TUESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 1944
AMERICAN ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): On Paramushiru, three B-24s
bomb Kashiwabara and Kurabu Cape; 4 B-25s weather-abort a photo mission. Two others on a shipping sweep off Kurabu hit a freighter, which is observed
listing and smoking, and strafe 2 subchasers.
(CBI) : The CBI Theater is split
into 2 theaters, China and India-Burma.
CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): About 80 P-40s, P-51s, and P-38s on armed
reconnaissance over SE China, SW China, and E Burma hit runways, storage facilities,
town areas, troops, horses, gun positions, and other targets of opportunity
around Amoy, Lohochai, Tanchuk, Sinthe, Menghsu, Pingnam, Mangshih and Chefang,
and Lashio, Burma. HQ Fourteenth AF is reassigned from US Army Forces, CBI Theater
to US Forces, China Theater.
INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma from 24 Oct through 27 Oct,
fighter-bombers and B-25s steadily support Allied troops on the N Burma front,
pounding road and rail communications, troop concentrations and supply dumps,
and sweeping airfields; the strikes include close support of British troops
advancing on the right flank of the front known as the "Rail Corridor," and
of Chinese forces pushing down the left flank along the Myitkyina-Bhamo road.
PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA) AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): B-24s from Guam bomb Yap while P-47s from Saipan hit Pagan.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-24s bomb Buayoan
Airfield on Mindanao while
B-25s on armed reconnaissance hit small shipping and troops. B-24s, B-25s,
and fighter-bombers hit the Sandakan on Borneo. Lost is B-24J Liberator 44-40947 (MIA). P-38s bomb Amboina reservoir
areas. A-20s and fighter-bombers again pound Babo, Moemi, Sagan, Manokwari, Otawiri, and other Vogelkop Peninsula area targets.
The following units move from New Guinea to Leyte : HQ 85th Fighter Wing
from Hollandia; HQ 49th Fighter Group, 7th Fighter Squadron and 9th Fighter Squadron from Biak to Tacloban with
P-38s. The 72d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 5th Bombardment Group (Heavy),
moves from Noemfoor to Morotai (Pitu) with
B-24s.
USN: The Battle of Leyte Gulf begins with the U.S. 3rd Fleet steams north in pursuit of a Japanese decoy squadron
allowing other Japanese ships to attack US forces on Leyte.
USS Shark (SS-314) torpedoes Arisan Maru a "Hell Ship" with 1,782 American Prisoners of War (POW) and about 100 civilians detained in the cargo holds. The entire crew except for nine of the Prisoners of War (POW) aboard died in the sinking. The sinking was the largest loss of American lives in a single disaster at sea.
