WI Guam
- Thread starter kent
- Start date
Changing Plans
The IJN plans had called for the IJN Shokaku, IJN Zuikaku, IJN Akagi and IJN Kaga to support the South Seas Detachment in the taking Rabaul and the rest of the Bismark Islands in January 1942. The set back at Guam and the unexpected damage to IJN Shokaku and IJN Zuikaku put those plans on hold. At the same time the plans to use the IJN Soryu and IJN Hiryu to assault Wake Island were also put on hold. The Akagi,Kaga,Soryu and Hiryu these carriers along with their escorts were ordered to Yap to set up a overwhelming force to cover the landings on Guam of the South Seas Detachment. Then after Guam was secured they would move on to the DEI and look at breaking into the Indian Ocean and taking on Ceylon and Great Britain’s Indian Ocean fleet.
Guam had thrown a monkey wrench into the time line set by the IJN Headquarters. The IJN Shokaku would have to be towed to Japan for dry dock work to repair the damage. Luckily the damage to IJN Zuikaku could be repaired with out dry docking her. She was sailing under her own power and repairs were hoped be accomplished by mid-March. The entire South Pacific plan to cut off Australia was going to be delayed. Guam had to be taken and taken fast. The next attack was planed for January 7th 1942. No change of forces from Singapore, Java or the Philippines was seen as needed.
With Wake still in American hands the route for the B-17s from Hawaii to Midway to Wake to Guam then on to the Philippines, following the Pan Am Clipper route could be used. But Japanese troop movements in the Philippines stopped the reinforcement of B-17s to the Philippines. But Guam was still open. On 26 December 1941 a flight of five B-17s landed at the Barrigade airfield. Refueling and loading of bombs
was accomplished and on the morning of the 27th the airfield at Saipan was awoken to the unloading of
5 B-17s bomb loads. Five P-40s had flown as escort and the remaining five Havocs again raided the anchorage. They reported no warships or transports in the anchorage so dropped their bombs on the docks and buildings. The Japanese aircraft at Saipan had once again been taken by complete surprise. Damage at the airfield left it unable to land or take off aircraft due to numerous bomb craters. An unknown number of aircraft had been either destroyed or damaged on the ground. After returning to Guam The B-17s were refueled rearmed and place into revetments.
Guam now had nine P-40s, five B-17s and five Havocs. The relief ships were two days away. For security reasons Guam did not know this.
Problems of equipment breaking down at the radar site were, because of constant use becoming worse. Word was passed to Pearl Harbor to send replacement parts as soon as possible, without the radar Guam would be blind. A special trip by one B-17 was laid on to bring parts to Guam. It should arrive on the 30th
Guam was advised of this supply trip. Guam was not told that an entire new SCR-270 was being shipped in on the relief ships along with a new operating crew so that Guam would have two radars.
When word was passed to Pearl Harbor that there were no Japanese ships at Saipan the planed raid by the Sara and Big E on Saipan were canceled. Where had the Japanese ships gone? It was thought Yap, could they be planning another attempt from there on Guam? Unless spotted the Sara and Big E would try to stay about 250 miles to the Southwest of Guam. If the Japanese came from Yap it was thought they would approach again from the Northwest which might give the two American carriers an opportunity to strike at the Japanese fleet.
With Japanese air grounded at Saipan due to the bomb damage and the ongoing battles around Singapore and Java. Pacific Fleet Intelligence thought that at the most the Japanese might use the IJN Soryu and IJN Hiryu as a strike force. Should they launch at Guam they might just be left unguarded.
The USS Saratoga and USS Enterprise had to remain undetected for this surprise to work.
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Hopefully some of the USN's newer Submarines are sulking near the Guam / Saipan / Yap region..
Even if their yet-to-determine very defective torpedoes aren't gonna make good contact explosion...
they can still cause another monkey-wrench into whatever new IJN TaskForce endeavors against Guam...
And act like advance scouts if they are within that particular region...
Even if their yet-to-determine very defective torpedoes aren't gonna make good contact explosion...
they can still cause another monkey-wrench into whatever new IJN TaskForce endeavors against Guam...
