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The raids on Magwe

continued from part 10

[Alas, I've lost the notes from my translation of the Japan Defense Agency history dealing with the big raid on Magwe. What follows, therefore, is based entirely on Umemoto-san's more recent book, supplemented by English-language sources. -- Dan Ford]

Three pilots of the 64th Sentai get their orders at their base in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

March 21: the big raid

The daring Allied raids of March 21--Tomahawks attacking Moulmein and Mudon, Blenheims and Hurricanes raiding Mingaladon--failed to halt the huge strike the Japanese had laid on for the same afternoon. The target of course was Magwe. The first formation to arrive had taken off from the Rangoon-area airports, and consisted of 31 Ki-27 "Nate" fighters of the 1st and 11th Sentais, led by Colonel Okabe, the new commander of the 11th. They entered the Magwe airspace at 3:10 p.m. Tokyo time, tasked with patrolling over the target at 4,500 meters. At 3:20 p.m. they were joined by the heavy bombers: 51 Ki-21 "Sally" heavy bombers of the 12th and 98th sentais, from their bases in Thailand. (Another Sally had crashed on takeoff.) The heavies were escorted by 14 Ki-43 Hayabusa fighters of the 64th Sentai, also based in Thailand. This was, by far, the largest formation ever seen in Burma skies--nearly 100 aircraft--and more were to come.

The heavy bomber droned through Magwe airspace at an altitude of 6,000 meters, escorted by some fighters from the 11th and 64th sentais. The bulk of the fighter pilots, however, went down to low level in order to strafe the enemy airfield.

Alas, the 12th Sentai bombardiers found Magwe airport obscured by clouds, and they had to bomb "by estimate." (A brown dirt runway in the dry season, in a nation whose sky was murky with smoke from forest fires and the burning city of Rangoon, Magwe airport wasn't easy to find even on a clear day.) Meanwhile, they found themselves under attack by two Tomahawks flown by Parker Dupouy and Tom Jones, who were soon engaged by the escorting fighters.

When the 98th Sentai came over the target, it was attacked by three other P-40s, and one of the bombers was shot down. (Ken Jernstedt of the AVG claimed a Sally in this engagement, out of a 10-plane formation that was probably one squadron of the 98th.) The formation then milled about, reorganized, and returned to its bombing run. By this time, the clouds had moved out and the Japanese were able to "bomb correctly."

Some Hurricanes of RAF 17 Squadron now joined the battle. Seeing the bombers under attack, Colonel Okabe ordered his 11th Sentai pilots to "challenge them from the back." Two of them jumped a Hurricane, "continuously shooting like a shower," and forced him down--probably the plane flown by Kenneth Hemingway, who crash-landed in a dry river bed. Alas for Col Okabe, while the 11th Sentai commander was firing at Hemingway, another Hurricane (perhaps flown by Pilot Officer Brooks) was shooting at him. "How sad to see his head unrecognizable and full of blood," writes the Japanese historian. Okabe's Ki-27 crashed in a dense forest.

One of the 64th Sentai Hayabusas--flown by the 1st Chutai commander, Captain Maruo--also failed to return from this engagement. A few days later, however, he turned up at Chiang Mai, having landed his plane inside Japanese lines and eventually obtaining fuel for the return flight.

The second wave

And the Japanese were not finished with Magwe. At 4 p.m. Tokyo time, a second formation arrived, consisting of 10 Ki-30 "Ann" light bombers of the 31st Sentai--their scant numbers reflecting the damage wrought by the AVG and the RAF that morning at Moulmein and Mingaladon--along with 17 Ki-48 "Lily" medium bombers of the 8th Sentai. They were escorted by 14 Ki-27 fighters of the 77th Sentai. (There were also a few Ki-46 "Dinah" observation planes assigned to the March 21 raids on Magwe, to record the devastation for General Obata.)

Interestingly, the Japanese historian notes that the 14 fighter pilots in this second wave each had "above 2,000 hours" of flying time--an impressive figure, which if true no doubt reflects the group's long combat experience against the Chinese and Russian air forces from 1937 to 1941.

The 77th Sentai lost one Nate shot down in this battle, likely falling to the guns of Clif Groh of the AVG.

Altogether on March 21, the Japanese claimed 8 Allied fighters shot down in the air plus 8 destroyed and 27 badly damaged on the ground, at a cost of 4 of their own planes. In addition, 17 crewmen were injured, presumably all of them on the bombers.

The dead pilots included one mystery: Lieutenant Sugiyama of the 47th Independent Chutai had taken off that afternoon with instructions to suss out the situation at Toungoo airport, but he never returned. Later, his wrecked Ki-44 Shoki fighter was found near Bassein, riddled with bullet holes and with Sugiyama dead at the controls. Running out of fuel and attempting to land in a dry rice field, his wheels hit an obstruction and the plane flipped. It was "not clear what happened," writes the Japanese historian, but almost certainly Sugiyama had blundered into the Magwe fighting, there being no other occasion that day on which he could have picked up the bullet holes in his airplane.

March 22: the third and fourth waves

Next morning at 10:18 Tokyo time, the raiders were back again. This third wave consisted of 61 Ki-27 Nate fighters of the 1st, 11th, 50th, and 77th sentais, plus 12 Ki-30 Ann light bombers of the 31st Sentai, the same number of Ki-48 Lily medium bombers of the 8th Sentai, and 11 Ki-21 Sally heavy bombers of the 12th Sentai. All these groups except the 50th were making their second appearance at Magwe in 24 hours.

And there was more to come: shortly after noon Tokyo time, the four wave arrived over Magwe. This formation consisted of 27 Sallys from the 12th Sentai, 26 Lilys of the 8th Sentai, 18 Ki-43 Hayabusa fighters of the 64th Sentai, and 23 Nates from the 1st and 11th sentais at Rangoon--these last making their second assault of the day. They claimed 22 planes destroyed on the ground, while suffering no losses of their own. Two Hurricanes managed to get off the ground, but there were no claims on the Allied side. The British and American squadrons abandoned the airport to the Japanese, leaving 20 burned-out hulks behind them. The Allied air defense of Burma was now all but destroyed.

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