- 151 - Pacific War Podcast - The Formosa Air Battle 10 - October 17 - , 1944

Last time we spoke about the conquest of Angaur and the Japanese Triumph in China. By October 18th, the remaining Japanese on Angaur were compressed into a small area, and by the 21st, resistance had ceased. The Americans suffered 264 killed and 1,355 wounded, while approximately 1,300 Japanese were killed. Over in China, Hara's forces suffered heavy losses during a delaying action at Momauk, with troops joining Bhamo's defense by November 16. The 113th Regiment maneuvered to encircle Bhamo from the south, while the 114th Regiment approached from the north, creating a loose encirclement. The 22nd Division's movement prompted concerns of severing key rail lines, leading Japanese forces to reposition defensively. Despite intense fighting, including a strong Chinese offensive on November 19, the Japanese withdrew from key positions, allowing Chinese forces to capture Mangshi and secure a strategic airfield for resupply, significantly impacting the campaign's dynamics. This episode is the Formosa Air Battle Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800’s until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  As we last saw on Peleliu, General Rupertus' 1st Marine Division, bolstered by Colonel Dark's 321st Regiment, successfully secured the island after approximately two weeks of intense fighting. However, Colonel Nakagawa's isolated and outnumbered garrison continued to resist in the Umurbrogol Pocket. As left by nature, the Umurbrogol Pocket was much like the Ibdi Pocket on Biak Island, but larger and rougher. Like Ibdi, the Umurbrogol originally had a thick cover of tropical trees and dense jungle undergrowth which, as the result of continued air, naval, and artillery bombardment (including extensive employment of aerial napalm strikes), was gradually knocked down or burned away. Again, as on Biak, the Japanese had improved upon nature. There were many artificial or semi-artificial caves which had been constructed to protect approaches to the inner sections of the pocket, and the Japanese had improved almost every natural cave. Where no caves were available or could be constructed, the defenders employed rock faults and crevices for defensive positions. Digging new entrances to existing caves or even cutting new levels within some caves, the Japanese were well prepared to execute a long and bloody holding action along the many ridges. These ridges, with the exception of the Five Sisters group at the southern side of the pocket, were generally parallel and oriented north-northeast to south-southwest. Steep-sided and fissured, many of them had razor-back summits upon which no cover could be found. The ridges were separated by deep draws, gullies, and wider valleys, the floors of which were strewn with coral boulders or coral outcroppings similar to stalagmites. Steep as they were, the sides of some ridges also were covered with such chunks and outcroppings. In late September, the exhausted infantrymen, who were tasked with containing the pocket while the Marines cleared northern Peleliu, made several heavy assaults. They only managed to reach the X-ray phase line, marking what was believed to be the northern edge of the core Japanese defenses, before being relieved by the 7th Marines. With Colonel Hanneken's 1st and 3rd Battalions now holding the X-ray l