Droning Continues

THU 19 OCT 1944
Pacific
TG 38.1 (Vice Admiral John S. McCain) and TG 38.4 (Rear Admiral Ralph E. Davison) continue attacks on principal Japanese airfields near Manila and shipping in the harbor. Navy carrier-based planes sink army cargo ship Belgium Maru and merchant cargo ships Jogu Maru and Toshikawa Maru, 14°35'N, 120°55'E, and Kurugane Maru and Tsukubasan Maru damage oiler Ondo (damaged by Bluefish in November 1943), and damage cargo ship Urado Maru so severely that that ship is run aground. TG 38.1 and TG 38.4 then proceed south to provide direct support for the landings at Leyte.

Off Leyte, destroyer Ross (DD-563) is damaged by mine, 10°17'N, 125°40'E; destroyer Aulick (DD-569), by shore battery, 11°13'N, 125°02'E.

Seventh Fleet aircraft sink Japanese ships Kosei Maru, Kafuku Maru, Koei Maru, No.8 Kanekichi Maru, No.11 Akita Maru, and No.18 Taigyo Maru at Cebu.

Submarine Narwhal (SS-167) lands men and supplies on southwest coast of Negros, P.I.

Special Air Task Force (STAG 1) operations continue in Southwest Pacific in two flights (one TDR each) conducted this date against Japanese gun positions west of Ballale. In the first, one drone misses its target during its run; in the second, the drone drops part of its ordnance (the two four-100-pound bomb clusters) on the target before it crashes.

Destroyer escort Gilligan (DE-508) bombards Mille Atoll.

USAAF B-24 sinks Japanese weather ship Shonan Maru in northern waters of Makassar Strait.