And act like advance scouts if they are within that particular region...
Action Stations
At 1300 on December 29th the S-43 reported that two US destroyers and two transports were about 50 miles from Agana Bay. Five P-40s were sent to act as a covering force for the four ships. As they steamed into the bay the damaged USS Seawall let loose with it’s air horn as did the Minesweeper USS Penguin. With no foreknowledge of the relief ships everyone on Guam was overjoyed. Equipment, supplies, food fuel and more aircraft all were off loaded throughout the night and the next day. The P-40 aircraft were trucked to Barrigada airfield for assembly, while the Havocs were trucked up to Lupog airfield to be assembled. The new SCR-270 was trucked to Mt. Tenjo to be set up there for operation.
Work on assembly of the aircraft was undertaken by not only the aircrews but engineers and the security unit. All were assembled by the night of the 1st and engine and flight tests were accomplished on the 2nd.
The new pilots that arrived were given briefings by the surviving pilots on Guam. While only nine P-40s were left there were 15 pilots unwounded and 5 wounded who had survived to that point. Three of these were double digit aces and two were aces. All briefed the new pilots with the same information. Stay with your wingman, Do not try to dogfight the Zero climb and dive on them. Your guns are better but the Zeros 20mm will kill you. If the Zero gets on your tail dive your faster only in a dive. Remember that the Kates and the Vals can damage our airfields and ships kill them, your 50cal guns just rip them apart. But stay alert for Zeros getting on your tail. You are going to be trained with our help on using the vectors from our radar crew to surprise the Japs. At first you will be teamed up with one of our older pilots. Remember to stay with your wingman. We will try to always during daylight have a CAP of 6 over the Island flying in pairs. From just before sunrise to sunset we will train and fly coverage. Our radar gives us a big advantage not one Japanese raid has surprised us here at Guam. But we have launched three big raids on Saipan and have surprised the Japs each time. Our raid on the Japanese carriers was made possible by the use of back tracking the heading from the inbound Japanese raid and the alert eyes of some very brave Navy PBY crews. Understand this the Japanese raid from their carriers cost us deeply. The Zero can and does fly rings round the P-40 but if you get it in your gun sights it’s dead meat. The Japanese planes just can’t stand up to our 50cal.
We have 5 B-17s and now 15 Havocs when ever they fly a mission we provide a covering force. When we hit the carriers 3 out of 5 P-40s were lost as were 5 Havocs. But we also have two Submarines and two Patrol Boats that will try their best to find you and bring you back. Col Nash will brief you about the Island it’s people and our support troops. For those who don’t know our security troops have 4 quad 50s to protect the airfields. Should a strafing attack happen by Japanese aircraft don’t get to close behind the attacking aircraft as those quad 50’s just make mincemeat out of airplanes.
Coordination training started right away with the new SCR-270 and crew with the aircraft on Guam. By the 3d the four ships left with all the wounded personnel to return to Pearl Harbor. The Island had been supplied, rearmed and moral given a big push up.
The PBY crews doing the search around the island were the only people other than the Governors staff and the two submarines who know of the two American carriers to the Southwest.
All were told not to report their sightings of the American ships over the radio. PBY crews were told to if they saw American F4F fighters to just rock their wings in greeting. That no radio challenge would be given. The S-43 and the S-41 were both to patrol on an arc from the Northwest to the Northeast at around 250 miles out from Guam. Should they see a Japanese fleet or taskforce in the act of launching an air attack then attack otherwise wait until they could make a radio report to Guam and Pearl, the American carriers would hear the report and take action. After reporting then make their attacks. It was hoped that this way the two American carriers would not be discovered until after they had launched. Both carriers would return to Pearl if no action had happened by the 10th of January 1942. Other missions awaited them.
Bearcat
Banned
A late point after consideration: if 4 torps hit Shokaku, with the awful IJN damage control of 1941-42, she won't survive. That much shock would crack her avgas tanks and lines as happened with more than one WW2 CV. Later she would go kaboom. You might have a couple of duds in that mix, or premature explosions if they're using a Mark 6 influence (magnetic) exploder. I don't believe the old S-boats ever used those those. So I'd go with near misses or duds (which sometimes happened with the Mark 10 torps - they were pretty old and maintenance through the fleet was uneven). I'd keep it to one or maybe two actual hits.
