alternatehistory.com
War
December 8, 1941 War
At 0405 hours December 7, Hawaiian time, a message is sent from Pearl Harbor reporting that an American naval ship, the USS Gamble, a destroyer minesweeper, has been attacked, torpedoed and presumably sunk north of Oahu. This message reaches Admiral Hart at 2205 hours, shortly after he has gone to bed, and begins what will be a very long night for Navy and Army commanders and staff in the Philippines.
Two hours later, the electrifying message “Air Raid Pearl Harbor This is no drill” is received and the United States and the Commonwealth of the Philippines are at war. It is just after midnight, most people are in bed or about to go to bed, and it will be dawn in 5 hours and 42 minutes, and nautical twilight is 30 minutes before that. Admiral Hart alerts Shanghai, Peking, Tientsin and Guam, not that he can do much more than warn them, and ensures that alert is passed on to the Army as well as all of his subordinate commanders. Within two more hours, an order from Washington is received with the instruction “Commence Unrestricted Submarine warfare against Japan.”
As the Navy goes to war, the commanders of the air forces prepare for what is certain to be imminent action. For the last 3 nights Japanese (presumably) aircraft have been flying over Luzon at high altitude and have been picked up by radar. Even as the first warning is picked up a flight of P40Es led by 1st Lieutenant Buzz Wagner is trying to intercept and indeed manages to reach the appropriate position but are too low and miss the Japanese intruder in the darkness. Meanwhile, every available aircraft is being prepared for action or is being hidden in revetments or under cover. Claire Chennault, who had hours before protested his assignment and disbandment of the AVG is now hurriedly revising the defense plan. General Frank sends a message to Darwin ordering the 19th Bombardment Group to wait for further instructions and to not send any aircraft forward but to prepare them for a strike mission that will stage out of Del Monte Field against the Japanese Fleet spotted heading for Mindanao.
Meanwhile, all available B10s, B17s, B18s, Catalinas and float planes are to take off at first light to patrol their sectors for enemy warships, some of which were spotted over the last couple of days.
First Blood
By dawn American search planes are in the air looking for the enemy. The first attack comes soon after, when just after dawn a strike from the carrier Ryujo hits the small Philippine Coast Guard facility at Davao, wrecking it, and Claude fighters shoot down 2 J2F Ducks of the Philippine Coast Guard they encounter along the way. Meanwhile Japanese destroyers run down and destroy 2 armed yachts of the Philippine Coast Guard. No Japanese aircraft are lost.
However the massive attack the Americans are expecting has not yet occurred. All through the morning the American fighters have been taking turns so that at a quarter are in the air, half are on strip alert and the remaining quarter are being serviced. The RB17Cs out of Clark take off at first light and are well on their way to Formosa to photograph enemy airfields. At their cruising speed of 200 mph, the bombers reach the Japanese island (680 miles from Clark Field to the northern tip of Formosa) at 1000 hours local time to find that heavy fog covers much of the suspected airfields of the IJN while the IJA bases are visible. Flying at 36,000 feet, they are well above the ceiling of available Japanese Army fighters and by 1900 hours are nearly home, having noted that the fog over Formosa cleared on their return trip and thus completing their mission of photographing and mapping the Japanese airfields.
Sadly this information will not be useful for the next two years as the planned bombing missions against those fields were not to occur.
The First Attack on Luzon
The first significant Japanese attack occurs at 0900 Hours when a formation of 27 bombers are spotted on radar at Clark Field. Chennault, at the command center at Nielson, orders 8 P40Es and 4 P40Bs on strip alert at Rosales, Clark and Cabantuan to take off and engage the enemy.
At 0915 hours the Japanese bombers turn, completing their feint, and head for the actual target of Baguio. The Japanese are 27 Ki48 Lily Bombers, weakly armed with 3 rifle caliber machine guns and a small bomb load and also limited armor but they are high speed types, capable of 300 mph at their dash speed and they are making every effort as they approach their target. The P40s only have a 50-60 mph speed advantage and thus use up most of their fuel trying to catch the enemy. However they catch the enemy just after they release their bombs, and only having fuel for one pass, Buzz Wagner becomes the first Allied pilot to score a kill over the Philippines, flaming one of the enemy bombers, while several others are damaged. The American fighters are forced to land at Baguio, where fueling facilities are limited and are thus out of action until nearly 1230 hours. Little damage is suffered at Baguio although it does thoroughly alarm President Quezon who is staying there for health reasons.
Enemy approaching
The principal attack has been delayed by the fog that the B17s saw during their mission over Formosa. The last plane of the Japanese attack force does not get off the ground until 1030 Hours, and at 1130, Clark picks up at extreme range a Japanese formation circling over the South China Sea, killing time for the remainder of their aircraft to link up with them.
Chennault has only 4 P40E and 4 P40Bs in the air, plus 12 more P40E and 6 P40B on strip alert. He orders the airborne fighters to engage the enemy over the South China Sea, while the remaining fighters are ordered to orbit over Nielson Field. The P26s are on strip alert with orders to wait until ordered to take off.
The Japanese meanwhile finish forming up by 1145 and begin their approach on Clark Field. Meanwhile another formation is coming in directly over northern Luzon.
The Clark Field attack force consists of 72 Nell bombers, escorted by 48 Zero fighters. The other attack force, still undetected, is heading for Nielson Field and consists of 66 Betty Bombers and 36 Zero fighters, and still another group is coming in behind the Nielson Field force consisting of 30 Betty bombers and 21 Zero fighters. The American and Filipino fighter pilots are hopelessly outnumbered.
But they are willing to fight anyway.
