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Yava -> RE: THE THREAD!!! (7/15/2008 3:22:02 PM)
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ORIGINAL: rtrapasso
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ORIGINAL: AW1Steve
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ORIGINAL: rtrapasso
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ORIGINAL: Yava
U.S.A.: The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff issue a report entitled "Operations Against Japan, Subsequent to Formosa" which includes three phases of operations in 1945: Phase I: Attack the Bonin and Ryukyu Islands and the east Coast of China between 1 April and 30 June 1945. Phase II: Consolidate and exploit Phase I gains between 30 June and 30 September 1945. Phase III: Invasion of the Japanese home islands beginning with Kyushu on 1 November 1945 and then Honshu on 31 December 1945. (Jack McKillop) From the Press Office of Cincpac: MEMORANDUM TO THE PRESS The following was given to the press by Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll, USN, Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, at the press conference of Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal today: Recently on a brilliant moonlight night one of our destroyer escorts sighted a submarine, fully surfaced, silhouetted against the moon. The destroyer escort immediately rang up full speed and headed for the submarine, opening fire with all her guns. The submarine elected to fight it out and opened fire with her deck guns and machine guns, tracers passing high over the bridge of the destroyer escort. The submarine maneuvered at high speed and fired a torpedo. The destroyer escort closed the range rapidly, following the sub's evasive maneuvers and burying the sub under a withering fire at point blank range, machine guns and three inch forecastle guns. The range finally closed until the submarine was only 20 yards away. All fire on the submarine having ceased at this point the destroyer escort rode up on the forecastle of the submarine where she stuck. Men began swarming out of the submarine and up onto the destroyer escort's forecastle. The destroyer escort opened up on them with machine guns, tommy guns and rifle fire. Ammunition expended at this time included several general mess coffee cups which happened to be at the gun stations. Two of the enemy were hit on the head with these. Empty cartridge cases also proved effective for repelling the boarders. During this heated encounter the destroyer escort suffered her only casualty of the engagement, when a husky seaman bruised his fist knocking one of the enemy over the side. At this stage of the battle the boatswain's mate in charge forward with a 45 Colt revolver and a Chief Firecontrolman with a tommy gun accounted for a number of those attempting to board. The destroyer escort then decided to back off to stop any more enemy trying to board her. Again the running battle was resumed, hits falling like rain on the sub's topside. Even shallow depth charges were used against the submarine. The destroyer escort rammed a second time and then the submarine rolled slowly over. Personnel on the escort's deck had a clear view into the conning tower which was ablaze. A torpedoman threw a hand grenade which dropped through the sub's conning tower before exploding. The submarine finally sank with her diesel engines still running, and the conning tower hatch open, fire blazing from It. The commanding officer of the destroyer escort was a young Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve, who came on active duty in 1941." CINCPAC PRESS RELEASE NO. 434, Truk Atoll was bombed during the night of June 3-4 (West Longitude Date) by Liberators of the Seventh Army Air Force. The airfields at Moen and Param Islands were hit. Four enemy fighters were airborne but did not attack our force. Antiaircraft fire was meager and inaccurate. Ponape Island was attacked on the night of June 3 by Seventh Army Air Force Liberators and on June 4 by Seventh Army Air Force Mitchells. Installations on Langar Island and antiaircraft batteries were hit. Lauru Island was bombed by Seventh Army Air Force Mitchells during daylight on June 3, and by Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Two on June 5. Gun positions were the principal targets. Antiaircraft fire was intense. Enemy positions in the Marshalls were bombed and strafed on June 3-4 search Venturas of Fleet Air Wing Two, Corsair fighters and Dauntless live bombers of the Fourth Marine Aircraft Wing, and Navy Hellcat fighters. Gun positions and runways were hit. Antiaircraft fire was meager. (Denis Peck)
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/1944/06/06.html
Something peculiar about this - it reads almost exactly like the report of the U-boat "boarding" of the US ship in the Atlantic - including the coffee cups hurled at the enemy and "hand grenade down the conning tower"...
Also, i've never read about this incident in reading about IJN subs or USN antisub ops, although i guess i could have missed it... however, the other incident was so widely written about in different places, i find it difficult to believe that this one is accurate and not some sort of, well, hoax. Curiously, neither the DE name nor the sub ID are mentioned... i wonder if somehow the Atlantic incident got transposed to the Pacific.
Please notice that the DE's report was released by Roy Ingersoll , CINC of Atlantic fleet. I belive this to be a general release, " all the news today" type thing , and they didn't do a good job deliniating theatres.
No - not good at all.
What I found peculiar about this piece of writing were the coffee cups [;)]
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