Archaehistoria

Takataka Bay Grass hut bombed and destroyed

Figure 1
Just before noon on August 7, 1942, seven TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bombers of Torpedo Squadron EIGHT  from the carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) roared through Maramasike Passage and up the East coast of Malaita. Flying over Takataka Bay, a “new” grass hut was spotted, which the after-action report records was bombed and destroyed. The weapons used were 100-pound bombs. Inexplicably, Torpedo Squadron EIGHT (VT-8) bombed a number of targets on Malaita, all of which turned out to be non-military, civilian targets, whilst the legitimate target of the Japanese lookout post at Cape Astrolabe went untouched. [Excerpt from “Anchorages in the Solomon Islands”, BA Chart No. 2904, May 1929 Edition, from sketch survey by the British Brigantine Ariel in 1888].

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