THURSDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 1944
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): During the night of 13/14 Sep three B-24s strike Kurabu
Cape Airfield on Paramushiru and shipping offshore.
BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 4 B-25s drop fragmentation- boobytrap
bombs on Bhamo; large-scale C-47 operations continue to various points in the
CBI.
CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 6 B-25s bomb Tunganhsien; 91 P-40s and
P-51s attack inland shipping, troop compounds, supplies, and numerous buildings
around the Lungling area, throughout the vast expanse of inland SE China, mainly
in Hunan, and other areas S of Tungting Lake; HQ 23d Fighter Group moves from Liuchow to Luliang; the air echelon of the 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron,
Fourteenth Air Force (attached to 23d Fighter Group), moves from Kweilin to Liuchow with P-51s (ground echelon is at Chengkung; and the 373rd Bombardment
Squadron (Heavy), 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy) moves from Yangkai to Luliang with B-24s.
AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): B-24s from Saipan bomb Iwo Jima. P-47s make strafing
and rocket attacks on warehouses and shelters on Pagan. B-24s on armed reconnaissance bomb Marcus; others from Eniwetok bomb Truk while B-25s hit Ponape.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-25s
pound Mapanget Airfield and the Menado area. B-24s hit 4 airfields on Halmahera
. In New Guinea, A-20s and B-25s bomb Babo Airfield while fighter-bombers make
scattered small raids on AA positions, airfields, and targets of opportunity
on the Vogelkop Peninsula; the 69th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 42d Bombardment
Group (Medium), moves from Hollandia to Sansapor; and the 100th Bombardment
Squadron (Medium), Thirteenth Air Force [attached to 42d Bombardment Group (Medium)],
ceases operating from Hollandia with B-25s and returns to base at Sansapor. Force landed is C-47A "Hell's Bells" 42-23959 (crew survived) west of Port Moresby.
U.S. Army: On Vella Lavella, 1st Bn of 35th Inf, 25th Div, opens attack in Kokolope Bay area after preparatory fire and finds Horaniu vacated by enemy. 1st and 3d Bns, latter having moved forward, then organize defensive positions in this region. While 3d Bn of 27th Inf holds off enemy counterattacking on Sagekarasa, 1st Bn of 172d Inf, on Arundel, bypasses enemy positions on Bomboe Peninsula in order to come in behind 2d Bn, 27th Inf. Reinforcements are sent to Sagekarasa. Japanese begin moving rest of a regt from Kolombangara to Arundel. 8th Brig Gp, NZ 3d Div, arrives on Guadalcanal from New Caledonia, having rehearsed en route (in New Hebrides) for invasion of Treasury Is. in the Solomons.
Australian Army: 26th Brig of Aus 9th Division crosses the Busu RIver to link up with the 24th Brig on west bank. 25th Brig, Aus 7th Div, continues eastward toward Lae, seizing Heath's Plantation.
RNZAF: Lost over Wide Bay is F4U Corsair NZ5236 (MIA).
USN: Ditched is
SBD-4 10575 (rescued).
