Between 1944 and 1945, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) conducted bombing and mining missions against Japanese-occupiedPenang. Carried out by long-range bombers based in India, the raids aimed to disrupt maritime shipping in the northern Strait of Malacca and the use of Penang's harbour as an Axis submarine base. While these Allied aerial missions effectively disrupted Japanese military logistics in the region, they also resulted in considerable damage to the urban landscape of George Town, Penang's capital city.
In November 1944, the RAF's Strategic Air Force, based in India, was reconstituted to full operational strength with the return of the Seventh Bombardment Group and several squadrons equipped with Consolidated B-24 Liberators. The operations of the Strategic Air Force were subsequently expanded to include strategic bombing and minelaying missions in Burma, Thailand and Malaya.[1]
The British aimed to disrupt maritime traffic around the northern Strait of Malacca and prevent Axis submarine squadrons from utilising Swettenham Pier in Penang's capital, George Town. Following the Japanese seizure of Penang on 19 December 1941, the pier was designated as a base for the 8th Submarine Squadron, which also facilitated long-range patrols of German and Italian submarines. However, the vast distances posed challenges, leading to increased attrition among German submarines, which were operating at the limits of their propulsion systems. In response to Allied mining sorties in the approaches to Penang, German submarines in Southeast Asia were withdrawn to Jakarta by October 1944.[2]
British strategic bomber forces in India were strengthened by the USAAF's XX Bomber Command, which had been established in 1943. The first Boeing B-29 Superfortresses arrived in India in April 1944. Although XX Bomber Command was primarily tasked with Operation Matterhorn, it also provided support to the Southeast Asian theatre on occasion.[3] Industrial targets within range of the B-29 bombers stationed at Kharagpur were limited. A committee responsible for target selection in Southeast Asia suggested attacking naval installations and shipping, including George Town on account of its role as "Malaya's second harbour".[4] In January 1945, Major General Curtis LeMay was reassigned to the Marianas and Brigadier General Roger M. Ramey assumed command of the XX Bomber Command. Under Ramey's leadership, from January to March 1945, the command increasingly redirected its operations toward targets in Southeast Asia.[3]
Approximate targets of the Allied raids on Penang between 1944 and 1945 (Note: This map depicts Penang's modern coastline, not the World War II-era coastline.)
Fifteen Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the RAF's No. 159 Squadron flew from Digri to the USAAFXX Bomber Command base at Kharagpur. Upon arrival, the aircraft were loaded with 60 mines, each weighing 1,000lb (450kg).[2] The bombers subsequently undertook a 20-hour, 3,000mi (4,800km) round trip to Penang, where the mines were deployed at the approaches of Penang's harbour "precisely in the positions ordered".[1][2] No opposition was encountered and all but two aircraft returned to Digri. The two remaining bombers were forced to land in Chittagong due to malfunctioning fuel gauges.[2]
Although British intelligence had been unable to ascertain the location of the submarine base, the mission was deemed "exceedingly praiseworthy and successful".[2] An Air Command Southeast Asia (ACSEA) historian remarked that, "the mining operations were on a comparatively small scale but they paid dividends far in excess of what might have been expected from the effort involved". The mission effectively disrupted Japanese maritime supply routes supporting their forces fighting in Burma.[5] In response to this emerging threat of long-range bombardment, the Imperial Japanese Navy ordered the deployment of 30 Type 3 ordnance radars and a minesweeper.[2]
More than 70 B-29 bombers from the XX Bomber Command conducted minelaying operations at several locations, including the approaches to Singapore, Penang, Saigon, Cam Ranh Bay, Kraburi River, Ko Sichang and Phan Rang.[6] The Admiralty reported that 16 tons (16,000kg) of explosives were deployed around George Town. Signals intelligence indicated that on three occasions in January, Japanese radar systems in Penang did not detect incoming B-29 bombers. This led the Japanese to speculate that "some anti-radar measures" were being utilised.[2]
1 February 1945
Twenty one B-29 bombers from the XX Bomber Command struck Martaban and George Town.[6] Commercial buildings along George Town's harbour were hit, along with the Penang library, which was looted afterward and lost over half of its archives.[2] By the following day, George Town was largely deserted and Japanese administrators announced that residents wishing to leave the city could do so.[7]
27 February 1945
A single B-29 bomber carried out minelaying operations over the Penang Strait.[4]
Reconnaisance missions
Between February and March 1945, the Royal Navy launched Operation Stacey to gather intelligence for the planned reconquest of Malaya. Over a period of 10 days, Grumman F6F Hellcats from the escort carriersHMS Empress and HMS Ameer conducted aerial reconnaissance over the Kra Isthmus and Penang. The operation aimed to probe Japanese anti-aircraft defences and to obtain photographic documentation of the areas.[2]
Following Japan's surrender, on 20 August, a De Havilland Mosquito carried out aerial reconnaissance of Penang and Taiping, departing from the Cocos Islands. The mission involved a 2,600mi (4,200km) round trip which lasted nine hours and five minutes.[9]
Aftermath
A section of the Government Offices survived the Allied bombardments and is now occupied by the Penang Islamic Department.
