Best Two Out of Three

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: John B.

And, the actual battle of Ningpo.

Two Japanese BBs crossing the T and opening fire at 1000 yards should have been able to crush Pennsylvania, but they didn't reckon on the three Fletcher DDs!
Glad to see survived thanks to her rain gear ...[8|]

[John B.]

Everything was hitting the IJN BBs including the AA guns. It was an ugly fight. I think that it also helped that I stumbled on Scott's TF just after he had bombarded an airfield so he may have been short on ammo.

[John B.]

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

The liberation of Shanghai basically marked the end of Japanese rule over southern China. It was clear that the Japanese were going to use the Yangtze river as a new barrier but we were pretty indifferent to that. We were already thinking about leapfrogging to Korea to pick up airbases for the invasion of Japan. But, Shanghai was one of the battles that gave us real pause. It took almost three weeks to clear it out as it was heavily fortified and a dense urban area. When we finally captured it, it was a smoking ruin. Every factory, the entire port, the drydocks everything was wrecked. It gave us pause thinking about how the Japanese were digging in every day in the home islands.

Lt. Col. Johannsan, "Marines Lead the Way" Harpers Publishing 1957.

[John B.]

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

We were finally back in Singapore. It had been a long hard slog down the Malay Peninsula but we made the leap across the straits and here we were. The only trouble of course, was that so were the Japanese. On a scale of 1-10 I'd say they had their fort level up to a 6 so we took casualties with our crossing but these were lighter than expected. Now, a few days of bombardment and it will be over the top once again.


Diary of Sgt. Vinda Guesh (used with family's permission).

[John B.]

An Oral History of The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. VIII Silver Wings over the Home Islands (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965).

We did not know it at the time, but the fires at Nagasaki represented a new allied strategy against our cities. The Americans sent fighter sweeps from their carrier TFs off the coast to clear a way for the B-29s who came over the city in broad daylight at just about 15,000 feet. We got some of them, but they dropped incendiary devices that started some raging fires. It never really got out of control, but there was significant damage done to a number of industrial facilities. And, the damage increased over the period of several days until we were able to extinguish the fires. Had we known this was deliberate we would have stepped up our firefighting capabilities but it took a few more raids for us to catch one.

Maj. General Isiroku Nagani, former deputy chief Home Air Defense, notes of post-war Strategic Bombing Survey interview.

[John B.]

An Oral History of The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. VIII Silver Wings over the Home Islands (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965).

Of course, the Americans may have tried to fire bomb our cities, but that did not mean we had to take it laying down. We waited patiently and then let loose with anything that could fly. The initial reports were very favorable with a number of Speical Forces [Ed. note, the Japanese term for Kamikaze strikes] hits on carriers and battleships. We did not learn until after the war that no American ship had been sunk. The most disappointing thing about this first slap back was that our final groups that made it in, after the American CAP was finally overwhelmed, had not loaded torpedoes. You can't sink anything with a 60 lb. bomb!

Maj. General Isiroku Nagani, former deputy chief Home Air Defense, notes of post-war Strategic Bombing Survey interview.

[John B.]

An Oral History of The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. VIII Silver Wings over the Home Islands (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965).

And we paid such a price for those attacks. We lost over 1,000 planes that day. America had its largest one day loss of planes for the war, but we were losing 4 planes for every one we shot down. But it was so close. We had to build our strength to try again and hope that the Americans would crack before we did or run out of planes. Something, anything, to prevent surrender.

Maj. General Isiroku Nagani, former deputy chief Home Air Defense, notes of post-war Strategic Bombing Survey interview.

[John B.]

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

We have Singapore and now it's just a matter of digging the Japanese out of their spider holes and hiding places. For the past few days we have not had to assault and we've just been letting our artillery park work them over. the 5.5 inch guns make a very loud and satisfying bang when they shoot!

But, oh the devastation of Singapore! Not a building is standing, the fires still smolder in the factories and dockyards. The few civilians we find are half starved and crazed out of their minds. I heard that the same thing happened in Shanghai. Will all of Asia be a burned out husk by the time this is over? I wish there were a shorter way to end this war.


Diary of Sgt. Vinda Guesh (used with family's permission).

[Capt. Harlock]

You can't sink anything with a 60 lb. bomb!

Maybe not, but you can sink a fair-sized ship with the plane the bomb is attached to!

[John B.]

@ Capt. Harlock. Too true. It will be interesting to see how well the APAs hold up to a similar massed attack.

[panzer cat]

you sir are a war criminal[:-]

[John B.]

An Oral History The Great Asia Pacific War Vol. VII Retrospective (Harper Publishing & Co. 1965).

And so it was over. With the allies landing in Korea and getting land based fighters in range of Kyushu Japan knew that it could not stop the B-29s from Shanghai burning each city to the ground at little cost to the allies. The British fleet was now operating near Iwo Jima and the allies had breached the Yangtze barrier. It had been a bitter war and everyone was left wondering, what would have happened on that fateful day in July 1942 when the american division showed up in Cocanada one day (!) before the Japanese. If the Americans would have been one day late, Japan would have had had two air bases instead of one, and the entire war in India would have taken a different path.

Such is the nature of fortune in the lives of men.

These proceedings are closed.

[BBfanboy]

Too soon!
I enjoyed reading your oral histories - very authentic sounding. Thanks for bringing us this AAR! [:)]

[John B.]

Thanks! It was fun to write. Scott is a never say die opponent but I am going to auto victory in 45 anyway and I'm just running up the score with strat bombing he can't stop it's not a lot of fun to keep kicking him. He was more than happy to keep going but peace seemed to be the best choice! It's frees up time for more gaming.