You're doing very well here, keep it up.
You're doing very well here, keep it up.
Did not think of that I will change it to two hits out of 4 shots
thanks again for input. Glad you like the story There will be a few butt tighting momments upcoming for the US as well as the Japanese,
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Contact and Fight
The Japanese fleet with four carriers and escorts, plus the South Seas Detachment with it’s transports and escorts departed from Yap on the 3rd of January 1942, proceeding northward up past Saipan, then turning back south towards Guam. Repairs on the airfield at Saipan had been on going but two additional raids by B-17s and Havocs had kept the airfield from becoming operational. PBYs over flew Saipan daily and kept Guam up to date on the status of repairs.
On January 6th the most northern evening patrol PBY reported seeing Japanese ships but contact was lost with it before it could give a position report or types of ships. Guam was able to inform both the S-41 and S-43 of the report and where it was thought the PBY had been on it’s patrol. Unknown to Guam was that the USS Triggerfish was also in that area and had copied the PBYs report. At 2200 while on the surface to recharge it’s batteries it saw the troop transports and what looked like 2 carriers. This position report was passed on to both Pearl Harbor and Guam. The S-41 was about 50 miles away the S-43 about 100. As the S-41 closed on the position given by the Triggerfish it saw another Japanese taskforce that had two carriers about 25 miles away from the Triggerfish reported position, thinking that this was the same group that the Triggerfish reported it failed to notify either Pearl or Guam of it’s position. It did attempt to get into attack position. The USS Triggerfish continued to close while on the surface and at 0200 gave another position report then dove to get into attack position. The S-41 also still on the surface copied the 0200 report and it was only then that it realized there were two Japanese taskforces. The S-41 got off it’s contact report and position and also dove but was seen by a Japanese destroyer and attacked by depth charges. It was forced to depart the area underwater and was unable to set up an attack.
Both Guam and the two American carriers were at first confused by the different position reports but then realized there were 4 Japanese carriers. On Guam the 15 Havoc and 5 B-17s were prepared for action. Ten Havocs would go after the first contact report, and five for the second. While the B-17s raided Saipan again.
No P-40s would go with the B-17s and only 5 with each Havoc group. That would leave 19 to cover the Island. It was hoped that after raiding Saipan the B-17s would be able to land rearm and head for the second contact. Take off from Guam would be at 0400 with lights from trucks to line the airfields.
To the Southwest the two American carriers prepared for a strike on the second contact. It was felt that these must be large carriers, that smaller carriers would be with the transports. Just before take off from Guam the Havocs and P-40s had their targets changed to hit only the first contact. It was only now that news of the two American carriers was passed on to the Guam attack force. The Havoc pilots and crews were told the carriers can hurt us but the transports can take the Island away. Go for the transports. The largest Naval Air battle to date was about to begin and so far the Japanese did not know about the American carriers.
The Japanese knew that a PBY had seen one group and that a submarine the other. They planned for a take off at sunrise 0540 with all bombers armed for taking out the airfields, Piti Navy Yard and any troop concentration spotted. The Transports with their escorts started the high speed run in towards Guam with the plan to be off the Tuman Beach by 0800 where they would split up with some heading for the Orote Peninsula to land the bulk of the troops there on the peninsula and only a few at Tuman Beach. One transport would continue down the island to land the 400 man special naval landing force at Cosos Lagoon.
three different locations were planed. With almost 6000 men it was thought by the Japanese that following the air raids, this should be enough strength.
With odds of 4 vs. 2 the USS Saratoga and USS Enterprise made the joint decision to launch before daylight at 0400 using the landing lights on the carriers. This it was hoped would allow the American strike to close on the Japanese carriers just at sunrise. They did not know that their two targets were in fact the IJN Akagi and IJN Kaga. All American aircraft launched as planed from both Guam and the carriers.
