Attack on Dagua

While last week was "Semana de Anniversario" what with 3 of the 6 members of my immediate family celebrating birthdays, this past weekend served as the actual celebration of said occasions.  Little Juvat and Little Juvat's Wife (LJW appears to be her blogging sobriquet now) managed to visit Normandy and view some of the ceremonies being held there.  Pictures to follow, however, not just yet.  They were returning to the sandbox this weekend and rescuing their pup from durance vile.

So...soon.

Saturday, we're looking for something to fill our time until BD Cake and presents time (yes...in many ways...I'm still about 8 years old.) so we decided that we would visit the Nimitz.  Unbeknownst to me, Mrs J, MBD and SIL had never visited.

Well....That's just No bueno!

I think it was my fifth or sixth visit, and I still find something new or a fact I knew nothing about.  For instance, there was an exhibit that had casualty figures for all countries involved in WWII.  The exhibit included both military and civilian.  According to that display, China suffered between 13 and 18 million civilian deaths.  One of our commenters had mentioned that China had lost an extremely large number, but I had no idea that it was that high.

Another exhibit that expanded my knowledge dealt with the Japanese Civilian population.  I had known about the Japanese Military Police, the Kenpeitai, but did not realize they also had a civilian version, the Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu, generally referred to as the "Tokko" or thought police.  In the Olympics of Evil, these organizations gave the NKVD and the Gestapo a run for their money.  My takeaway is the more a government moves towards using these type organizations, the less free that society is.

Take from that what you will.

One of the last displays as you approach the exit is a listing of all the names of Medal of Honor recipients from WWII.  There were 464 of which 266 were posthumous.  As I read through the list, I noticed a couple that I hadn't reported on as yet.  So rectifying that, a bit, will be today's post.

Today's post will be about Major Ralph Cheli.  He's of Italian descent, so his last name is pronounced "Kelly".

Source

Major Cheli enlisted in the US Army Air Corps in early 1940, was commissioned and went to Pilot training.  Upon completion, he was assigned to B-17s and gained experience flying Naval reconnaissance missions in the Atlantic and Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.   In June of 1942, now Captain Cheli is transferred to B-25s and became the Operations Officer of the 405th Bomb Squadron.  In November of '42, he leads the squadron in the first deployment of B-25s to the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations.

I did a little googling on that one.  According to this source, the B-25 had a max ferry range of ~4300 Km or ~2672 miles.  Leading a squadron, will reduce that range as the other airplanes adjust throttles to maintain formation.  According to Google Earth , It's about 2100 miles from Hamilton AFB CA to Hickam AFB HI.  That doesn't leave much room for error.

Yellow line is direct Hamilton to Brisbane and ~6250NM.  But traverses Japanese held airspace. The red line is their probable course

Looking closer at Google Earth, I think they probably went Hickam to Palmyra Atoll (945 NM), Palmyra to Samoa (1331 NM), Samoa to Fiji (620 NM), Fiji to New Caledonia (703 NM) and New Caledonia to Brisbane (794 NM).  All at 250K.

Given the navigation systems of today, that doesn't sound that hard, but back then, it was heading and airspeed until, hopefully, you got close enough to the next airfield to pick up a radio signal.  Arrival was not a foregone conclusion.  However, they did manage to arrive successfully.

The squadron further deployes to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea where, now Major Cheli, assumes command of the squadron on the death of the squadron commander.

Employment of B-25s at that time involved medium altitude attacks from altitudes in the 10-15K range.  Unfortunately a combination of terrain, jungle and weather seriously reduced the effectiveness of these attacks.  Weather usually involved low ceilings and strong winds, while the jungle made detection of targets on land difficult and steep terrain and low ceilings is a recipe for disaster.

So, the squadron was retargeted to interdicting shipping.  While this helped with the weather, dropping bombs from medium altitude against moving and maneuvering ships still resulted in poor results.

Once again, tactics were reviewed and new ones developed.  At this point Major Cheli's squadron trained and employed skip-bombing.  Much like skipping a stone across a pond, this involved coming at the target at ultra-low altitude just above the water.  They would release the bomb and pull up.  The bomb would hit the water and skip to the target.

This turned out to be a fairly effective, if dangerous, tactic.  The number of Bombs actually hitting the target went up significantly.  However, so did losses.

The black flecks in and around the middle explosion are pieces of a B-25 that flew into the frag pattern of the preceding attacker. Source

Flying that low definitely reduces the time available for the target to react, but it also reduces the attacker's ability to maneuver and defend itself.  One of the changes that was made was to add fixed machine guns to the noses of the B-25s.  Some bombers were modified with up to 8 x 50 caliber machine guns. This proved to be somewhat effective in reducing the threat from the target.  However, the other threat was the Enemy's Defensive Counter Air.

On Aug 16 1943, Major Cheli is leading a strike of 28 B-25s  against Dagua Air Field.  The field is under a low ceiling as the strike force arrives.  They will attack in formation so as to reduce reaction time for the Japanese.  Unbeknownst to them, 10-15 Nakajima Oscar fighters are orbiting in the clouds overhead.

Source

As the B-25s approach, they are vectored out of the clouds and proceed to attack.  Major Cheli's B-25 is hit in the right engine which catches fire.  Major Cheli continues the attack and drops his bombs on the airfield.  At this point the fire has spread to the wing (fuel tanks) and the cockpit.  He has enough speed from the attack that he could climb high enough to bail out, however because of the low ceiling, the formation would be disrupted if he did that.  He elects to belly the bomber in.

Source

For continuing the attack despite the danger, Major Cheli is awarded the Medal of Honor.

Now...here's where the story get's hinky.  It's originally believed that Maj Cheli and his crew were killed on impact.  However, later information is acquired that says they survived and were captured by the Japanese.  They were then transferred to a POW Camp on Rabaul.

According to the Air Force Magazine posting about Major Cheli dating 1988 and again by AF.Mil in 2014, Major Cheli  died on March 6 1944 when the POW Transport Ship taking them to Mainland Japan was sunk by American Forces.  However,  other sources state Major Cheli was executed by the Kenpeitai in what became known as the Talili Bay Massacre and buried on Rabaul.  Remains were recovered from a mass grave for 22 Americans and 8 Australians executed in that massacre.  Forensic evidence was sufficient to identify the remains enough to inter them at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St Louis.

So...Why the different versions of his demise? I have no idea.

Major Cheli's Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy. While Maj. Cheli was leading his squadron in a dive to attack the heavily defended Dagua Airdrome, intercepting enemy aircraft centered their fire on his plane, causing it to burst into flames while still 2 miles from the objective.

His speed would have enabled him to gain necessary altitude to parachute to safety, but this action would have resulted in his formation becoming disorganized and exposed to the enemy.

Although a crash was inevitable, he courageously elected to continue leading the attack in his blazing plane. From a minimum altitude, the squadron made a devastating bombing and strafing attack on the target.

The mission completed, Maj. Cheli instructed his wingman to lead the formation and crashed into the sea.

Rest in Peace, Warrior!