At 0405 hours December 7, Hawaiian time, a message is sent from Pearl Harbor reporting that an American naval ship, the USS Gamble, a destroyer minesweeper, has been attacked, torpedoed and presumably sunk north of Oahu. This message reaches Admiral Hart at 2205 hours, shortly after he has gone to bed, and begins what will be a very long night for Navy and Army commanders and staff in the Philippines.
Two hours later, the electrifying message “Air Raid Pearl Harbor This is no drill” is received and the United States and the Commonwealth of the Philippines are at war. It is just after midnight, most people are in bed or about to go to bed, and it will be dawn in 5 hours and 42 minutes, and nautical twilight is 30 minutes before that. Admiral Hart alerts Shanghai, Peking, Tientsin and Guam, not that he can do much more than warn them, and ensures that alert is passed on to the Army as well as all of his subordinate commanders. Within two more hours, an order from Washington is received with the instruction “Commence Unrestricted Submarine warfare against Japan.”
As the Navy goes to war, the commanders of the air forces prepare for what is certain to be imminent action. For the last 3 nights Japanese (presumably) aircraft have been flying over Luzon at high altitude and have been picked up by radar. Even as the first warning is picked up a flight of P40Es led by 1st Lieutenant Buzz Wagner is trying to intercept and indeed manages to reach the appropriate position but are too low and miss the Japanese intruder in the darkness. Meanwhile, every available aircraft is being prepared for action or is being hidden in revetments or under cover. Claire Chennault, who had hours before protested his assignment and disbandment of the AVG is now hurriedly revising the defense plan. General Frank sends a message to Darwin ordering the 19th Bombardment Group to wait for further instructions and to not send any aircraft forward but to prepare them for a strike mission that will stage out of Del Monte Field against the Japanese Fleet spotted heading for Mindanao.
Meanwhile, all available B10s, B17s, B18s, Catalinas and float planes are to take off at first light to patrol their sectors for enemy warships, some of which were spotted over the last couple of days.
First Blood
By dawn American search planes are in the air looking for the enemy. The first attack comes soon after, when just after dawn a strike from the carrier Ryujo hits the small Philippine Coast Guard facility at Davao, wrecking it, and Claude fighters shoot down 2 J2F Ducks of the Philippine Coast Guard they encounter along the way. Meanwhile Japanese destroyers run down and destroy 2 armed yachts of the Philippine Coast Guard. No Japanese aircraft are lost.
However the massive attack the Americans are expecting has not yet occurred. All through the morning the American fighters have been taking turns so that at a quarter are in the air, half are on strip alert and the remaining quarter are being serviced. The RB17Cs out of Clark take off at first light and are well on their way to Formosa to photograph enemy airfields. At their cruising speed of 200 mph, the bombers reach the Japanese island (680 miles from Clark Field to the northern tip of Formosa) at 1000 hours local time to find that heavy fog covers much of the suspected airfields of the IJN while the IJA bases are visible. Flying at 36,000 feet, they are well above the ceiling of available Japanese Army fighters and by 1900 hours are nearly home, having noted that the fog over Formosa cleared on their return trip and thus completing their mission of photographing and mapping the Japanese airfields.
Sadly this information will not be useful for the next two years as the planned bombing missions against those fields were not to occur.
The First Attack on Luzon
The first significant Japanese attack occurs at 0900 Hours when a formation of 27 bombers are spotted on radar at Clark Field. Chennault, at the command center at Nielson, orders 8 P40Es and 4 P40Bs on strip alert at Rosales, Clark and Cabantuan to take off and engage the enemy.
At 0915 hours the Japanese bombers turn, completing their feint, and head for the actual target of Baguio. The Japanese are 27 Ki48 Lily Bombers, weakly armed with 3 rifle caliber machine guns and a small bomb load and also limited armor but they are high speed types, capable of 300 mph at their dash speed and they are making every effort as they approach their target. The P40s only have a 50-60 mph speed advantage and thus use up most of their fuel trying to catch the enemy. However they catch the enemy just after they release their bombs, and only having fuel for one pass, Buzz Wagner becomes the first Allied pilot to score a kill over the Philippines, flaming one of the enemy bombers, while several others are damaged. The American fighters are forced to land at Baguio, where fueling facilities are limited and are thus out of action until nearly 1230 hours. Little damage is suffered at Baguio although it does thoroughly alarm President Quezon who is staying there for health reasons.
Enemy approaching
The principal attack has been delayed by the fog that the B17s saw during their mission over Formosa. The last plane of the Japanese attack force does not get off the ground until 1030 Hours, and at 1130, Clark picks up at extreme range a Japanese formation circling over the South China Sea, killing time for the remainder of their aircraft to link up with them.
Chennault has only 4 P40E and 4 P40Bs in the air, plus 12 more P40E and 6 P40B on strip alert. He orders the airborne fighters to engage the enemy over the South China Sea, while the remaining fighters are ordered to orbit over Nielson Field. The P26s are on strip alert with orders to wait until ordered to take off.
The Japanese meanwhile finish forming up by 1145 and begin their approach on Clark Field. Meanwhile another formation is coming in directly over northern Luzon.
The Clark Field attack force consists of 72 Nell bombers, escorted by 48 Zero fighters. The other attack force, still undetected, is heading for Nielson Field and consists of 66 Betty Bombers and 36 Zero fighters, and still another group is coming in behind the Nielson Field force consisting of 30 Betty bombers and 21 Zero fighters. The American and Filipino fighter pilots are hopelessly outnumbered.
But they are willing to fight anyway.
- galveston bay
- Word Count: 1.1k