TUESDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER 1944
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): Six bombers fly a negative shipping
sweep over Shimushu; three bombers attack Suribachi Airfield and offshore shipping
targets; one B-24 flies negative reconnaissance.
BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): Four B-25s pound buildings in the Katha
area; Twenty-five B-24s haul fuel to Kunming; 8 P-47s sweep a river from Bhamo
to Katha, 3 strafe official buildings at Bhamo, and 16 hit targets of opportunity
on the Burma Road from Lungling, China to Wanling to Namhkam and blast gun positions
N of Loiwing Airfield.
CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 10 B-25s and 6 P-40s pound Lungling;
14 B-25s hit the town area and destroy 2 bridges and damage another at Sungpai;
22 others bomb Kaochishih, Tunghsiangchiao, and the area E of Kiyang; 27 P-51s
and P-40s on armed reconnaissance over Hunan and other areas of inland SE China
attack road and river traffic and general targets of opportunity around Lingling,
Hengyang, Kiyang, Yangtien, and Patpo; and 15 P-40s hit coastal and river shipping
in south China and in Indochina on the South China Sea, in Chikhom Bay, and along the
Red River; the flight of the 21st Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, Fourteenth
Air Force, operating from Kweilin with F-5s since Jul 43, returns to base at Kunming; and the 74th Fighter Squadron, 23d Fighter Group, moves from Kweilin and Liuchow to Luliang with P-40s and P-51s.
AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): P-47s from Saipan hit AA positions on Pagan with a rocket and bombing attack. A lone B-24 on armed reconnaissance bombs
the building area on Marcus. B-25s bomb Nauru.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-24s pound three airfields
in the Menado area
on Celebes. B-24s and B-25s bomb Kaoe Airfield and Galela Airfields on Halmahera and radar facilities on Morotai.
B-24s hit Lautem. P-38s dive-bomb Namlea Airfield while
P-47s hit Boela. A-20s, B-25s, and fighter-bombers
hit airfields, AA guns, and other targets at Babo,
Mongosah, Manokwari, Sagan, Moemi, and Samate; and the 39th Fighter Squadron, 35th Fighter Group, moves from Noemfoor to Owi with P-47s.
RAAF: Force landed is DB-7B "J is For Jessica" A28-8 pilot FLGOFF Harry Rowell at Vivigani Airfield on Goodenough Island. Ditched is DB-7B "Spirit of Sport" A28-15 pilot F/L Harry Blinman Dawkins (POW/MIA).
USN: The Third Fleet began a probing operation in the Philippines with strikes against the central Philippines revealing weak Japanese resistance. TF 38 under Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher including TG 38.1, TG 38.2, and TG 38.3 begins operations against Japanese shipping and airfields in the Visayas. Planes from all three carrier groups pound enemy installations on Cebu and shipping offshore, sinking gunboat Kiso Maru, auxiliary submarine chasers Mogami Maru and No.12 Kyo Maru, auxiliary netlayer Korei Maru, auxiliary minesweeper No.18 Choun Maru, guardboats No.97 Banshu Maru and No.4 Fukuju Maru, transports Bugen Maru, Nichiei Maru, army cargo ships Keian Maru and Genkai Maru, merchant tanker Ayazono Maru, merchant cargo ships Toyo Maru, No.2 Shintai Maru, No.5 Shintai Maru, and No.8 Shintai Maru, 10°20'N, 124°00'E; salvage ship Miho Maru, 10°35'N, 124°00'E; transport Shiramine Maru, 10°34'N, 124°01'E; transport Oakita Maru, 11°21'N, 124°07'E; transport Rakuto Maru, 10°35'N, 124°20'E. TF 38 planes also damage minesweeper No.21 Choun Maru off Cebu, 10°20'N, 124°00'E. Between Biliran and Cebu, TF 38 planes sink auxiliary minesweeper Takao Maru and auxiliary submarine chaser Nan-Ho Maru; in Bohol Strait, carrier aircraft sink motor torpedo boat Gyoraitei No.483.
Ensign Thomas C. Tillar, USNR, a pilot from Hornet, in TG 38.1, is rescued by Filipinos after his F6F ditches off Apit Island, off the southwestern coast of Leyte. Before Tillar is recovered by SOC from heavy cruiser Wichita (CA-45), he learns from his rescuers that the size of the Japanese garrison on Leyte is negligible. That fact, when combined with the lack of aerial opposition encountered and the few airfields that exist on Leyte and Samar, prompts Admiral Halsey (Commander Third Fleet) to recommend that the planned attack on Yap be abandoned and that the date of the landings on Leyte be advanced from 20 December to 20 October 1944.
Light minelayer Preble (DM-20) explodes acoustic mines in the shoals between Angaur and Peleliu; she and sistership Montgomery (DM-17) sweep most of the navigable waters by the end of the day.
Destroyer Marshall (DD-676) captures boat with 44 survivors of Japanese light cruiser Natori sunk August 18, 1944.
High speed transport Noa (APD-24) is sunk in collision with destroyer Fullam (DD-474) off Palau, Carolines, 07°01'N, 134°30'E; Fullam is damaged; oilers Millicoma (AO-73) and Schuykill (AO-76) are damaged in collision off the Palaus.
Submarine Growler (SS-215) sinks Japanese destroyer Shikinami 240 miles south of Hong Kong, 18°25'N, 114°30'E, and escort vessel Hirado 250 miles east of Hainan Island, 17°54'N, 114°49'E.
Submarine Pampanito (SS-383) sinks merchant passenger/cargo ship Kachidoki Maru and tanker Zuiho Maru, 19°25'N, 112°27'E.
Submarine Pipefish (SS-388) sinks Japanese auxiliary vessel No.7 Hakutetsu Maru off Shiono Misaki, Japan, 33°32'N, 135°56'E.
Submarine Redfin (SS-272) carries out unsuccessful attack on Japanese cargo vessel Tosho Maru, 05°27'S, 120°28'E; counterattack by submarine chaser Ch 53 is likewise unsuccessful.
Submarine Sealion (SS-315) sinks Japanese transport Nankai Maru and merchant passenger/cargo ship Rakuyo Maru in the South China Sea, east of Hainan Island, 18°42'N, 114°30'E; Sealion crew is unaware that the latter carries Allied POWs.
Japanese tanker No.2 Eiyo Maru, damaged by Paddle (SS-263) on 7 September, is sunk by aircraft, 08°12'N, 122°37'E.
