Air raids on Singapore (1944-1945)

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Air raids on Singapore (1944-1945)
Part of: Pacific War
The Admiralty IX dock was one of the main targets of the 1945 air raids (photo taken March 1941)
The Admiralty IX dock was one of the main targets of the 1945 air raids (photo taken March 1941)
date November 5, 1944 to May 24, 1945
place Singapore and surrounding waters
output tactically undecided
Parties to the conflict

United States 48United States United States United Kingdom
United KingdomUnited Kingdom 

Japanese EmpireJapanese Empire Japan

Troop strength
XX Bomber Command
No. 222 Group RAF 		Fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns
losses

9 bombers destroyed

Damage to docks and oil stores,
at least four ships destroyed and nine damaged

The air raids on Singapore between November 1944 and March 1945 were an Allied Air Forces campaign in the Pacific War against Japan towards the end of World War II . A total of eleven attacks were carried out by long-range bombers of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Most of these attacks were aimed at the naval base there, which was occupied by the armed forces of enemy Japan, and the dock facilities on the island. Occasionally, the bombers also dropped sea mines into the waters surrounding Singapore . After the US bombers had been moved and withdrawn for other operations, the British Royal Air Force continued mine-laying operations until the end of May 1945.

While the attacks on Singapore's port facilities caused considerable damage, other targets could not be destroyed. The destruction of the oil depots near Singapore fell far short of the objectives. The dropping of sea mines could adversely affect shipping traffic around Singapore and resulted in the sinking of three ships and damage to another ten, but at no time did it completely block the access. Among the civilian population of Singapore, the air strikes increased general hope that the attacks were a sign of an impending liberation of the city from Japanese occupation. This was supported by the fact that civilian casualties were relatively low. Most of the civilian casualties were among workers in the Japanese military facilities, as well as in a severe attack that partially hit civilian residential areas, leaving several hundred people homeless.

background

In the decades after the end of the First World War , Great Britain built the facilities of the Singapore Naval Base , the local naval base, in its colony, which was founded in 1819 , in the north of the island as part of its Singapore strategy , which was intended to halt Japanese expansion in the region Dimensions. The resulting facilities were among the most important of their kind in the British Empire and had the King George VI dry dock and the buoyant Admiralty IX dry dock . Commonwealth troops in the Straits Settlements, and as part of them, Singapore were quickly dismantled in the months following the deepening of the Pacific War when the Japanese naval air force attacked US-owned Pearl Harbor. The remaining armed forces on the island surrendered to the Japanese on February 15, 1942. The following occupation of Singapore by Japanese troops also corresponded to the strategic interests of the German Empire, allied with Japan; For example, the military historian Rolf-Dieter Müller emphasizes that in the course of his directive No. 24 of March 5, 1941 , Adolf Hitler called for an early attack by Japan on Singapore, which he regarded as the “most important British fortress in the Far East”. During the Japanese invasion of Malaya and the Battle of Singapore , the city was repeatedly bombed , resulting in civilian casualties. In Singapore, where around 1,250 Chinese had joined the irregular Dalforce , the Japanese government executed more than 30,000 Chinese in March 1942.

The passenger ship RMS Queen Mary in King George VI dry dock , August 1940

The Singapore Naval Base suffered little damage during the air raids and fighting in late 1941 and early 1942, and after the conquest it was the most important base for the Imperial Japanese Navy outside the Japanese main islands. Under British rule, a large number of local civilians worked in the naval base were taken over by the Japanese Navy. This tightened disciplinary measures, which included physical abuse for minor offenses, as well as detention and execution for theft and disclosure of information. Between February and April 1944, the Japanese Navy moved units of the Japanese 2nd and 3rd Fleet from the Central Pacific to Singapore and the waters of the nearby Lingga Islands to be closer to the strategically important oil wells and fuel refineries in the region. These two fleets represented the majority of the remaining Japanese naval forces and had most of the operational battleships and aircraft carriers .

