Best Two Out of Three

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. II Burma Battles (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

I don't think I'll ever forget that night in early September 43. The PBY's had reported a large Jap convoy heading into Port Blair with strong escorts. We sailed and spent the first day fruitlessly moving to and fro trying to find them. That night, I decided to go near the port to see what we could find. Coming out of the mist we saw a IJN battleline at just 1,000 yards! We crossed their T and I never saw such a beautiful bracket of fire than that laid down by the CL Newcastle. She must have hit the Furutaka 5 times when, all of a sudden, the Newcastle was gone. I guess it was torpedoes but it left my bridge in stunned silence. A few more hits were exchanged and we lost them in a rain squall.

Capt. Scanland CA USS Astoria.

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. II Burma Battles (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

We weren't done. We hunted them down and fought through the night for what seemed like hours. At one point our ammo was running low and I ordered us to break off but those Japanese sailors are among the best in the world and then clung to us like a hobo on a ham sandwich. They probably should have let us go as my ship scored a number of hits on the Furutaka and we saw it slip beneath the waves. The DD Nowaki looked like she was about to capsize and I don't think she made it. Other than the Newcastle we made it back to Rangoon in one piece with only moderate damage. Hard to say who won since we did not intercept the convoy. Oh, the PBYs reported the next day that there was an oil slick near our reported last sighting of the Newcastle. After the war no one came out of Jap POW camps so I guess there were no survivors.

Capt. Scanland CA USS Astoria.

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. IV SoPac Chessboard (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)


My boys in the 4th Marine Raider battalion had just returned from the capture of Tabiteuaea and were looking forward to some well earned R&R when the brass sent out word that we were to load up in two days to take Lunga. Word was the Japs were pulling out their troops trapped there by air transport and we did not want them to get away. The big guns on the BBs had been hammering them at least 2 times per week but I guess our brass wanted to keep those Jap troops from fighting another day. I was leery since we had no time to prepare and getting on the transports was a real cluster f&(k. I suspect that brass knew we were shipping out by early 44 and wanted to use us as much a possible before we left. In any event, for once the intel boys had it right. We landed and basically pushed back a bunch of shell shocked hungry and dirty support troops. But, I was worried that our bosses were being too cavalier in using us, especially with the next target being Shortlands.

LTC Roosevelt Cmdr 4th Marine Raider Battalion.

[Capt. Harlock]

Other than the Newcastle we made it back to Rangoon in one piece with only moderate damage. Hard to say who won since we did not intercept the convoy.

I'd certainly be willing to trade Allied CL's for Japanese CA's even without a destroyer bonus. But your radar boys seem to be asleep at the switch...

[John B.]

No fooling! Letting the IJN get close is just asking to lose ships to his damn torpedoes. I'm lucky we went a second round so that I could get the CA. And, over all, my gunnery was much better so perhaps the radar boys redeemed themselves somewhat.[:)]

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. II Burma Battles (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

The great sit down strike of 1943 was a great boost to an Independent India. I was only a sergeant at the time -- a brown skin basically meant no promotion in the British army -- but I guess you could say I was one of the ringleaders. The brits had promised us that our divisions would only be used for the defense of India or her neighboring countries. We had been fighting in the jungles of Burma for months and working our way down the road. Well, it's not like there were street signs posted but at some point we figured out that we had actually entered Thailand! We were incensed. You have to understand, the years of "bloody w*gs" muttered under the white officers breaths, the inferior equipment, using us as sacrifcial lambs at Singapore, the starvation in Bengal had taken its toll and we were fed up. The men, well the Indian ones, simply refused to fight. There was lots of threats and claims that they did not realize we were in Thailand but we stood firm. Finally, the brits had no choice moved us back across the border into Burma. Did it throw a spanner into the Allied offensive? Probably, but this was about respect and centuries of abuse and contempt on the part of those died-in-the-wool colonialists. The looks on the British officers faces as they finally had to kowtow to us was one I'll never forget. We had stood up and it worked!

MGen V. Chowdry Commander Fist Indian Army first published in India at War (Bombay Press 1959).

[John B.]

