SUNDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 1944
ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): Two B-24s fly armed reconnaissance over Onnekotan and Matsuwa.
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): 8 B-25s knock out a railway bridge and damage 2 others near Thanh Hoa, French Indochina. In Burma, 4 B-25s bomb the town of Man Pwe while 4 attack Wanling. In China, 38 P-51s and P-40s hit Hengyang Airfield and attack river, rail, and road traffic, artillery pieces, pillboxes, and storage around Hengyang, Lingling, and Kweilin; 13 P-40s hit the Changsha area; 40 P-51s and P-38s hit various targets of opportunity at several other locations scattered throughout S China and N French Indochina; the 21st Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, Fourteenth AF, based at Kunming, sends a flight to operate from Suichwan with F-5s (other flights are operating from Kanchow and Hanchung).
P-51s damage Japanese auxiliary-powered sailing vessel Namikiri Maru at entrance to Haiphong River, French Indochina.
INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, sixteen P-47s support ground forces in the Pinwe area and near Indaw; 24 attack supplies and communications targets in the Kawlin area while nine bomb Japanese concentrations at Indaw and Man Hkong; the town of Pegon is attacked by 11 P-47s and 20+ others and 9 B-25s hit targets of opportunity during the sweeps of the Irrawaddy River from Singu to Katha and along rail lines at several points in N Burma. 250+ transport sorties are flown to forward bases and frontline areas. HQ 2d Air Commando Group arrives at Kalaikunda, India from the US.
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Twentieth Air Force): 29 Chengtu based B-29s bomb Omura on Kyushu; 20+ others bomb the last resort target of Nanking (due to bad weather over Omura), and 20+ more hit various alternate targets and targets of opportunity.
AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 29 B-24s from Saipan with P-38 escort bomb the airfield on Iwo Jima. 11 P-47s strafe the runway and storage area at Pagan Airfield on Pagan. During the night a B-24 on a snooper mission bombs Iwo Jima. B-24s from Angaur Airfield bomb Koror.
PROJECT MIKE continues as B-24s from 42d Bombardment Squadron, finding cloudy weather at the primary objective, Chichi Jima, fly to the alternate, Haha Jima, and lay 15 mines.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-24s bomb Alicante Airfield while on Leyte, fighter-bombers hit Linao barges on the west coast and shipping in Ormoc Bay;
B-25s bomb Daliao Airfield and Matina
Airfield. B-24s and fighter-bombers over NE Celebes and Halmahera Islands attack shipping and Djailolo
Airfield on Halmahera Island. 50+ B-25s blast Mapia Island and Asia Island. Lost is B-25G 42-65142. Units moving to Leyte: HQ 91st Photographic
Wing (Reconnaissance) moves from Biak; HQ 345th Bombardment Group (Medium)
and the 498th and 499th Bombardment Squadron (Medium) from Biak with
B-25s (squadrons continue to operate from Biak). The 370th Bombardment
Squadron (Heavy), 307th Bombardment Group (Heavy), ceases operating from Noemfoor with B-24s and returns to base on Wakde.
USMC: Lost is FG-1A Corsair 14026 pilot 2nd Lt. Archie C. Peru (MIA) crashed two miles north of Four Ways (Four Corner) near Rabaul.
JAAF: At dawn, the Banda Special Attack Squadron escorted by Ki-43 Oscars from 24th Fighter Squadron (Independent).
They damage two Landing craft repair ships and damage six transports.
USN: Japanese kamikazes strike U.S. transports off Leyte. Landing craft repair ships USS Egeria (ARL-8) and USS Achilles (ARL-41) are damaged by kamikazes off Leyte at Lat 11°11'N, Long 125°05'E. SS Leonidas Merritt at anchor off Dulag is hit by two kamikazes, but her crew controls the fires; 1 of the 28-man Armed Guard is killed, as are a merchant seaman and one of the embarked stevedores. SS Thomas Nelson is hit by a kamikaze, but despite ultimately successful firefighting efforts, 133 of the 578 embarked troops are killed, as are 3 of the 28-man Armed Guard; 88 men are injured. SS Jeremiah M. Daily is struck by a kamikazes plane, and the explosion and fires account for the deaths of 100 of the 557 troops on board, in addition to 2 of the 29-man Armed Guard and 4 of the 39-man merchant complement; 43 more men are injured and 50 troops jump overboard to escape the flames (they are rescued by nearby boats and craft). SS William A. Coulter is hit by two kamikazes, but there are no fatalities among the 41-man merchant complement, 27-man Armed Guard and four passengers. SS Morrison R. Waite is strafed and then crashed by a Japanese kamikazes, and the resultant fires kill 21 troops and wound 41 (of the 600 embarked at the time); 2 of the 29- man Armed Guard are wounded in action. Alexander Majors's Armed Guard gunners deflect a kamikaze with a 5" shell, but the plane strikes the mainmast and, along with its bomb, explodes and showers the forward part of the ship with burning gasoline that compels the Armed Guards at the forward guns to leap overboard to save themselves. Two of the merchant crew are killed and 16 injured, but there are no fatalities among the Armed Guard sailors and the Army passengers. All six of the damaged freighters ultimately return to the west coast of the United States under their own power for repairs.
USS Nicholas (DD-449) sinks Japanese submarine I-37 south of Yap Island, 08°04'N, 138°03'E.
USS Barb (SS-220) and USS Peto (SS-265) continue attacks against Japanese convoy MOMA-07 in the East China Sea. Barb sinks army cargo ship Naruo Maru and damages merchant cargo ship Gyokuyo Maru, 31°39'N, 125°36'E (see 14 November 1944); Peto sinks army cargo ship Tatsuraku Maru, 31°18'N, 125°30'E.
Submarine Redfin (SS-272) damages Japanese ship Asogawa Maru, 12°45'N, 118°14'E.
Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 84 is sunk by aircraft off Banggi, North Borneo.
PB4Y attacks Japanese convoy SIMA-04 and sinks merchant cargo ship Atsuta Maru off Malampaya Sound, 11°50'N, 119°19'E.
