Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2
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I'm not sure if this link will work, but "Wild Philippines with Nigel Marven - Palawan". It's a nature show, and as such it shows a number of views of different parts of Palawan.
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Story 2069
Marivales, May 29, 1943
The gunners tracked the bombers. Corrections were being called out as the guns swivelled. No shells were in the barrels despite plenty of ready ammunition being distributed overnight. The defenders of the siege camp’s docks had clear orders; they were not to fire at anything between the hours of 1100 and 1200. And outside of that window, they could only engage single engine aircraft flying below 10,000 feet.
The bombardiers had, by now, taken control of the final runs. Engines had slowed and the planes were steady at only 3,000 feet. Bomb bay doors opened and a minute later, the sky was being hidden beneath the parachutes. Seven minutes later, both squadrons of Liberators had completed their drops. Most of the cargo cases had landed close enough to the drop zone and the strays were being chased down by the reserve elements of the 26th Cavalry Regiment in their few working jeeps.
Relief was not here yet, but it was coming.
Story 2070
Kupang, Timor May 30, 1943
The AmeriTim division was done resting. Sergeant Donohue looked down the gangway. His entire squad was behind him. Five faces had been with him for the entire campaign, another two had been wounded and recovered enough to come back. The rest were replacements. At least he knew their names as the replacements had been around for months now. A few of them were probably good enough to not needlessly kill the rest of the squad by mistake.
The large transports were greeted outside the breakwater and in the cleared channels by cruisers and destroyers. Fighters circled overhead even as seaplanes searched for submarines. They were off to Singapore and then back to war.
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I know this is fiction, but could you imagine how the siege camp would feel?
*edit* Most of the men on the line might not have seen the supply ships and the "out of sight, out of mind" effect takes over. Seeing a group of American planes overhead delivery supplies would be quite heartening, I'd think.
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I don't want to speculate (cough PI cough) further.Given the instructions to the AA gunners it would seem to be, or becoming, a regular run in which case it could be any number of high value, low volume items (medical, electronics, spare parts, etc.)
Hard to see what bearing that would have on the supply requirements. Maybe more anti-malaria medicine? The Philippines doesn't get a monsoon that can shut down road operations for months like in Malaya or Burma. The rainy season on Luzon for example means more thunderstorms and more frequent showers from June through September then the rest of the year. But it's not a big difference. It rains often there all year round.
Mostly medical supplies, some critical spare parts for radars and artillery direction equipment including some wire. The ~30 bombers were dropping about 50 tons of supplies. This is also a propaganda mission to both the men within the siege camp that relief was coming ever closer AND to the Japanese that the camp was going to be held as the US could throw bombers at a tertiary mission when the Japanese could not even muster fighter opposition.
Story 2071
Cambridge, Massachusetts May 31, 1943
Elaine smiled. She wiggled her fingers and closed her eyes. The fine assembly work paid well but it came at a price. Two more radars had been certified as ready for testing this morning. The scientists and engineers had crowded around the benches of the technicians breathing down their necks as they tested circuits for the last time. Everything was green and every item had a check mark next to it. The testing was completed and she had the rest of the holiday to herself.
She walked out of the temporary building on the Institute’s campus. Money jingled in her pocket as she fished for a quarter. The rest of the girls would meet up with her at the bar for a beer to celebrate, and then half a dozen of them would take the Red Line over to Park Street before rushing to catch a Green Line to Kenmore Square. First pitch was not until 3:45, and they had seats along the third base line. If she was lucky, she would catch a foul ball; if she was super lucky, a letter from Patrick could show up tomorrow morning. Until then, she needed to stretch out her fingers, relax her wrists and ease her eyes from the too-fine concentration.
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I would worry more about the Typhoon season. The Philippine Islands get hit quite frequently by small to extremely large typhoons all the time.
They're more common in the summer to the fall. But yeah, they can occur year round. Welp, that's what you pay meteorologists for. And even in 1943 what with planes flying patrols everywhere a typhoon can't sneak up on anybody.
Though they can still disrupt operations and damage things.
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