After the air raid on 1 February, Lord Mountbatten directed a halt to aerial bombardments targeting naval installations in Penang and Singapore. Penang was identified as a strategic access point and seaport, which Mountbatten aimed to preserve to support future British amphibious operations.[2][4]
The Allied air raids effectively disrupted Japanese logistics around Penang, but also resulted in "considerable damage" to George Town's urban landscape.[2] Several colonial-era landmarks were either damaged or destroyed, including the old HSBC Building, St. Xavier's Institution, the Cenotaph and the Penang Museum.[10] A survey in 1946 by the George Town Municipal Council (predecessor to the present-day Penang Island City Council) revealed that the destruction caused by Allied high-explosive bombing was more extensive than that from the Japanese air raids in 1941, with Allied bombers rupturing water mains at a rate approximately ten times greater.[2] In 1947, Resident Commissioner (predecessor to the present-day Governor position) Sydney Noel King proposed a revamp of urban planning due to the "considerable war damage" in the city.[12] The present-day HSBC Building was one of the first to be reconstructed in the post-war period, leading to a gradual vertical development of George Town's cityscape.[13][14]
Prior to the outbreak of the Pacific War, the U-shaped Government Offices had functioned as the administrative centre of Penang. Allied aerial bombardments destroyed much of the complex, leaving only a section intact.[10] After the war, the returning British were forced to use the surrounding commercial buildings for administrative purposes. The dispersed governmental offices caused inefficiencies in the post-war administration of Penang, which were not addressed until the completion of the Tuanku Syed Putra Building as the new seat of government in 1962.[15]
1 2 3 Langdon, Marcus (2014). A Guide to George Town's Historic Commercial and Civic Precincts. George Town: George Town World Heritage Incorporated. p.34.
The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces Strategic – Global Strike, one of the air components of United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). The Eighth Air Force includes the heart of America's heavy bomber force: the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the Rockwell B-1 Lancer supersonic bomber, and the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bomber aircraft.
World War II (1939–1945) involved sustained strategic bombing of railways, harbours, cities, workers' and civilian housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory. Strategic bombing as a military strategy is distinct both from close air support of ground forces and from tactical air power. During World War II, many military strategists of air power believed that air forces could win major victories by attacking industrial and political infrastructure, rather than purely military targets. Strategic bombing often involved bombing areas inhabited by civilians, and some campaigns were deliberately designed to target civilian populations in order to terrorize them and disrupt their usual activities. International law at the outset of World War II did not specifically forbid the aerial bombardment of cities – despite the prior occurrence of such bombing during World War I (1914–1918), the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).
Operation Starvation was a naval mining operation conducted in World War II by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) to disrupt Japanese shipping.
Battle Honours are awarded by the Sovereign to Royal Air Force squadrons to commemorate the squadron's role in a particular operation.
The Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (20th AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.