In other words, I did not pay the PP points to cross the border and had to move them back until I had enough to put the two Indian divisions into Thailand. [:-]

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. V: Duds and Depth Charges (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

I lived in a large old hut on the beach near the isolated yangsu tip on Kiroshima Island. I was walking one morning in October 1943 and saw a raft washed ashore with four young american boys passed out. They were badly sunburned and looked like they had not eaten for several weeks. I called my husband and we dragged them into the hut. My husband had been in the merchant marine and spoke some English and when these boys revived it turned out they had been on the submarine USS Bowfin. I knew that if we gave them to the Kempetai these boys (almost children) would not have a happy end to their life. I decided then and there that I had already given my own four sons in China and had nothing left. We were isolated and could feed them from our fishing. My husband started to protest but I cut him off. "Too much death already" I said. So, we sheltered them. One boy, Jack, did not last long but the other three made it to the end of the war. They're good boys and take care of me now that my husband has gone. Some people call me traitor but I just hope that some mother in China cared for my four sons in their final hours back during that awful war.

Kahura Ito

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. V: Duds and Depth Charges (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

Working in the radio room at Pearl you really got a feel for how the war was going. I know that we were happy, but not ecstatic, about the sub war. Our torpedoes seemed to be exploding like they should and we were getting reports of large numbers of AKs and TKs going down. Now, the brass wasn't stupid and they knew that many times people tend to exaggerate in the heat of battle but the numbers of reported hits was certainly up and we were getting more confirmed kills from out intel sources. We didn't know at the time if we were making a dent in Japanese production, but we knew it sure wasn't helping Hirohito to have to spend time and effort building new ships and escorting them. The thing was, the Japanese were getting better at ASW. In all of 1942 the only lost 2 subs but by September 1943 we had already lost five! And, we had lots more subs coming home early with battle damage and spending time in the yards and that never happened in 1942.

Cheif Petty Officer Merigold USN Ret.

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. I: Chinese Quagmire (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

Once the allies cleared out Burma our supply situation became much better. Yes, we had to ration the 75 mm shells, but, my God, at least we had shells to ration! In any event, the Japs seemed to take less of an interest in China and stopped attacking us. But, we were trying to push back where ever we could. So, we attacked in the north west and retook Ansi and Kiuchun. Not big towns, but part of China. The whole way there, we were pounded daily by what seemed like the whole Japanese airforce. But, if they were bombing us they weren't able to bomb some place else. And, we fought a couple of battles and pushed the Japs back until they just started running. We could not catch them but we tried. Our ultimate goal was the oil at Urumchi but we expected the IJA to stiffen its spine before we got there.

LGen Tieh Chan commander 14th Chinese Corps.

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. II Burma Battles (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

While we were fighting over Chang Mai and Moulmein my lads had been preparing for a drop on Port Blair. Then, word came down that the next day we were to mount up for Tavoy! Apparently recon had spotted only a few Jap troops there two weeks ago and, rather than send word that the Japanese intel could pick up, the brass started gathering assets to seize that town. We flew in and found a weak Thai cavalry unit that we easily brushed aside and took the town. For days thereafter Japanese bombers shut down the airfield and bombed the port. To this day no one has given me a satisfactory answer as to why our fighters never showed up from Rangoon but they did not. Our supply flights were getting through and we were in rough terrain but the engineer chaps never had time to prepare even rudimentary fortifications since they were concentrating on the airfield. I think the plan was to create a diversion and seize a port/airfield near Bangkok for after they broke through at Moulmein. Thing was, with 100,000 report IJA troops there it was going to be awhile. Could we hold out?

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. III: Central Pacific Ablaze (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

The general plan was to seize Eniwetok. Then, we were going to develop the port, stick in some support ships and, voila, have a pretty decent sized based to support our eventual goal of the Marianas. At the time, I had no idea why Nimitz was so hot on Saipan and Tinian. I just figured he wanted to take part of the original Japanese empire to stick a thumb in Tojo's eye sort of like a land version of the Dolittle raid. My pay grade was not high enough to know about the B-29. In any event, by October 8th the fleet was approaching our target and we were about two days out. We were very nervous as there were a lot of Japanese airfields near by. But, a carrier raid two weeks before had revealed only one unit defending the atoll so if we could avoid massed air armadas we should be good. But, it was a grand sight. I was in charge of the invasion task force but I knew we had 7 CVs, 3 CVLs and 5 CVEs for air cover so if the Japs came, they would lose a lot of planes.