The forces assigned to the air defense of Singapore were comparatively weakly equipped. In early 1945, the air defenses on the island had only two with machine guns equipped army companies and a total of 58 fighter aircraft of the types Nakajima Ki-43 , Kawasaki Ki-45 and Kawasaki Ki-61 , which had to shield surrounding areas but also Singapore. Some of the anti-aircraft guns were manned by Malay auxiliaries. The efficiency of this already inadequate air defense was further reduced by poor coordination between the units of the Army and the Navy and the lack of fire control systems and blocking balloons . The lack of night fighters in the Singapore area made defense against night attacks particularly difficult, and there was also very poor coordination between the units with searchlights and those with anti-aircraft cannons.

As of June 1944, began XX Bomber Command of the USAAF with long-range bombers of type Boeing B-29 from bases at Kharagpur in northeastern British India from attacks on Japanese occupied territory. Although the main task of the Bomber Command was to attack industrial facilities on the main Japanese islands , it is estimated that half of the missions were flown in support of other Allied operations in the Pacific region. The XX Bomber Command was under the command of the Twentieth Air Force , which was directly subordinate to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force General Henry H. Arnold in Washington, DC and was not commanded by officers on site. After Arnold fired the previous commander, he transferred command of XX Bomber Command to Curtis LeMay on August 29 .

As a result of the Japanese defeat in the sea ​​and air battle in the Gulf of Leyte at the end of October 1944, the high command concentrated the remains of the Japanese navy in two groups of ships. The first group returned to bases in the Seto Inland Sea , while the second group called at the Lingga Islands. On October 27, Arnold LeMay reported his suspicion that the Japanese defeat in the Gulf of Leyte could have increased the importance of the Singapore naval base for them, and asked whether the XX Bomber Command could attack targets on the island. At that time, little was known about the situation in Singapore and on October 30th a B-29 flew over the island for photo reconnaissance for the first time, taking good quality images. Despite this success, LeMay's staff believed that a daytime attack on Singapore, which required a 6,400-kilometer flight from Kharagpur, could not be successful. Regardless of these concerns, Arnold ordered that XX Bomber Command attack Singapore.

Attacks

First attack

Position of the B-29 bases on Ceylon and in northeast India as well as the main targets of the bombers there in Southeast Asia

The first air raid on Singapore took place on November 5, 1944. 76 XX Bomber Command B-29 bombers took off from airfields in the Kharagpur area. Due to the great distance from the target, each bomber only carried two 450 kg bombs with it. The instructions for the pilots were that they should drop their bombs from a relatively low altitude of 6,100 meters while maintaining a loose formation. The primary target was the King George VI dry dock , while the secondary target was the Pangkalanbrandan refinery in northern Sumatra .

The first B-29 bombers reached the airspace over the Singapore Naval Base at 6:44 a.m. and dropped their bombs. A bomb from the command plane hit within 15 m of the caisson gate . The bombs of the third plane hit nearby and other planes also scored direct hits, which put the dry dock out of service for three months. The bombs that hit near the dry dock also damaged a 142 m long cargo ship that was in the dock for repairs at the time. According to James Lea Cate, the precision of the hits was rated as good by the leadership of XX Bomber Command . Many civilian workers in and around the dock were unable to escape in time and were killed. The attackers also caused damage to other facilities at the naval base. A total of 53 B-29s bombed Singapore while seven attacked the Pangkalanbrandan refinery. Few Japanese anti-aircraft cannons and fighter planes attacked the incoming bombers, but two were lost in accidents. The attack represented the longest daytime bomber attack ever flown. After the attack, Japanese soldiers murdered a group of injured Indonesian workers. The cause of these murders is unknown. Due to the damage to the King George VI dry dock , it could not be used to repair battleships damaged in the sea and air battles in the Gulf of Leyte.

Later attacks

The next air raid on Singapore did not take place until January 1945. Following reports that Japanese warships damaged during the Battle of the Philippines were being repaired in Singapore, 47 B-29s launched from India to attack both Admiralty IX floating dock in the north and Kings Dock on the island's south coast. These planes took off from their airfields around midnight on January 10 and arrived in airspace over Singapore at 8:20 a.m. Only 27 of the planes attacked the docks but were unable to cause any damage due to strong anti-aircraft fire from warships lying in the Strait of Johor . The remaining bombers attacked Penang in Malaya, Mergui in Burma and a few other exposed targets, but were generally unsuccessful. Two bombers were lost in this attack operation.