Malaya, then under British administration, was gradually occupied by Japanese forces between 8 December 1941 and the Allied surrender at Singapore on 15 February 1942. The Japanese remained in occupation until their surrender to the Allies in 1945. The first Japanese garrison in Malaya to lay down their arms was in Penang on 2 September 1945 aboard HMS Nelson.
The 58th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Air Defense Command, based at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. It was inactivated on 1 February 1959.
The 468th Bombardment Group was a World War II United States Army Air Forces combat organization. The unit served primarily in the Pacific Ocean theater and China Burma India Theater of World War II as part of Twentieth Air Force. The 468th Bomb Group's aircraft engaged in very heavy bombardment Boeing B-29 Superfortress operations against Japan. After its reassignment to the Mariana Islands in 1945, its aircraft were identified by a "I" and a triangle painted on the tail. It was inactivated on 31 March 1946.
The Gruppe Monsun or Monsoon Group was a force of German U-boats (submarines) that operated in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during World War II. Although similar naming conventions were used for temporary groupings of submarines in the Atlantic, the longer duration of Indian Ocean patrols caused the name to be permanently associated with the relatively small number of U-boats operating out of Penang. After 1944, the U-boats of the Monsun Gruppe were operationally placed under the authority of the Southeast Asia U-boat Region.
Dudhkundi Airfield is an abandoned airfield in India, located 12 miles (19.2 km) SE of Jhargram, in the Jhargram district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Piardoba Airfield is an abandoned airfield in India, located 6.6 miles (10.7 km) S of Bishnupur, West Bengal, Bankura District in the state of West Bengal, India.
No. 205 Group was a long-range, heavy bomber group of the Royal Air Force (RAF) established on 23 October 1941 by boosting No. 257 Wing to Group status.
The Bombing of Singapore (1944–1945) was a military campaign conducted by the Allied air forces during World War II. United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) long-range bomber units conducted 11 air raids on Japanese-occupied Singapore between November 1944 and March 1945. Most of these raids targeted the island's naval base and dockyard facilities, and minelaying missions were conducted in nearby waters. After the American bombers were redeployed, the British Royal Air Force assumed responsibility for minelaying operations near Singapore and these continued until 24 May 1945.
The city of Bangkok, Thailand was bombed by the Allies on numerous occasions during World War II. It was also the target for the first combat mission by Boeing B-29 Superfortresses in June 1944.
The 8th Submarine Squadron of the Imperial Japanese Navy was based at Swettenham Pier, Penang, Malaya, until late 1944 during World War II. Its mission was to disrupt Allied supply lines in aid of Nazi Germany.
The Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command was formed in the fall of 1942 to establish a single command to control antisubmarine warfare (ASW) activities of the Army Air Forces (AAF). It was formed from the resources of I Bomber Command, which had been carrying out the antisubmarine mission in the Atlantic and Caribbean since the Attack on Pearl Harbor due to the lack of long range Naval aviation in that area.
Operation Jurist referred to the British recapture of Penang following Japan's surrender in 1945. Jurist was launched as part of Operation Zipper, the overall British plan to liberate Malaya, including Singapore.
Operation Boomerang was a partially successful air raid by the United States Army Air Forces' (USAAF) XX Bomber Command against oil refining facilities in Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies during World War II. The attack took place on the night of 10/11 August 1944 and involved attempts to bomb an oil refinery at Palembang and lay mines to interdict the Musi River.
United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers made two air raids on railway facilities in Japanese-occupied Kuala Lumpur during February and March 1945. The first of these attacks took place on 18 February, and involved 48 or 49 B-29s based in West Bengal. The second raid was made on 10 March by either 24 or 26 aircraft. These attacks inflicted extensive damage on the Central Railroad Repair Shops. No American aircraft were lost in either operation.
The bombing of Fukuoka took place by United States Army Air Forces Boeing B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers on 19 June 1945. This operation formed part of the allied air raids on Japan during the Pacific War, and destroyed 21.5 percent of the city. B-29s also dropped naval mines near Fukuoka harbor on seven occasions between May and July 1945, and the city was attacked twice by American fighter aircraft.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
United States 
United Kingdom 
Empire of Japan 
