Operation MIKE SIX Continues

WED 31 JAN 1945
Pacific
TG 78.2 (Rear Admiral William M. Fechteler) lands Army troops (two RCTs of the 11th Airborne Division) at Nasugbu, south of the entrance to Manila Bay in Operation MIKE SIX; TG 77.4 (Rear Admiral William D. Sample) provides cover. A third RCT of the 11th Airborne is airdropped at Tagtaytay Ridge, 14 miles inland and the three RCTs link up on 3 February. This operation, designed to outflank the enemy forces defending Manila, meets little resistance at the outset; Japanese assault demolition boats attack the screen, however, and sink submarine chaser PC-1129, the flagship for the control unit, TU 78.2.7, 14°05'N, 120°30'E.

Submarine Boarfish (SS-327) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Enki Maru 50 miles southeast of Tourane, French Indochina, 14°55'N, 109°01'E, and damages cargo ship Taietsu Maru, which is run aground (see 1 February) 14°56'N, 109°00'E.

Submarine Pargo (SS-264) damages Japanese escort vessel Manju, 11°51'N, 109°12'E.

Submarine Spadefish (SS-411) unsuccessfully attacks Japanese ship Nanshin Maru in Yellow Sea west of Ch'uja Kundo, Korea, 34°14'N, 122°36'E.

Motor torpedo boat PT-338 irreparably damaged by grounding (see 27 January) is destroyed by demolition squad off Semimara Island Luzon, 12°06'N, 121°23'E.

USAAF B-25s (Far Eastern Air Force) sink Japanese escort destroyer Ume and damage destroyer Shiokaze and escort destroyer Kaede west of Takao, Formosa, 22°30'N, 12°00'E.

Japanese small cargo vessel No.4 Kiri Maru is sunk by mine off Cape Tavoy, Burma, 13°32'N, 98°10'E.

Another month nearer the end!