Today in Philippine History (Philatelic Edition Series 3):
September 22, 1944
A Pacific communique and a U.S. communique reported on September 22, 1944 that the U.S. Task Force attack, the first in the area of Manila on September 21, 1944 was successful and caught the enemy by surprise.
The primary targets were shipping in Manila Bay and Subic Bay, installations at Clark Airfield and Nichols Airfield and the naval base in Cavite. Much damage was done to military objectives on and near the two aerodromes, and to the aerodromes themselves.
Ships probably sunk or damaged were a destroyer, 27 warships, two large tankers, a large transport, 10 large cargo ships, and 13 medium-sized cargo ships. A floating dry dock and two barges were probably sunk or damaged. 110 Japanese aircraft were shot down while 95 were destroyed on the ground.
The U.S. lost 15 aircraft and several U.S. flyers were rescued. There were no damages to the surface ships.
Also on the same day, Tokyo Radio reported that four waves of 200 American planes attacked Manila from 7.30 a.m. to 10 a.m. The air raid concentrated in the harbor and airfields and slightly damaged the Japanese Embassy. Anti-aircraft guns shot down 111 planes and interceptors shot two. Japanese naval aircraft attacked the American task force and set fire to two carriers.
Task Force 38 made the naval air strikes against the Japanese forces from Sept 21 to 24. Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, was in command of Task Force 38 from the aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The US Third Fleet was under the command of Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey aboard the battleship USS New Jersey.
(Design, concept, stamps and research: Richard Allan B. Uy) All rights reserved
Photo credit: wikipedia.org
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