The two led the staff to discuss the method of dealing with the Japanese special attack aircraft, which was the "big blue carpet" tactic proposed by McCain. First, the dive bombers carried by the carrier are halved and the number of fighters is doubled. Second, increase the bomb load of the fighter, making it a dual-role aircraft with both attack and defense, and supplement the attack power lost by reducing dive bombers. Third, the original four brigades were downsized to three to concentrate anti-aircraft fire and air patrols. Fourth, when aircraft attack the enemy, destroyers are sent 100 kilometers ahead of the flank of the fleet to act as warning ships, early warning of the arrival of enemy aircraft, and a certain number of cruisers are deployed around them. Fifth, all aircraft returning from attack missions must circumvent a certain guard ship so that cruise fighters can take out Japanese special attack aircraft that are mixed in trying to locate and attack the carrier. McCain warned the pilots on patrol that all aircraft that were not in accordance with the regulations to approach the fleet would be considered enemy aircraft as soon as they were spotted and could be shot down directly.
The Nineteenth Regiment landed
Mindoro has poor geographical conditions, at least in the eyes of the Japanese. The island is hilly and full of mud, with only a few plains along the coast. After the Japanese drove american troops out of the Philippines that year, the former commander of the Fourteenth Army, Masaharu Honma, tried to build an airfield on the island, but failed in 8 attempts. Japanese geologists believe that the island's geology is not suitable for the construction of an airport. Because of this, the Japanese army believed that the Us army could not make a big move to capture the island. Yamashita's eyes were fixed on Luzon, and he knew that if the Americans wanted, they could concentrate their forces on any island like Leyte. In Mindoro, he was only symbolically assigned to two squadrons of the 359th Independent Brigade of the 105th Division. Together with the ships that sank about 200 Japanese troops swimming ashore, there were about 1,000 defenders on the island.
MOEL
On 11 December, Halsey led Task Force 38 out of Ulyssy Atoll again, tasked with paralyzing the Japanese airfields on Luzon and clearing the way for the landing on The Island of Rentoro. Halsey and McCain agreed to conduct three days of air raids on Luzon on December 14-16, refueling of the fleet on the 17th, and three more days of bombing on the 19th and 21st.
USS Haradon
Beginning on 14 December, Task Force 38 bombed the Japanese airfield in Luzon for three consecutive days, claiming to have shot down 62 enemy aircraft in the air, destroyed 208 on the ground, sunk 16 Japanese ships, wounded 37, and seriously damaged a large number of Facilities such as Japanese oil depots, ammunition depots, and barracks. The continuous air raids reduced the air pressure of the landing operation to a certain extent, but the special attack of the Japanese aircraft still caused serious losses to the US military.
The Haradon was injured
The U.S. amphibious forces were commanded by Rear Admiral Arthur Struble and consisted of the Landing Assault Brigade, the Close Cover Brigade, and the Escort Brigade. The landing assault group consisted of 1 light cruiser, 8 fast transport ships, 30 tank landing ships, 12 medium landing ships, 31 infantry landing ships, 10 minesweepers, 7 minesweepers, 12 frigates and 14 other vessels, responsible for transporting 12,000 people of the Twenty-fourth Infantry Division, 9,500 engineers building the airport, and 9,600 people of the airport aviation team. The close-range cover group consisted of 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers, and 7 destroyers, and was responsible for providing sea cover for the landing assault group and preparing for naval gun fire before landing. The escort group consisted of 6 escort carriers, 3 vintage battleships, 3 cruisers and 18 destroyers, and was responsible for providing air support to the landing assault group. The Fifth Air Force on Morrotai and Leyte will also provide air cover for the fleet with some fighters. The operation is code-named "Watchmen".
On 12 December, Major General Strubble led his formation from Leyte Gulf in batches, sailing through the Surigao Strait into the Bohol Sea and heading towards Mindoro Island. MacArthur had planned to go personally to be dissuaded by the staff, but he still invited a large number of spectators, including senior British observers and reporters accompanying the army, which was what Old Mai was best at and enthusiastic about.
503rd Third Corps
After the fleet left the southern mouth of the Surigao Strait, strict light control began to be implemented, and all portholes and hatches were covered with black cloth. But it seems unlikely that such a large fleet would not be detected during a long voyage of 540 kilometers. On the evening of the 12th, a reconnaissance plane of Captain Fumitake Shadow Mountain of the 15th Flying Squadron of the Japanese Army spotted the Us fleet sailing northwest on the sea surface and immediately sent back a telegram to receive the enemy. Lieutenant General Tominaga, commander of the Fourth Air Force, decided to meet the battle and concentrate all the remaining 76 fighters of various types—36 of the Fourth Flying Division, 27 of the Second Flying Division, and 13 of the Army's direct subordinates—to carry out a deadly assault and eliminate the American fleet at sea at all costs. Tominaga claimed that the attack would delay the U.S. landing in Luzon by at least a month. He even ignored the resolute opposition of the Fifth Flying Regiment Ogawa Kojiro Shosa and ordered the remaining 9 Hundred heavy bombers to be put into special attacks.
