Eisenhower in the Pacific: Part 1 The Shoestring Warriors of Luzon
- Thread starter galveston bay
- Start date
the official (short version) US Army history of the Fall of the Philippine
http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/pi/PI.htm
http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/pi/PI.htm
Well, they've already (...er...) been losing men and planes they really can't afford (half the Kido Butai's pilots, IIRC), so...it's more of the same, really?
Japan pulling more experienced troops from Manchuria early will cost them in the long run. This will help KMT and China and hopefully bleed Japan of commanders, elite troops, and more planes and pilots. The delays in capturing Rabaul might allow the Allies to secure it for themselves. This could help with isolating and tries of Japan in New Guinea and protect Port Morseby.
I also hope that Britain and India will be able to stop Japan from taking Burma. This would leave the Burma Road open to help China.
I also hope that Britain and India will be able to stop Japan from taking Burma. This would leave the Burma Road open to help China.
I agree it is more of the same. The point I am trying to make is that in this timeline the Japanese are facing a longer more costly Philippines campaign. Even if Luzon falls the US could drag the fight out on Mindanao or Cebu. Those Japanese assets are being used up earlier in the war
Oh, I completely agree. Their high-water mark is going to be lower than OTL, though bad enough from the point of view of those ITTL.
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.
authors note:
Diverting from the original Japanese attack plan as the Japanese have excellent intelligence about the fields they have located and what is on them. They do not know about the fields on Bataan, as their diplomats and spies have not been able to get a look on them and information has not been distributed about their existence to the Quezon government (which the Japanese have thoroughly penetrated)
While the Americans are going to actually get to fight back this time the odds are very unfair indeed.....
note that the initial primary attacks are aimed at the bases with radar as well as the Philippine Department air depot. In other words, the support structure to keep the USAAFFE operating. They are unaware of the radar station operated by the Marine Corps at Subic Bay.
Diverting from the original Japanese attack plan as the Japanese have excellent intelligence about the fields they have located and what is on them. They do not know about the fields on Bataan, as their diplomats and spies have not been able to get a look on them and information has not been distributed about their existence to the Quezon government (which the Japanese have thoroughly penetrated)
While the Americans are going to actually get to fight back this time the odds are very unfair indeed.....
note that the initial primary attacks are aimed at the bases with radar as well as the Philippine Department air depot. In other words, the support structure to keep the USAAFFE operating. They are unaware of the radar station operated by the Marine Corps at Subic Bay.
it took some digging and some luck to find a picture of a Japanese bomber facing one way, and an American fighter facing the other way, just so you know
Driftless
Donor
it took some digging and some luck to find a picture of a Japanese bomber facing one way, and an American fighter facing the other way, just so you know
Long time ago I was at the Oshkosh Fly-in as a spectator and the did an extended WW2 history show. At one point two P-40's took off through impressive pyrotechnics simulating the bombing of their airfield. Thousands of us were cheering like it was the real deal - quite impressive and moving as well.finding the right versions of the aircraft wasn't easy either..... most P40 pics are either the Flying Tigers or later versions, while the Lily isn't exactly a commonplace aircraft in terms of pictures (at least in the time frame I was willing to devote to searching!)
The Americans are going to be swamped, and I doubt the pilots have learned the lesson of dive and climb and don't get in a turning fight withe the Zeros. having said that they will do more damage to the Japanese than OTL, and there will be fighters for the USA on Luzon for a little while longer. With luck the P40s will be around to fly cover for P26 and A24 attacks on the Japanese landing(s). Here, since there are some transports and fields further south pilots without planes or shot down but bailing out can be moved to other active fields and eventually evacuated instead of being used for infantry in Bataan - experienced pilots will be worth their weight in gold.
The start of the beginning of the Day is has now started. May the end of the Day bring about some US kills and may more US pilots survive when their planes are shot down than OTL.
At least the pilots trained by Chennault should know about boom and zoom tactics. They are still highly outnumbered but hopefully they can start to whittle down their foes.
At least the pilots trained by Chennault should know about boom and zoom tactics. They are still highly outnumbered but hopefully they can start to whittle down their foes.
A bigger pool of experienced pilots this early in the war will be a major game changer.
... George Patton as peace maker....
I doubt this phrase has ever been created.
Bravo! Well written!
Three questions-
1. Does the USS Wake still suffer the same fate as in OTL
2. DOes the concrete battleship get a bigger role?
3. Does Correigidor have more anti-personnel ammo for their artillery?
Three questions-
1. Does the USS Wake still suffer the same fate as in OTL
2. DOes the concrete battleship get a bigger role?
3. Does Correigidor have more anti-personnel ammo for their artillery?