In January 1945, the XX Bomber Command began preparing to move to the Mariana Islands . The command stopped its attacks on Japan and East Asia, for which it used bases in China for stopping and refueling, and concentrated on targets in Southeast Asia , which could be reached from Kharagpur. Since there were only a few industrial facilities within range as worthwhile targets, the attack on ships and port facilities in Rangoon , Bangkok , Singapore and other, smaller ports was assigned the highest priority. The attacks were carried out by both conventional bombardment and the dropping of sea mines in the waters around the ports. As part of the relocation, LeMay left Kharagpur for the Mariana Islands on January 18 and was replaced by Brigadier General Roger M. Ramsey .

On February 1st, XX Bomber Command carried out one of the largest conventional bombing attacks on the Singapore fleet base. On that day, 112 B-29 bombers, each equipped with four 450 kg bombs, took off from their bases. The main target of the attack was the Admiralty IX floating dock , which was attacked by 67 of the 88 bombers arriving in Singapore. They sank the floating dock and destroyed the 140 m long ship in it. The other 21 planes bombed the area around the western wall of the base, destroying many buildings and some large port facilities. The headquarters of the base was located in this area. Of the remaining aircraft, 20 deviated from their original course to attack targets in Penang and Martaban . A Japanese fighter was able to destroy a B-29 and another broke on landing after being damaged by the attack by Japanese fighters.

Main targets of USAAF attacks on Singapore.
The map shows the modern coastline of Singapore, not that of the Second World War.

Although XX Bomber Command was already preparing for a new attack on the naval base on February 6, it was canceled on the third of the month by Admiral Louis Mountbatten , Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces in Southeast Asia. Mountbatten ordered that the naval facilities in Singapore and Penang should no longer be attacked, as they were needed for the Allied troops after the liberation of Malaysia and Singapore, which was planned for the course of 1945. After asking for clarification on this order, Ramsey met with Mountbatten in Kandy . At this meeting, Mountbatten gave the XX Bomber Command the task of bombing targets in the vicinity of Kuala Lumpur , while selected areas of Singapore were given the status of secondary targets . These targets included the area around the western wall of the local naval base, oil depots and trading quays, but prohibited attacks on the King George VI dry dock , other docks and areas with large naval facilities. Saigon was given the status of a tertiary destination, while oil stores on islands around Singapore were even set as Quaternary destinations.

The next air strike on Singapore took place on February 24th. That day 116 B-29 bombers took off to bomb the Empire Dock on the southern tip of Singapore. This was a trading dock, and the planners of the XX Bomber Command saw it as the "only remaining worthwhile target without restrictions in this theater of war". The bombers were equipped with incendiary bombs . 105 B-29s reached Singapore and destroyed 39 percent of the warehouses surrounding the dock. Due to the thick smoke that obscured the target, 26 of the bombers dropped their cargo blindly, which led to considerable inaccuracy and, as a result, damage to civilian residential and commercial areas. The Syonan Shimbun newspaper subsequently reported that 396 people had been left homeless as a result of the attack. The USAAF lost a B-29 in the attack, which crashed on the return flight to India due to a lack of fuel.

The oil tanks on Samboe were one of the main targets of the attack of March 12, 1945 (photo from 1936)

The XX Bomber Command attacked Singapore again on March 2nd. Since many of the command's units were being transferred to the Mariana Islands, only 64 bombers could be used. These planes attacked the commercial and warehouse area in the Singapore Naval Base with 230 kg bombs. The 49 B-29s that reached Singapore bombed the area, adding to the damage from previous attacks. However, the effect of the attacks was again limited by strong anti-aircraft fire from Japanese warships. During the attack, two bombers were shot down by flak.

