[Molon Labe]

5 March 1944
Kamikazes destroy CVE in massive air counteroffensive at Legaspi

Philippines
I had a surface combat task force of 1 CA and 9 DD patrolling between Cebu and Legaspi trying to prevent what happened yesterday. This morning, they spotted the enemy PTs before they could do any harm. 11 enemy boats were sunk with no damage to the US fleet.

PTs weren't the only small-ticket defense active around Legaspi. 4 enemy minisubs also approached the area, but all were spotted by destroyers screening the landing ships (or the surface combat task force) and easily sunk.

USS Rock was heavily damaged in a depth charge attack in the Luzon Strait and is headed to Hong Kong for repairs.

The major threat ended up being enemy air forces, which came as a little bit of a surprise because I had 2 of the 3 large airbases on Luzon under constant surveillance, and never detected an increase in present numbers of aircraft (and the day after this that 3rd one was also empty). Still, I wasn't caught completely unprepared, as the 'phibs had CVEs in company and land-based aircraft were providing additional cover. Altogether I had 78 Hellcats providing cover over the landing site when the first enemy raid hit us. It ended up being a turkey shoot, but we were eventually overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. It looks like altitude was a factor--none of the fighter squadrons that I had assigned to lower altitudes were covering the landing site.

Raid 1: High altitude, 8 Zeroes, 18 Georges, 14 Kates, 6 Jills. Losses: 7 Zeroes, 16 Georges, 14 Kates, 6 Jills; 0 Hellcats.

Raid 2: Low Altitude approach, 12 Zeroes, 8 Kates. Losses: 7 Zeroes, 8 Kates (2 to flak, the rest were kamikazes). All the Kates made it past the fighters. 1 Kate slammed into HMAS Canberra, and 2 more into the CVE USS Santee--triggering ammunition explosions and dooming the ship.

Raid 3: Low Altitude approach, 6 Kates. These planes slipped past the CAP. 1 was lost to flak, the rest made torpedo attacks against Canberra and Santee, putting two fish into Santee just to make absolutely sure it was going down.

Raid 4: Low Altitude approach, 9 Kates. 7 shot down by CAP, 2 attempted Kamikaze attacks on the CVE USS Corregidor but missed. How do you miss a ship that big? Probably due to flak damage sustained on the way, I'd guess.

Raid 5: High altitude, 9 Zeroes, 41 Georges, 5 Franks, 11 Frances. Losses: 2 Zeroes, 16 Georges, 3 Franks, and the first F6F Hellcat loss of the day (with the possible exception of any destroyed on the Santee's deck). All 11 Frances got through to make torpedo attacks, scoring a single hit on an LST, sinking it. 1 Frances was downed by flak after it released its torpedo.

Raid 6: High altitude, 19 Franks and 5 Judies. The CAP only shot down 3 Franks, while losing another 2 Hellcats. These Judies were kamizakes and tried to attack CVE Prince William and a transport, none hit.

Raid 7: 37 Judies, medium altitude. Our CAP should have torn these up, but we only had 19 planes in the air and they were all busy. 4 were shot down by flak. CVE Corregidor took 2 hits (enough to disable air ops) and an LSD took another.

Raid 8: 33 Georges with 12 Judies. Losses: 8 Georges, 3 F6Fs. 1 Judy lost to flak. Corregidor took another hit, and a cargo ship took two--enough to sink it.

Raid 9: 3 Kates, low altitude. Completely snuck in and fired 3 torpedoes at the burning Corregidor, but missed.

In the Sulu Sea, the Yankee Butai was spotted and drew some attention as well. 11 Zeroes and 7 Frances took on the CAP of 154 Hellcats. Only 2 Zeroes made it out of that fight, no Allied losses.




Other raids:
Manila (airbase): 11 Tojos and 3 Franks intercepted, but no air-to-air losses. 1 B-24 shot down by flak, 15 airbase hits with 1 George destroyed.

Land Combat:
Legaspi is officially in our hands. The enemy flew in a few troops but the resistance was token.



DEI
There was another Helen raid at Denpasar; 3 base hits.
Allied raids:
Kendari (ground forces): 0 casualties
near Palopo: 26 casualties
near Denpasar: 24 P-40N5s strafed a motor torpedo boat, causing moderate damage.


Burma and Thailand
Enemy raid on Prachuap Khiri Khan: 12 casualties. CAP again failed to intervene.
Allied raids
Prachuap Khiri Khan (ground forces): 6 casualties, 1 Tony shot down by B-24s.


Land combat:
Bangkok (ground forces) 7 casualties
Bangkok (airbase): 23 hits, 6 casualties



China
Air raids:
near Kiukiang (ground forces): 0 casualties
Land combat:
near Kiukiang, allied bombardment attack, casualties 24(J) to 72(A).

Land combat:
Prachuap Khiri Khan- Japanese deliberate attack, 4000 vs 2000 troops, casualties 114(J) vs 131(A).
Bangkok, allied bombardment attack, casualties 95(J) to 85(A)


Reinforcements
DE Darby arrives at Eastern USA
SS Queenfish arrives at Balboa
AO Nantahala arrives at Eastern USA
12th BG/81st BS arrives at Aden
462nd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion arrives at San Francisco
II/14th Army RIASC Base Force arrives at Calcutta
10th IAF Advanced Base Force arrives at Calcutta