Piercing the Fog - Air Force Historical Studies Office

Piercing the Fog
at the fields there and parking them in the unprotected open, even closely
together. For good measure, on the 18th and 19th of March, Allied airmen
destroyed most of a convoy bound from Hollandia to Wewak.”
On the morning of March 30th the air offensive against Hollandia,
preparatory to Allied seizure of the area, began. The first waves of heavy
bombers took out the newly emplaced and rather threatening AA gun positions
surrounding the Hollandia airfields. Photoanalysis had just recently revealed the
presence of the guns, and Kenney promptly made them first priority. Next to be
hit were the fuel storage areas and parked aircraft. Poststrike aerial photography
showed 11 8 aircraft destroyed or badly damaged on the first day. By the end of
the second day of heavy attacks, the score had risen to 21 9. At the same time,
Kenney received ULTRA information that the Japanese had already begun
moving replacements toward Hollandia. Previously arranged carrier-based air
attacks by Nimitz’s fleet on Palau, Yap, Ulithi, and Woleai, plus Thirteenth Air
Task Force B-24 bombardment of Woleai, restrained some of the flow of
aircraft by forcing the Japanese to hold many air units in either the NEI or the
Philippines, ready to ward off a possible major thrust in the Central Pacific.
Allied Air Forces Y-Service monitoring Japanese transmissions from the
Hollandia area learned that on March 30 the base had just 18 minutes’ warning
of the approaching raid, allowing commanders to send 40 interceptors into the
air. The defending aircraft appeared disorganized. On the second day, warning
increased to 70 minutes. Despite the added time, only 30 fighters rose to
282
Maj. Gen. Victor Bertrandais