The last two attacks by the XX Bomber Command before the final relocation to the Mariana Islands were aimed at the oil deposits on islands in the area around Singapore. On March 12th, it launched three groups from B-29. The destinations of these groups were the islands of Bukom and Sebarok , just off the coast of Singapore, and the island of Samboe south of Batam . There were no incidents with enemy air defenses or fighter planes during this attack. However, bad weather forced the 44 bombers that reached the target area to blindly drop their bombs, which caused the attack little damage. The last attack took place on the night of March 29-30, when 29 bombers attacked Bukom. In order to train the aircraft crews in attacks from low altitudes, which were used on the main Japanese islands, the B-29 attacked their targets individually at altitudes between 1,500 and 2,100 m. This latest attack destroyed seven of the island's 49 oil tanks and damaged three more with no losses on the USAAF side.

Mining the waters surrounding Singapore

As part of the campaign against enemy shipping, the XX Bomber Command flew mine-laying operations every full moon night from the end of January 1945. On the night of January 25th to 26th, 41 B-29s of the 444th and 468th Bombardment Group laid six minefields on the approach routes to Singapore. On the same night, other B-29s also dropped mines off Saigon and Cam Ranh Bay in the largest such action in the Pacific War to date . On the night of February 27-28, twelve B-29s took off to drop mines in the Strait of Johor. Ten of the planes dropped 55 sea mines in the target area while another dropped its cargo off Penang. During the next full moon phase, 22 B-29s dropped mines near Singapore on the night of March 28-29. No aircraft was lost in these missions.

After the relocation of XX Bomber Command , British No. 222 Group carried out mine-laying operations with their Consolidated B-24 bombers. Operations were suspended on May 24th so as not to jeopardize the planned British landings in Malaya, which were due to take place in September. The Japanese set up observation posts in the Strait of Singapore to discover minefields. However, these proved to be ineffective, and minefields were generally only discovered after a ship hit a mine. Altogether, sea mines dropped from the air sank three ships near Singapore and damaged another ten. In addition, the minefields disrupted Japanese convoy routes and ship repair efforts. However, the Allied mine-laying campaign was too short to produce any decisive results.

consequences

A Royal Air Force driver inspects damage to docks in Singapore caused by Allied bombing, September 1945

The attacks on the naval base in Singapore damaged or destroyed many workshops and prevented the use of the King George VI dry dock by the Japanese between late 1944 and early 1945 and that of the Admiralty IX floating dock from February 1945. In addition, the workers in the docks of the naval base returned for Not going back to work for some time after each attack and had to be motivated with better pay, additional rations and air raid shelters . The damage to the Empire Dock hampered Japanese port work; however, its poor condition also delayed British efforts to rebuild Singapore after the war. The attacks on the oil deposits on the islands near Singapore were less successful and many were found functional by the British after the surrender of Japan .

The Japanese efforts to protect Singapore against air strikes were unsuccessful. Due to the weak state of the air defense, only nine B-29s could be shot down in daytime raids during the American campaign. Mine clearance was also slow and it took about three weeks after every American drop to declare the port mine-free.

The fates of the downed American bomber statutes were different. Some contacted local resistance movements such as the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army , while others were captured by the Japanese and detained in harsh conditions. Those captured by Japanese navy units and detained in the naval base were beheaded. After the war, those responsible in the Seletar war crimes trials were sentenced to death or long imprisonment.

The air strikes boosted the morale of the island's civilian population. They were seen as a sign of Singapore's liberation from oppressive Japanese rule, a hope that civilians generally sought to hide from the Japanese occupation forces. The B-29 bombers were widely regarded as invulnerable and civilians celebrated them for seemingly able to attack the Japanese at will. To counter this view, the occupation authorities exhibited wrecks of shot down B-29s and surviving crew members as well as a film showing the shooting down of a B-29. However, these measures were unsuccessful. The Japanese also failed to turn Singapore's Muslim populations against the attacks that damaged a mosque on January 11 and February 24. The latter coincided with the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed . Another factor which helped civilians to support the attacks was the tactics of mainly attacking military facilities, which resulted in the casualties of a limited number of civilians and the American bombing being considered highly accurate.