At 0500 the Japanese I Boat I-19 spotted the CA USS Portland before driving to get away from an approaching destroyer it sent a contact report of American ships to the Southwest. It was unable to report how many or what types. Scout floatplanes from the carrier escorts were launched to the Southwest. The IJN Akagi attack force was ordered to rearm with anti-ship ordnance. This would delay it launching it’s aircraft until around 0630 which by that time it was hoped more information was reported. The combat air patrol (CAP) was increased from 10 Zeros to 20 over the Akagi and Kaga but CAP coverage over the Soryu and Hiryu and the transports had to be split. Fifteen stayed with the transports, five to each group; twenty stayed with the carriers. But this left only the twenty Zeros from the Kaga to cover the strike on the Island.
At 0540 the Japanese strike force started to launch with all strike aircraft forming up about 100 miles from Guam. Both radars on Guam reported the large formation of Japanese aircraft. All remaining P-40s lifted off from Barrigada airfield. Air raid warning were sounded through out the Island and the Guamanian population headed for the caves. Radar was reporting at least 150 aircraft on the way. American fighters and Havocs from Guam hit the rapidly approaching transports at 0700. The 15 Havocs made their approach as the P-40s attempted to keep the Zeros off them. All six transports were hit damage from the 500lb AP and 250lb general purpose bombs started fires and dangerous listing on all six targets. The Havocs paid a price of 10 shot down along with all 10 P-40s. But the invasion transports had been stopped for the second time. The Japanese escorts attempted to remove as many troops as possible from the sinking transports then retired towards Saipan.
The P-40s had splashed only 4 Zeros. All 10 P-40 pilots were from the relief force and didn’t have the experience to fight smart. The action was about 30 miles off the coast and both the YP-16 and 17 attempted to rescue as many pilots and Havoc crews as they could. The remaining 11 Zeros of the transports CAP having been unable to save the transports started their return to their carriers. After covering the rescue of troops by the escorts.
At Saipan the B-17s arrived at sunrise and unloaded their bombs just as the remaining Japanese aircraft were getting ready to lift off for a strike at Guam. Once again with no early warning the Japanese were sitting ducks. The Five remaining Zeros did lift off but were unable to stop the bomb runs. Saipan was once again out of business until the runways could be repaired. No B-17s reported any damage from fighter attacks. The box formation trained by the USAAC Bomber Command gave all around protection. The Zeros broke off after only two attempted passes.
At 0630 the USS Triggerfish was in position and fired a total of six torpedoes at the IJN Hiryu only one hit.
But it hit in the stern and damaged the props. The IJN Hiryu went dead in the water. The S-41 having been forced away from the second group of Japanese carriers had moved to the position reported by the Triggerfish and was also in position off the IJN Hiryu and fired two torpedoes at 0700 they both hit. The IJN Hiryu already dead in the water had it’s back broken and started sinking as fires from avation fuel went out of control. Almost none of it’s crew got off. The escorts around the Soryu and Hiryu savagely depth charges both American submarines. But as the Soryu was moving off they also moved to cover it leaving two American Subs damaged but not sunk.
A rain squall swept over the Akagi and while it was hidden by the squall the American strike force of 90 aircraft found the Kaga. Three torpedoes and four 500lb AP bombs left her in flames. Not seeing another carrier the American strike force attacked the escorts damaging two cruisers and three destroyers. Departing for the American ships they did not see the Akagi steam out of the squall nor did they see it launch it’s aircraft to follow them. The CAP over the Kaga had shot down 10 Dive bombers and one torpedo plane and four F4F fighters, while the American fighters claimed eight Zeros.
The CAP over the Saratoga and Enterprise had twenty F4F fighters. The two carriers were about 8 miles apart. The escorting fighters from the American strike were short on ammunition after the fight over the Hiryu, the Dive Bombers and Torpedo planes were short on fuel, and they lined up to land first. The two carriers were streaming in a straight line to allow the landings when the CAP saw the Japanese strike force. There were twenty F4Fs from the American strike along with the CAP of twenty giving the Americans 40 fighters. The Akagi had launched seventy five aircraft twenty Zeros, thirty Dive bombers and twenty five Torpedo planes. They split and attempted to attack both carriers. The American Dive Bombers and Torpedo planes cleared the area while the fighters strove to hit the bombers and torpedo planes. Then the American Dive Bombers went on the attack by going after the slower torpedo planes this distracted the Zero fighters just long enough for the American fighters to breakup the Dive Bombers plan of attack on the Enterprise and the Saratoga. Three Diver Bombers however got through to the Saratoga and hit the flight deck with their bombs and themselves.