USS Dahir
After receiving the news of the large-scale dispatch of the American fleet, fukuro and Onishi of the Navy ordered the kamikaze special attack team to attack with the Army Air Force the next day. After dawn on the 13th, the US fleet was frantically attacked by Japanese aircraft. The LST-472 tank landing ship was badly transported, and the bridge was shattered by a special attack aircraft, and it quickly flipped and sank into the sea. LST-733 was also sunk, and the officers and men of the two ships suffered more than 1,000 casualties. Although the American fighters desperately intercepted and the anti-aircraft guns of each ship firing at the maximum rate of fire were even red, the Japanese pilots still desperately attacked regardless of life and death. A Zero-Battle swooped down on the West Virginia, where it was hit directly by a shell fired from the battleship's main guns, killing the aircraft.
The sunken LST-738, next to the destroyer MOEL
The Nashville became the focus of the Japanese aircraft. The Japanese pilots were repeatedly told before the attack, and the famous MacArthur was probably on the ship. In fact, Old Mai did not travel with the team, and the ship is now the flagship of Major General Struble. At about 15:00 p.m., a special attack aircraft crashed into the starboard side of the Nashville, the bridge, the combat intelligence center and the communications cabin were severely damaged, and the fire caused by the explosion quickly spread to the ammunition compartment and induced a series of explosions, killing 133 officers and men on board and wounding 190, including Brigadier General William Dunkel, commander-in-chief of ground operations and deputy commander of the Twenty-fourth Division. The battered Nashville was forced to return to Leyte Gulf under the escort of a destroyer, and Struble boarded the destroyer Dahir to command the formation.
LST-733
At 17:00 p.m., another Japanese plane came to attack. The US radar detected the attackers in advance, escorted the aircraft carrier to urgently lift off 30 "Wildcats" to intercept, and there was still a Japanese aircraft that crashed headlong into the "Haratton". The destroyer was hit in an instant with an emergency right full rudder, and the Japanese plane that had no time to turn around skimmed over the bridge, the fuselage crashed into the lifeboat on the ship, the bomb it carried blew off the chimney of the "Haraton", and the aviation fuel splashed on the deck induced a skyrocket, and the destroyer who had suffered a heavy blow had to turn around and return. At dusk, a number of Japanese planes attacked, all of which were stubbornly repelled by the US army.
LST-472
In the early morning of the 15th, the US landing fleet sailed into Mangarin Bay, southwest of Mindoro Island, and the subsequent landing operation met with almost no decent resistance. It is worth mentioning in particular that the Japanese army thought that even if the US army came, it would definitely land on the beachhead on the east side of the island, and the US military chose the southwest corner with extremely poor conditions to achieve tactical abruptness. Although the U.S. aircraft carried out 24-hour non-stop patrols over the fleet, during the unloading of personnel and materiel, 2 tank landing ships were still sunk by special attack aircraft. The destroyer Moel braved the shrapnel of shrapnel and forcibly stepped forward to rescue most of the sailors aboard the LST-738.
On the evening of the landing day, the U.S. army had advanced 11 kilometers toward the vertical. After a little resistance, the Japanese retreated into the central mountains. Although about 300 Japanese troops raided the north guard station on the island and fought fiercely with American paratroopers, the Americans still occupied the entire island within 48 hours. In the battle, 200 Japanese troops were killed and 375 wounded, and 18 American troops were killed and 81 wounded.
LST-738
Fighting on the front lines is still going on, and American sappers who are smoking cigarettes or chewing gum have already started building runways in bulldozers. Honma's eight unsuccessful attempts to build an airfield on the island were unsuccessful, and it took the Americans only 13 days to complete this task, or two, although it was only an airstrip. Kenny's fighter jets and a handful of bombers were immediately stationed. By late December, Mindoro airfield had 92 fighter jets and 13 B-25 heavy bombers parked.
USS Nashville
On the issue of the U.S. landing on Mintolo Island, the commander of the Southern Army, Terauchi, and Yamashita once again had a disagreement. Terauchi ordered Yamashita to organize an anti-landing operation and dispatched the main force to the island to drive the Americans into the sea. However, Yamashita, who was deeply wounded by the battle on Leyte, lost his temper this time, and in any case did not agree to send the main force to the island to die, insisting on using the precious troops in his hands for the defense of Luzon. However, in order to take care of the face of the temple, Yamashita symbolically sent more than 100 "stand-up team members" in an attempt to infiltrate the San Jose area and destroy the US military airfield. In late December, as soon as the inconspicuous force landed on the island, it was jointly encircled and suppressed by the U.S. military and filipino guerrillas, and it did not cause any substantial damage to the U.S. military airfield.
The NASHville on fire