Operation PLUM: The Ill-fated 27th Bombardment Group and the Fight for the Western PacificThey went in as confident young warriors. They came out as battle-scarred veterans, POW camp survivors . . . or worse. The Army Air Corps’ 27th Bombardment Group arrived in the Philippines in November 1941 with 1,209 men; one year later, only 20 returned to the United States. The Japanese attacked the Philippines on the same morning as Pearl Harbor and invaded soon after. Allied air routes back to the Philippines were soon cut, forcing pilots to fight their air war from bases in Java, Australia, and New Guinea. The men on Bataan were eventually taken prisoner and forced into the infamous Death March. The 27th and other such units were pivotal in delaying the Japanese timetable for conquest. If not for these units, some have suggested, the Allied offensive in the Pacific might have started in Hawaii or even California instead of New Guinea and the surrounding islands. Based largely on primary materials, including a fifty-nine-page report written by the surviving unit members in September 1942, Operation PLUM (from the code name for the U.S. Army in the Philippines) gives an account of the 27th Bombardment Group and, through it, the opening months of the Pacific theater. Military historians and readers interested in World War II will appreciate the rich perspective presented in Operation PLUM |
Contents
1 Nearing the Brink of World Confl ict | 1 |
2 This Rumor Has Gone Too Far | 24 |
3 War Begins | 51 |
4 Fighting on Bataan | 79 |
5 Escape to Java | 110 |
6 March and Command Changes | 145 |
7 Royces RaidOvershadowed by Doolittle | 174 |
8 No Mama No Papa No Uncle Sam | 196 |
12 When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again | 287 |
Epilogue Lesson Learned | 294 |
Appendix 1 | 297 |
Appendix 2 | 298 |
Appendix 3 | 302 |
Appendix 4 | 304 |
Appendix 5 | 311 |
Notes | 317 |
9 Air Missions over the Coral Sea and Beyond | 210 |
10 The Changing Tides of War | 231 |
11 POW Camps and Hell Ships | 265 |
| 337 | |
| 349 | |
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Common terms and phrases
16th Squadron 1st Lt 27th Bombardment Group 27th pilots 27th Reports 2nd Lt 3rd Bomb Group 3rd Bombardment Group Air Force aircraft airfield airplanes Allied American April Army Air Corps arrived attack Australia Bartsch Bataan Bataan Field Batchelor Field Bender boat Brereton Brisbane camp Capt Charters Towers coast colonel command convoy Coral Sea Corregidor crew Darwin Davies Death March December dive bombers Dutch East enemy engine fighters Filipino flew flight flown flying Guinea Gunn headquarters Hipps Hochman Hubbard Ibid island Japan Japanese Japs Java Kenney landed Lankford later lieutenant Luzon MacArthur machine guns Mangan Manila Bay McAfee miles military Mindanao mission Monte Mount Bartle Frere naval Nichols Field O’Donnell officer Pacific Pearl Harbor Philippines planes Port Moresby POWs prisoners Rabaul raid recalled returned runway sent ships soldiers Stephenson surrender troops trucks U.S. Army U.S. Army Air U.S. Navy United Wainwright Zeros