Expectations of further attacks caused the prices of food and other consumer goods to rise as residents stocked up. On the part of the Japanese, there were attempts to stop hamsters and excessive price increases, which, however, were largely unsuccessful.

literature

  • Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper: Forgotten Armies: Britain's Asian Empire & the War with Japan. Penguin Books, London 2004, ISBN 0-14-029331-0 .
  • James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. In: Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate: The Army Air Forces in World War II Volume Five. The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki June 1944 to August 1945. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London 1953.
  • John S. Chilstrom: Mines away !: The Significance of US Army Air Forces Minelaying in World War II. In: Air University thesis series. DIANE Publishing, Darby, Pennsylvania 1993, ISBN 1-4289-1533-8 .
  • Katherine V. Dillon (Ed.), Donald M. Goldstein (Ed.), Gordon W. Prange (Ed.), And Ugaki Matome: Fading Victory - The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki, 1941-1945. Translated from the Japanese by Masataka Chihaya. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2008, ISBN 978-1-59114-324-6 .
  • Paul S. Dull: A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2007, ISBN 1-59114-219-9 .
  • Henry Frei: Surrendering Syonan. In: Yōji Akashi and Mako Yoshimura: New Perspectives on the Japanese Occupation in Malaya and Singapore, 1941–1945. National University of Singapore Press, Singapore 2008, ISBN 9971-69-299-6 .
  • WG Huff: The Economic Growth of Singapore: Trade and Development in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1997, ISBN 0-521-62944-6 .
  • Karl Hack and Kevin Blackburn: Did Singapore Have to Fall ?: Churchill and the Impregnable Fortress. Routledge, London 2004, ISBN 0-415-30803-8 .
  • Gerhard Krebs : The War in the Pacific 1943–1945. In: The German Reich and the Second World War . Edited by Military History Research Office . Volume 7: The German Reich on the Defensive - Strategic Air War in Europe, War in the West and in East Asia 1943 to 1944/45. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 2001, pp. 643-771, ISBN 978-3-421-05507-1 .
  • Kai Khiun Liew: Labor Formation, Identity, and Resistance in HM Dockyard, Singapore (1921–1971). In: International Review of Social History. Vol. 51, No. 3, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Netherlands 2006, ISSN  0020-8590 .
  • S. Woodburn Kirby: The War Against Japan Volume IV: The Reconquest of Burma. In: History of the Second World War. United Kingdom Military Series. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1965.
  • Martin Middlebrook and Patrick Mahoney: Battleship: The Sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth 1979, ISBN 0-14-004899-5 .
  • Bernard Millot: The Pacific War. BUR, Montreuil 1967.
  • Rolf-Dieter Müller: The Second World War 1939-1945. In: Wolfgang Benz (Hrsg.): Handbook of German history. Volume 21. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 978-3-608-60021-6 .
  • Keith Park: Air Operations in South East Asia 3rd May 1945 to 12th September 1945. (PDF; 5.9 MB) War Office, London 1946.
  • Norman Polmar: The Enola Gay: The B-29 that Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC 2004, ISBN 1-57488-859-5 .
  • Royal Navy (ed.): War with Japan . Vol. IV: The South-East Asia Operations and Central Pacific Advance. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1995, ISBN 0-11-772820-9 .
  • Royal Navy (ed.): War with Japan. Volume V The Blockade of Japan. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1995, ISBN 0-11-772820-9 .
  • Royal Navy (ed.): War with Japan. Vol. VI: Advance to Japan. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1995, ISBN 0-11-772821-7 .
  • Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky." The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944–1945. In: The Journal of Military History. Vol. 73, No. 3, Society for Military History, 2009.
  • Herman S. Wolf: Cataclysm: General Hap Arnold and the Defeat of Japan. University of North Texas Press, Denton 2010, ISBN 1-57441-281-7 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944–1945. 2009, pp. 908-909.
  2. ↑ Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper: Forgotten Armies: Britain's Asian Empire & the war with Japan. 2004, p. 106.
  3. ^ Karl Hack and Kevin Blackburn: Did Singapore Have to Fall ?: Churchill and the Impregnable Fortress. 2004, pp. 22-23.
