April 6,1942 Vizag

[Roger_that]

April 6,1942. Any idea what happened on this day in Vishakapattanam

[Roger_that]

'Action replay' of Japanese air raid

 

 

Be it 1942 or 1971, Vizag , known for its tranquillity, was in the thick of action in both the wars.

 

 

 

 

 

April 6, 1942. Any idea what happened on this day? Read the remaining matter in an underground bunker if you have got one or at least quietly slip under your cot.

Well folks! Vizag was bombed by the Japanese forces on that day- almost an action replay of Pearl Harbour.

After successfully running over Singapore and Thailand, the Japanese set their eyes on India via Burma.

Alerted, Churchill sent two American ships loaded with ammunition for the allied forces stationed in Burma. The Japanese fleet present in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal stalked the ships en route to Chittagong. To evade the enemy, the vessels took shelter in Vizag's inner harbour.

A Japanese aircraft-carrier following them sent two of its fighter planes around 8 a.m. on April 6th. Sensing danger, the sirens blew and the people of the town who were already given a drill in case of eventualities ran for shelter. The planes after a few rounds of scouting disappeared, and the Vizagites were relieved.

But as the saying goes "never underestimate an enemy", they were back again around 1 p.m., and this time they came in two plus three attack formation and started pounding the coast. But the moment they tried to enter the port area, the American ships stationed there opened up their famous `Bofors' anti-aircraft guns in staccato. The retaliatory fire, combined with the natural protection of the hills on all three sides, did not allow the planes to have a peep at the inner harbour, and had to abort their mission.

In the course of strafing, they dropped three bombs near the port area.

One of them hit a concrete pipe of five feet diameter, in which five workers had taken shelter and all of them were killed.

The second one fell on a cement storage and the third hit the thermal power station that was maintained by the Government of Madras. There were no further casualties and no other buildings were damaged in the raid.

They made a final attempt around 6 p.m. and had to return almost empty handed except for a bomb, which fell on one of the targeted ships Marine Maller, which mercifully did not explode. If it had exploded than that would have set up a chain reaction as the ship was laden with, 2000 tonnes of explosives and Vizag would have gone into the annals of World War II history, as the second Pearl Harbour.

The unexploded bomb `UXD HE' weighing 350 kg., was retrieved by the missionaries of the St. Aloysius High School, which adorned their parlour until 1991, when it was handed over to the Visakha Museum.

If April 6 was an action replay then, the next day was a curtain-raiser to the partition time. Vizagites made a beeline to Vizianagaram in all possible modes of transport available including bullockcarts and many on foot, with their bare essentials, fearing one more raid.

A few old citizens, likely Kolluru Jagannatham, still vividly remember those days. Being a witness to the scene he narrated the incident to this reporter.