The Saratoga became a torch. No Japanese Torpedo planes were able to launch and no hits were made on the Enterprise. As the Japanese aircraft withdrew less all twenty five Torpedo planes, fifteen Dive Bombers and ten Zeros. The Enterprise started landing the fuel starved planes it did not have room for all the planes from it and the Saratoga. Those aircraft from the Saratoga with fuel to make it to Guam were ordered to head there. Fires on the Saratoga were starting to be contained when the I-19 slammed three torpedos into it. American destroyers depth charged the I-19 and saw oil raising to the surface. They claimed a kill but the Saratoga was sinking not a good trade off.
The attack on Guam by the combined forces of the Hiryu, Soryu and Kaga overwhelmed as planed the nineteen P-40s. Bomb hits closed both airstrips but again when the Zeros attempted to strafe the airfields the quad 50’s shot them down. Down town Agana and the Piti Navy Yard were hard hit, and both the Submarine tender and Mine Sweeper were sunk. The Japanese lost seven more zeros ten Kates and fifteen Vals to both the nineteen P-40s and quad 50’s. Only three P-40s were left and they were damaged with no where to land until the bomb damage was repaired. As soon as the last Japanese aircraft left the bulldozers were out filling the holes at Barrigada airfield. The five B-17s were also flying back from Saipan as were an unknown number of aircraft from the Saratoga and the five remaining Havocs. The airfield needed to be repaired fast and it was.
Japanese efforts to take Guam had failed. But at a very high cost.
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Very heavy casualties indeed..
Pity the Captain of the CV Saratoga didn't have enough time to flush the fuel lines of the AVGas and flood the same lines with CO2 to make the Sara less flammable when hit by enemy strikes...
Hopefully the damage control crews onboard the Sara can get the inferno under control so that she can be taken out of the battle line back to Pearl...
That leaves the Enterprise plus escorts and some air assets against ... what ...
At least Two IJN Carriers still afloat with an unknown numbers of air assets ready to pounce either on the E or Guam...
Pity the Captain of the CV Saratoga didn't have enough time to flush the fuel lines of the AVGas and flood the same lines with CO2 to make the Sara less flammable when hit by enemy strikes...
Hopefully the damage control crews onboard the Sara can get the inferno under control so that she can be taken out of the battle line back to Pearl...
That leaves the Enterprise plus escorts and some air assets against ... what ...
At least Two IJN Carriers still afloat with an unknown numbers of air assets ready to pounce either on the E or Guam...
Bearcat
Banned
Very heavy casualties indeed..
Pity the Captain of the CV Saratoga didn't have enough time to flush the fuel lines of the AVGas and flood the same lines with CO2 to make the Sara less flammable when hit by enemy strikes...
Hopefully the damage control crews onboard the Sara can get the inferno under control so that she can be taken out of the battle line back to Pearl...
That leaves the Enterprise plus escorts and some air assets against ... what ...
At least Two IJN Carriers still afloat with an unknown numbers of air assets ready to pounce either on the E or Guam...
The carbon dioxide trick was not available this early in the war. It came about largely as a result of 'lessons learned' in losing Lexington IOTL.
Sara like Lex was fast but as maneuverable as a brick. Very large turning radius. She would always be torpedo bait (it was not only bad luck IOTL). I'm surprised that with 25 Kates none were able to launch. That strains credibility. At least half should have gotten a fish off (look at OTL Midway, where even with only a very few planes, they got Yorktown). Enterprise was handy and could probably dodge anything but a good anvil attack, but Saratoga would wallow like a pig, even before being bombed. She is toast here I think.
