th Liaison
Squadron, XIX Tactical Air Command (attached to Third Army), moves from
Dampierre to Courcy with L-5s; the 34th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron,
10th Photographic Group (Reconnaissance), moves from Rennes to Chateaudun
with F-5s; the 153d Liaison Squadron, IX Tactical Air Command (attached to
First Army), moves from Couterne to Maillebois with L-5s; and the 390th
Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group, moves from Pierre du Mont to Dreux
with P-47s. The 303d Troop Carrier Squadron, 442d Troop Carrier Group, that
has been operating from Follonica, Italy with C-47s, returns to base at
Weston Zoyland, England.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (MTO)

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Fifteenth Air Force): In Czechoslovakia, 300+ B-17s
and B-24s supported by P-38s and P-51s bomb aircraft factories at Brno and
Kurim and airfields at Brno and Prostejov. The 885th Bombardment Squadron
(Heavy), Fifteenth Air Force (attached to Mediterranean Allied Air Forces),
moves from Blida to Maison Blance, Algeria with B-17s and B-24s (the squadron
transports supplies to partisans and drop leaflets in the MTO).

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): A-20s hit targets of opportunity
during the night of 24/25 Aug, and during the day fly armed reconnaissance
over the Po and Rhone Valleys in Italy and France respectively, and hit
ammunition stores in S France. In France, B-25s and B-26s attack Rhone River
bridges at Avignon, Culoz, Saint-Alban-du-Rhone, Pont d'Ain, and Loyes, and
hit gun positions around Marseille; fighter-bombers on armed reconnaissance
in the battle area and in Italy, along the battleline N of the Arno River
attack gun positions, roads, and bridges. HQ 27th Fighter Group and the
522d, 523d and 524th Fighter Squadrons move from Serragia, Corsica to Le Luc
France with P-47s; HQ 79th Fighter Group moves from Corsica to S France; HQ
324th Fighter Group moves from Corsica to Le Luc, France.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA)

  AAF, POA (Seventh Air Force): B-24s from Saipan Island hit the airfield on
Iwo Jima Island while P-47s blast AA positions and troops on Pagan Island. A
B-24 bombs Yap Island. Gilbert Island-based B-25s bomb Ponape Island.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-24s strike Koror
and Malakal Islands, Palau Islands, Caroline Islands; B-24s pound Lolobata on
Halmahera Island; B-25s on a shipping sweep over Lembeh Strait, Celebes
Island claim a merchant ship sunk and hit several small vessels. In the
Lesser Sunda Islands a few B-25s on a shipping sweep attack several small
vessels. In New Guinea, A-20s and fighter-bombers hit Babo Airfield, Sagan,
and Otawiri; P-39s strafe troops near But; the 394th Bombardment Squadron
(Heavy), 5th Bombardment Group (Heavy), moves from Momote Airfield, Los
Negros Island to Wakde Island; and the 822d Bombardment Squadron (Medium),
38th Bombardment Group (Medium), moves from Nadzab to Biak Island with B-25s.

SOURCES:
AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS OF WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force History,
  Headquarters USAF, 1961, ISBN 0-912799-02-1
COMBAT SQUADRONS OF THE AIR FORCE, WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force
  History, Headquarters USAF 1982
THE ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II: COMBAT CHRONOLOGY, 1941-1945 by the
  Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, 1973
THE MIGHTY EIGHTH WAR DIARY by Roger A. Freeman, ISBN 1-85409-071-2

Jack McKillop
USAF (Airways and Air Communications Service)
1955-59

-------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jack McKillop         |  Those who have long enjoyed such      |
|  Bellcore              |  privileges as we enjoy forget in      |
|  Piscataway, NJ USA    |  time that men have died to win them.  |
|  [email-masked]  |                       FDR              |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

25/0034Z AUG

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 21:02:10 -0400
From:    Ben Frank <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: JAP TROOP STRENGTH

Hayashi and Coox's "Kogun," although long out of print, is an excellent source,
as is John Toland's "The Rising Sun." In the October or November 1945 war diary
of the Marine V Amphibious Corps there is an appendix which gives the entire
order of battle--strength, equipment, location, disposition, and
organization--of Japanese units on Kyushu. It was prepared by the VAC G-2, a
LtCol Gooderham McCormick, a Reserve officer, and later mayor of Philadelphia.
The appendix contains maps showing locations and types of weapons in place,
location of aircraft, especially kamikazes. That one G-2 report refutes the
argument that we needn't have dropped the atom bomb. For my life's sake, I'm
glad we did. Ben Frank

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 21:56:00 -0500
From:    "Colin Brace (617)726-5085" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Navy Pay

          Over the weekend, I bought a 1940 edition of the
           'Bluejackets Manual' and on page 21, there is a
          illustration captioned 'Fig 3-2 - Pay Receipt It is
          is dated 5 July 1937 for the amount of $14.00,
          and above the line that says '(Rank or rating)'
          is written 'A. S.' (Able seaman?).

          My question is was this weekly, monthly, or some
          other period? Also, was there an increase prior
          to December 7, 1941?

          A fascinating book, has thumbnail specs on the
          significant ships of the time (including the ARIZONA,
          of course). It is in very good condition (I'm no used
          book expert), paid $10.00 at a bookstore for it, worth
          every penny, it's really neat.

          Thanks in advance. This is an excellent net, I've
          learned quite alot.

          Colin Brace WA1KWA

          [email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 23:38:22 EST
From:    "CARL WERNKE (TCWERNC@VCCSCENT)" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Navy Pay

 To: Multiple recipients of list WWII-L([email-masked])
 X-To:[email-masked]

 Colin Brace's message 24 Aug 1994 21:56:00 -0500

 |>The Blue Jacket's Manual...dated 5 July 1937 [Pay for Rank or Rating]
 |>$14.00 for a "A.S.' (Able Seaman?).

 A.S. (sic) or A/S indicates an Apprentice Seaman.

 Carl Wernke  USN (ret)
 [email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 24 Aug 1994 23:42:23 -0400
From:    tesser louis j <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Free French Forces

I just watched the ABC show "Turning Point" on the liberation of
Paris, and enjoyed it.  The stress was on the emotional impact of the
victory but the informational content was less developed. I wonder if
anyone has any information about the fate and quality of the French
forces at that time.

1.  What was the quality/morale of the Free French forces that were
involved in DRAGOON and the liberation?

2.  To what extent did they participate in the further liberation of
France and the defeat of the Reich (and Japanese, for that matter)?

3.  How did the Free French of DeGaulle and the Communist dominated
partisans finally reconcile their differences (e.g. were there
violent conflicts at that time)?

I found these questions compelling because I have heard tell of real
failures of fighting quality among some of the French forces.
However, to be fair, fighting quality is highly subjective and there
seems to be a presumption against the French forces due to the rapid
French defeat and Vichy cooperation.  I would appreciate
whatever insight you may offer into these issues.  Thanks for your
help.

------------------------------

End of WWII-L Digest - 23 Aug 1994 to 24 Aug 1994
*************************************************