Word: mindoro
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...Shadows Before. Still Kenney's air forces needed more fields from which to fly off these great strikes and the still greater strikes which would be needed when the battle of Luzon was fully joined. And it was essential that existing fields on Mindoro be fully protected against Jap counterattack, whether by land, sea or air. So convoys were formed up at Leyte and dispatched through the Mindanao Sea, with air cover provided by accompanying escort carriers...
These convoys sailed into the Tablas Strait, east of Mindoro, and Mindoro Strait, to the west. They disgorged their troops on undefended beaches, one north of the original landings around San José, the other on the opposite coast. In two days, the western force drove to the north end of Mindoro and took Paluan town against slight resistance...
Unnerved Gunnery. Stevens retired beyond ack-ack range and hung around to plot the Japs' course for the Mitchell medium bombers and Thunderbolt fighters then taking off from Mindoro. At 7 p.m. the air-sea battle was on. U.S. air attacks spoiled the Japs' gunnery and left them with no stomach for slow bombardment runs which might have inflicted serious damage on Mindoro installations. Instead, while being chivvied from the air, the Japs steamed up & down the coast, taking pot shots as they went, doing negligible damage ashore...
...boats darted out from Mindoro to join the battle, but had to be recalled because U.S. planes were attacking them, mistaking them for Japs in the fitful moonlight. The Mitchells sank the lead Jap destroyer, then the next, finally a third. The cruiser had been damaged. By 1:30 a.m. the enemy ships made a 180° turn and ran back, trailing oil, to the South China...
Last week, a big U.S. convoy (the Jap said 30 transports and 20 escorting cruisers and destroyers) ploughed through three days of enemy air attacks in the Mindanao and Sulu Seas. At first the jittery Japs feared it might be headed for Luzon, but the convoy put in at Mindoro. The buildup was proceeding along with the attrition. Soon enough Luzon would be the target for other convoys...