If the battle ends there, with 2 IJN carriers sinking, and one US CV probably going down, and Guam secure again, its a huge US victory. Add in that Akagi and Soryu probably lost more planes, and its even better. If I was Fletcher, I might be tempted to call it a day here. Wait until I have more CVs and more birds to have that final showdown with Nagumo.
The big difference is that Guam had used the training with the radar while the Japanese have no early warning. For the P-40 pilots they attacked the bombers and only fought off the Zeros when they had to. The first three months of the war everything went Japans way. There were lots of reasons but American lack of training was one of the main ones. Guam trained.Hmm. Appears the battle of the Coral Sea has been moved up and NW a bit. Nice.
I still think you're inflicting too much damage on the IJN and not enough on the USN for this point in the war, but I'm also still enjoying the story. Keep up the good work!
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What caused the Kates to be unable too launch was the action of the American dive bombers. By going down to sea leavel with the Kates they could use their foward firing machine guns to attack the kates and disrupt the attack. It was an untrained spur of the momement thinking and action.
Thanks I redid the section on contact and action.Hmm. Appears the battle of the Coral Sea has been moved up and NW a bit. Nice.
I still think you're inflicting too much damage on the IJN and not enough on the USN for this point in the war, but I'm also still enjoying the story. Keep up the good work!
Status and Plans
American airpower on Guam was down to 5 B-17s, 5 Havocs, 3 damaged P-40s. With the runways repaired at Barrigada and Lupog the 5 A-20 Havocs were moved to Lupog as were survivors from the Saratoga; Ten Navy SBD Dauntless Dive Bombers five TBD Devastators. Fifteen F4F Wildcats were sent to Barrigada. All the other aircraft from the Saratoga that had survived were on the Enterprise. The United states commander of the Enterprise task force and surviving Saratoga escorts, Admiral Halsey , ordered that 10 torpedoes be transferred to one of the destroyers. That destroyer was to make a high speed run to Guam off load the torpedoes so that the Devastators would have some weapons to use. After dropping off it’s cargo it was to make it’s way back to the task force. The American task force would start back towards Pearl Harbor with plans made to meet up with the USS Lexington somewhere around Midway Island.The IJN commander , Admiral Naguno on the IJN Akagi ordered the surviving Soryu its escorts and the lost Hiryu escorts to join with him as they retired towards the home islands. New plans would have to made. The drive to isolate Australia and take most of the South Pacific to act as a line of defense for Japan had been handed a major setback. The South Seas Detachment had lost all six transports almost 2000 infantry troops were reported lost. The escorts were approaching Saipan and after disembarking the survivors would withdraw to Yap. Without air cover Saipan anchorage was not safe.
Returning aircrews reported that the American P-40 fighters over Guam tended to ignore the Zeros to push the attacks on the bombers. This cost them but it also meant more Japanese bombers were shot down then should have been. The reports of the success of the quad 50s covering the airfields led the Admiral to think that additional training on strafing was needed. Luckily there had not been any Anti-Aircraft Artillery other than the quad 50s or even more planes might have been lost.
After the losses in the air battles the Akagi and Soryu had room for all the remaining Japanese planes. Saipan was reporting that one runway was repaired and that it had five Zeros, ten Kates and 10 Vals left from the Shoakau and Zuikaku aircraft that had been forced to land there after the battle on the 21 of December. Admiral Naguno had the Soryu send another ten Zeros to Saipan. He ordered Saipan to try to keep pressure on Guam but to do a better job of setting up some type of early warning for the Island.
On Guam the Havocs and the Dauntless were prepared for one more strike at Saipan and the escorts heading that way the five B-17s lifted off at 1500 followed by Havocs and SBDs. The B-17s would hit the airfield again while the Havocs and SBDs went for the ships. All fifteen surviving F4F would cover the dive bombers. The ten Zeros from the Soryu were just arriving over the Saipan airfield when the B-17s made their approach. With their attack on the bombers for the first time Saipan was able to disrupt an attack. Damage was very limited and two B-17s were damaged and had to make forced landings off Guam.
