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This is Volume One of The Army Air Forces in World War II, titled Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. The University of Chicago Press first published it in 1948, and the Office of Air Force History reprinted it in 1983. The front matter explains how the AAF historical program was set up during the war. The index covers Pacific, Atlantic and European operations, and nothing in the text concerns unidentified aerial phenomena.
“King”32 pages
T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1 His air force having been defeated at the very outset, his army there- after was besieged on Bataan and Corregidor while the Japanese swept on to effect the virtually complete isolation of all the Philippines. Except for the occupation of Davao, Mindanao was left for over three months to American troops who labored heroically to extend and improve the facilities about Del Monte in anticipation of hoped- for reinforcements. But their fate, like that of the men on Bataan, was sealed hundreds of miles to the south-at Singapore, on Java, and in t-he Bismarcks. Final Efforts in the Philippines When General Brereton’s headquarters had been moved to Austra- lia late in December, it was hoped that the partial withdrawal of our air units would be only temporary, and that provision could be made for an increasing flow of materials from the Australian base to the Philippines. Indeed, the prompt decision to send bombers to the Neth- erlands East Indies had been dictated in large part by the necessity to provide all possible protection for the reinforcements on which the Philippines depended. But the enemy had moved too fast, and soon there was left only the hope that blockade runners might prolong the resistance on Bataan. Vigorous attempts to provide aid by such means -attempts which included requesting Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek to assist in a plan to run small boats from the China coast to Luzon- were made by American civilian and military authorities. Again, how- ever, hopes were to be replaced by disappointment. Inevitably there were delays in effecting the necessary arrangements in Australia, where alone circumstances proved in any way favorable, and of the ships dispatched only three got through to the Philippines. At least fifteen others which hazarded the dangerous run were either sunk or captured. Submarines got through and heavy bombers flew in needed supplies and ammunition to Del Monte for subsequent transfer to Bataan, but the numbers available were as limited as was their capacity to carry freight.z The prompt severance of the projected ferry route by way of Koe- pang, Kendari, and Tarakan left our pursuit forces on Luzon wholly dependent upon water shipment for reinforcement, with the result that only three P-40’s reached the Philippines through the long weeks preceding the fall of Corregidor in May. These had been shipped in crates from Australia to Mindanao, where early in March they were 404
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