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Sergeant -> RE: Sergeant v. Wissooner (Scn #12) (6/17/2005 7:56:55 AM)
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17 Jun 42 on a partley cloudy night...
Six Nell bombers from Lae appear in the night sky over Port Morsby shadowed by the moon. A few moments later the peaceful night is broken by the blasts of bombs striking the runway from 6k feet. Then... all is quiet again.
Down below the waves Allied sub #S38 is detected and chased out of the area at Ferguson Island.
As daylight approaches...
Early morning recon flights over Japanese controlled bases reveal that the Allies are using B25 Mitchell(s) to conduct their recon. Or, are they just looking for targets of opportunity? Hmmm... Suddenly, breakfast at LAE is interrupted by 9 x A24 Dauntless, 8 x B25 Mitchells, and 11 A20 Havoc(s) attacking ships in port with 500 and 1k pound bombs. AP Owigawa Maru takes 2 hits, AP Kenryu Maru takes 5 hits. Of course the enemy is flying at their favorite altitude of 4k feet, and only one A24 Dauntless suffers flak damage. [:(]
On the other side of the map - things are very different around Guadalcannal...
At Tulagi Lieutenant Tanaka settles down for his breakfast of fish he caught himself. It's a bright morning & fishing was good off the side of his new Gunboat. He looks West and wonders about the flashes of light & distant rumble at his old base Lunga, that he observed at 4am before the sun came up. He remembers the Allied raiders from a few weeks earlier & the devestation they caused & how he almost lost his own life. Were they raiding Luga again as they did before?
Tanaka opens his Guadalcannal diary & prepares to write a new passage... suddenly he hears the approach of low flying aircraft loud & close butr coming from the East. Fear grips him for an instant but then cheers go up on the beach and at the base as he realizes they are Japanese planes. The sound is deafening as 67 Kates scream over his head at tree top level heading towards Lunga. The sun glints off their wings & the infamous red meatball painted large and proud on them. Tanaka starts to shout "BANZAI BANZAI" as the sun is momentarily darkened by wave after wave of planes; 33 A6M2 Zero fighters at high, 53 D3A Val Dive Bombers at medium, and 67 B5n Kates at low altitudes fill the sky as far as he can see - all headed in one direction with one purpose... The Raiders' day of reckoning has come! Tanaka's voice becomes strained from shouting at the planes. He watches them disappear out of sight & waits. Sweat drips from his brow as he waits. Impatiently he reaches for a cigarette. 10 minutes, 20 minutes... then he can just barely hear the low rumble of a battle taking place over 60 miles away. Tanaka runs to his radio room as other seamen gather to listen to the battle reports as they come in from Lunga.
He learns that their carrier group was lurking off the coast of Malaita waiting for the right moment over a 100 miles away....
The radio reports come fast & excited... 4 hits on CL Nashville, 9 hits on CA Portland, 1 hit on DD Henley, 3 hits on CA Chester, 2 hits on DD Grayson, 1 hit on DD Mahan. Heavy flak ... smoke is everywhere making visibility difficult. Everyone becomes silent as the casulty report is made... 4 VAL bombers have gone down in flames and 8 Kates exploded before they could reach their targets. All is silent for about 15 minutes, then it is reported that some Kates have attacked an Allied submarine #42 but its condition is unknown.
A second wave of planes fly over... the pilots cannot find any targets - the smoke and cloud cover is too heavy in the area over Lunga so they turn back disappointed...
Tanaka, thinking the battle is over returns to where he left his fish & diary. He is startled half out of his wits when 39 Kates so low you could spit on'm streak over head accompanied by 23 Val bombers at a respectable altitude. Why do those Kate pilots have to fly so low? Tanaka scratches his head thinking any lower & they could give him a haircut! He runs back to the radio room on the gunboat.
CA Chester has taken 2 more hits, 4 hits on the Pensacoala they missed earlier, 3 hits on DD Swanson, 1 hit on DD Gwin. [only DD Porter escapes unscathed!] 2 VAL and 1 Kate were shot down. The rest of the morning is uneventful. At lunch the base commander announces that IJN has raised the Rising Sun over Pompesi Island east of Truk. More shouts of BANZAI BANZAI. Tanaka settles down to write his Guadalcannal Diary once again.
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