The attack on the South Seas Detachment escorts came with no warning and the SBDs were able to hit two heavy cruisers and one destroyer. The Havocs damaged 2 submarine chasers and one gunboat. Another 1500 infantry troops were lost. All the American fighters and bombers returned to Guam. The reports that Saipan had an active runway and at least fifteen Zeros put a damper on the good feelings.
Both sides were now exhausted and no more attacks happened for three days. Hawaii sent five more B-17s towards Guam.
And two submarines with medical supplies arrived in Agana Bay. The severely wounded and surviving P-40 pilots to include Guam’s five aces were transported back to Pearl Harbor on the damaged Triggerfish and S-41. The two new subs The USS Salmon and USS Hammerhead along with the S-43 would continue to patrol around Guam.
The Submarine Tender Seawall was repaired and would continue to act as a base for the three subs and 6 remaining PBYs. The damage underwater to the Seawall while it caused flooding was patched and the water pumped out. A supply run from Hawaii was going to be needed and two freighters, one light cruiser and two destroyers were loaded to be sent by the first week in February. This supply run would include two Batteries of 3in Anti-Aircraft guns as well as fuel, ammunition bombs and more P-40s. This small convoy would be covered by the USS Yorktown newly arrived at Pearl from the Atlantic and the Lexington.
Newspapers all across the United States were shouting the news of the gallant defenders of Wake and Guam. Questions were being asked why there but no where else were Americans winning? Was it the leadership? The lack of training or the effort at good training there. Guam had five aces. Again the questions were why there? A heroes welcome for the Army pilots was planed and questions would be asked how they accomplished with the P-40 what no one else was doing.
The same questions were being asked in Japan. One pilot off the Akagi reported what he thought was a radar set at Mt Tenjo. His was the first report that Guam had radar. Now the Japanese knew why no raids on Guam had achieved surprise. Saipan would need to be reinforced with IJA aircraft, IJN aircraft were needed elsewhere, so as to overwhelm the Guam defenders. Build up at Saipan would start as soon as either the Philippines or Malaya were secured.
The assault on the DEI was going on schedule. Guam and then the South Pacific would be next.
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Dang... The olde Sara ate torps...
Hopefully in the future, one of the Essexs will be named in honour of her action in the Battle for Guam...
Wonders how the reinforcement of Wake Is. is doing...
Hopefully if and when they get some additional firepower...
The Marine Garrison can bleed the IJNs of their air assets among with their DDs...
Hopefully in the future, one of the Essexs will be named in honour of her action in the Battle for Guam...
Wonders how the reinforcement of Wake Is. is doing...
Hopefully if and when they get some additional firepower...
The Marine Garrison can bleed the IJNs of their air assets among with their DDs...
Wake received it's reinforcements, Japanese plans are to let sleeping dogs (Marines) lie at Wake while all efforts at Guam continue.Dang... The olde Sara ate torps...
Hopefully in the future, one of the Essexs will be named in honour of her action in the Battle for Guam...
Wonders how the reinforcement of Wake Is. is doing...
Hopefully if and when they get some additional firepower...
The Marine Garrison can bleed the IJNs of their air assets among with their DDs...
Glad you like the story
Hyperion
Banned
I really don't see how the Japanese can even begin to take Guam at this rate.
Two carriers sunk, two others damaged and out of action for months. Only two of their original six big carriers are still operational, and their air groups will likely need many weeks to be rebuilt.
Keep in mind, even with Saratoga gone, the US should now have a total of 3 carriers in the Pacific, and the USS Yorktown would have arrived at the end of December 1941.
My guess, now that Guam is somewhat stable, backtrack, and bomb the heck out of targets in the Marshalls to ensure that Japanese don't try for Wake, or to cut off Guam.
Two carriers sunk, two others damaged and out of action for months. Only two of their original six big carriers are still operational, and their air groups will likely need many weeks to be rebuilt.
Keep in mind, even with Saratoga gone, the US should now have a total of 3 carriers in the Pacific, and the USS Yorktown would have arrived at the end of December 1941.
My guess, now that Guam is somewhat stable, backtrack, and bomb the heck out of targets in the Marshalls to ensure that Japanese don't try for Wake, or to cut off Guam.
Got to insure Guam is secure then anything is possible even relief of Bataan
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