Second Battle of truck age home
in mid February 1944 aircraft from USS
Enterprise and her sister carriers
devastated the most heavily fortified
Japanese naval outpost in the Pacific
truck Atoll
thousands of tons of shipping sunk
dozens of bombers destroyed on the
ground
but just ten weeks after this hammering
of the Japanese outpost new aerial
reconnaissance photos have revealed a
worrisome development the Japanese have
repaired much of the damage from the
attack and have refortified Atoll as a
bomber base the Japanese must not be
allowed an airbase from which they can
disrupt the American island hopping
efforts and in the pre-dawn hours of
April 29th 1944 USS enterprise and her
fellow carriers are back in the waters
off truck atoll to pummel the vexing
outpost once again
the aerial reconnaissance photos make
clear the truck atoll has again become a
formidable defensive Bastion the
Japanese have added many new
anti-aircraft gun emplacements some
radar control a technology that makes
the weapons much more accurate
will again be a perilous job for
enterprise bombers to approach the atoll
to take out the new airfields once again
this morning's attack leads off with a
sweep of the skies by Hellcat fighters
the fighters launch in the pre-dawn dark
is to clear the way for the Bombers to
follow with the fighters on their way
toward the target dive bombers and
torpedo bombers begin launching from
enterprise and other task force carriers
many miles out ahead of the Bombers
the Hellcat fighters cross trucks
Barrier Reef and prepare to meet a storm
of angry Japanese zeros Enterprise Task
Force bombers spend the rest of the day
streaking into the lagoon to pummel Park
playing as angers and bombers drifts on
the pile
the Bombers also pay special attention
to any aircraft batteries on Moen
exploding gun emplacements and
occasionally sending long metal barrels
hurtling Skyway
japanese hideout has proven to be a
deeper type the assault on truck has
decimated a vast and irreplaceable
quantity of Japanese shipping and bomber
aircraft in the Central Pacific
three light cruisers four destroyers
three patrol craft and some 36 merchant
ships and accelerants
they left a lot of ships there and I'm
glad to report we got them all
the Japanese have also suffered the loss
of some 270 aircraft and fighters and
bombers hundreds of Japanese soldiers
sailors and air crewmen are dead and the
loss of support facilities and airfield
in distress
Enterprise is responsible for 1/3 of the
enemy's total loss
American forces on the other hand have
suffered one aircraft carrier damaged 25
aircraft downed and 40 air crewmen and
sailors killed for the stunned Japanese
truck will be of no further use for the
rest of the war when the reports first
filtered back to Imperial naval
headquarters that they had lost two
hundred and twenty thousand tons of
shipping 1 Imperial naval diarist said
that the shock was beyond comprehension
it was truly devastating event
you