Captain Wilhers Commander TF 274

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. IV: So Pac Chessboard (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

I'll never forget October 8, 1943. that was the day that the jarheads went ashore at Shortland. We were tasked with interdicting the main airfield at Rabual. Some Marine Corsairs went in ahead of us but there was just too much cap. In the end we lost 13 bombers down and another 10 written off. You can't take 20% losses and keep flying very long. I did see some Jap fighters fall and a few were burning on the ground at the base, but it was a heavy price to pay. Our hope was that the next day the Japs would keep strong cap over Rabual rather than send large raids down to Shortlands. We had carrier cover there but these were CVEs, not the big boys tied up in the Central Pacific. It was all part of closing the vice on Rabual and making the Japs spend resources to defend the area. The overall plan was to keep them busy in all theaters and not let them rest anywhere.

Col. Eubank Commander 22nd Bomber Group Port Moresby

[John B.]

Forgot the shortland illustration.

[Capt. Harlock]

We were very nervous as there were a lot of Japanese airfields near by. But, a carrier raid two weeks before had revealed only one unit defending the atoll so if we could avoid massed air armadas we should be good.

It looks like Japanese LBA is very busy in several other places. I like the idea of the simultaneous attacks all over the map, but do you have enough support in October 1943?

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. IV SoPac Chessboard (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

Earlier this evening engaged US invasion TF. Stop. Total surprise. Stop. Sank USS BB Colorado and at least one APA. Stop. Other APAs damaged. Stop. DD Yunagi lost. Stop. Now under fire from CA surface TF. Stop. DD Hagikaze down and we're on fire. Stop. All men did their duty. Stop. I apologize to the Emperor for losing his ships. Stop. BANZAI!

Final Transmission of Capt. Yuni Hokaze Commander Destroyer Flotilla Seventeen.

[John B.]

Capt. Harlock,

I think I do. The invasion are accompanied by base forces and extra supplies. These are relatively quick affairs while I build up for Saipan which will be a big one. But, I want to keep him busy everywhere to help negate his interior lines.

Speaking of which, I have an amphibious HQ planning for Saipan and an AGC. How do I use it? Do I load it as a separate TF and then have it invade along with the invasion TF? Or, is it a separate TF and it stays on the ship and gives the bonus that way?

John

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. IV SoPac Chessboard (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

Editor's note. The DD Tanikaze was lost in the battle which saw the demise of the Colorado. The DDs Yunagi and Hagikaze were lost in the subsequent action.

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. III Central Pacific Ablaze (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

I tell you, once the Navy set its mind to something it seemed like there was no limit to the effort it would throw into it. We took Eniwetok and within two weeks it was a bustling port. Heck, they even moved one of their huge floating drydocks into the lagoon. We were based out of there and launched a series of raids on Truk. I think that the basic idea was to shut it down as a threat for our upcoming invasion of the Marianas. After the first few forays when the admiral chickened out and did not attack the ships in the harbor Nimitz sacked him and put Halsey in charge. Well, we did lots of raids then, and lost lots of planes. Most of the shipping was gone but I did put a bomb into a small ARD and saw it half submerged in a subsequent raid.

Chip "bomber" Kelly

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. I: Chinese Quagmire (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965)

We made it all the way to Urunchi and liberated the oil fields there. There was not much for China but we wanted to free as much as we could from the IJA. But, Japan could not bear to give up any of its stolen gains and it launched a counter attack at Kiuchuan. Frankly, were were surprised that they cared that much but they kicked us out of that city and cut the main road to Urumchi. There was a circuitous back road but I don't think much of anything could get there so we were reduced to whatever the few factories at Urumchi could turn out and what could be flown in from Ledo. Still, we were not giving anything back. Japan would have to fight and die if it wanted to reconquer the desert!



LGen Tieh Chan commander 14th Chinese Corps.