  4. ↑ Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944–1945. 2009, p. 909.
  5. ^ Rolf-Dieter Müller: The Second World War 1939-1945 . 2004, p. 99.
  6. ↑ Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper: Forgotten Armies: Britain's Asian Empire & the war with Japan. Penguin Books 2004, pp. 117, 136–137 and 139.
  7. ^ Karl Hack, Kevin Blackburn: Japanese-occupied Asia from 1941 to 1945: one occupier, many captivities and memories , in: Karl Hack, Kevin Blackburn (eds.): Forgotten Captives in Japanese-Occupied Asia , Routledge, New York 2008, P. 1–20, here: P. 10.
  8. ↑ a b c d e James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. 1953, p. 156.
  9. ↑ Kai Khiun Liew: Labor Formation, Identity, and Resistance in HM Dockyard, Singapore (1921–1971) 2006, p. 429.
  10. ^ Royal Navy: War with Japan . Vol. IV: The South-East Asia Operations and Central Pacific Advance. 1995, pp. 85-87.
  11. ^ Bernard Millot: The Pacific War. 1967, p. 952.
  12. ↑ Katherine V. Dillon et al. (Ed.): Fading Victory - The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki, 1941-1945. 2008.
  13. ↑ Henry Free: Surrendering Syonan. 2008, p. 220.
  14. ↑ a b c Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944-1945. 2009, p. 915.
  15. ↑ a b c d Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky". The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944-1945. 2009, p. 914.
  16. ^ Norman Polmar: The Enola Gay: The B-29 That Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. 2004, p. 6.
  17. ^ Herman S. Wolk: Cataclysm: General Hap Arnold and the Defeat of Japan. University of North Texas Press 2010, pp. 97-98.
  18. ^ Herman S. Wolk: Cataclysm: General Hap Arnold and the Defeat of Japan. University of North Texas Press 2010, pp. 99-100.
  19. ↑ James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. 1953, pp. 103 and 115.
  20. ^ Paul S. Dull: A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945.
  21. ↑ a b Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944-1945. 2009, p. 917.
  22. ↑ Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944–1945. 2009, pp. 905-906.
  23. ^ Royal Navy: War with Japan. Volume VI Advance to Japan. 1995, p. 127.
  24. ↑ James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. 1953, p. 157.
  25. ^ WG Huff: The Economic Growth of Singapore: Trade and Development in the Twentieth Century. 1997, pp. 245-246.
  26. ↑ James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. 1953, pp. 157-158.
  27. ↑ a b James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. 1953, p. 160.
  28. ^ Martin Middlebrook and Patrick Mahoney: Battleship: The Sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse. 1979, p. 58.
  29. ^ S. Woodburn Kirby: The War Against Japan Volume IV: The Reconquest of Burma. 1965, p. 405.
  30. ↑ James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. 1953, pp. 160-161.
  31. ↑ James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. 1953, pp. 162-163.
  32. ↑ Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944–1945. 2009, pp. 921-923.
  33. ↑ James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. 1953, p. 162.
  34. ↑ a b James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. 1953, p. 163.
  35. ↑ James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. 1953, p. 158.
  36. ↑ John S. Chilstrom: Mines away !. The Significance of US Army Air Forces Minelaying in World War II. 1993, p. 14.
  37. ↑ a b James Lea Cate: The Twentieth Air Force and Matterhorn. 1953, p. 159.
  38. ^ S. Woodburn Kirby: The War Against Japan Volume IV: The Reconquest of Burma. 1965, p. 214.
  39. ^ Royal Navy: War with Japan. Volume V The Blockade of Japan. 1995, pp. 45-46.
  40. ↑ Keith Park: Air Operations in South East Asia 3rd May 1945 to 12th September 1945. 1946, p. 2148.
  41. ↑ a b Royal Navy: War with Japan. Volume V The Blockade of Japan. 1995, p. 56.
  42. ↑ Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944–1945. 2009, pp. 912-913.
  43. ↑ Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944–1945. 2009, pp. 913-1914.
  44. ↑ Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944–1945. 2009, p. 910.
  45. ↑ Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944–1945. 2009, pp. 919-920.
  46. ↑ Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944–1945. 2009, pp. 920-921, 923.
  47. ↑ Boon Kwan Toh: "It was a thrill to see rows of B-29s going through the sky" The American Strategic Bombing of Singapore, 1944–1945. 2009, p. 918.
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