Operation Hailstone
 

Hello all,

I am looking for any after action reports from the 17-18th February 1944 strikes against the Truk Atoll. Being in the UK it is quite hard to find anything other than references to multiple archives in the US. I was wondering if anyone has copies themselves or knows the exact places I need to contact.

It would be interesting if there are any Japanse sources as well.

I am fairly new to researching this kind of stuff so I would be grateful for any help.

Ben.

Re: Operation Hailstone
 

Hi Ben,

I know what you're looking for, but I can't provide official documents. In any case, I hope you find the following helpful.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval...-one-hailstone

https://bluelagoondiveresort.com/tru...n-history.html

http://www.cv6.org/1944/truk/default.htm

http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index....938a&board=1.0

And this book looks good. It appears 'after action reports' were referred to as "action reports."
http://www.combinedfleet.com/book0301.htm

Ed

Re: Operation Hailstone
 

Fold3 has a large number of war diaries and by searching for Truk 2/16 1944
you get a large number of hits. Not all are relevant, so you may need to work on the search terms, but here is an idea of what comes up.

Some of the Titles:

USS MONTEREY › Reports of Act of Air Gr 30 at Truk, 2/16-17/44 (22 pages)

COMTASK-GROUP 58.2 › Act Rep Of Ops Against Truk, 2/16-17/44 (18 pages)

USS BUNKER HILL › ACA Reports of Air Gr 17, Truk – 2/16-17/44 and Marianas – 2/22/44 (161 pages)


USS CABOT › VF-31 ACA Reps #1-2 – Truk, 2/16/44
Subject: VF-31 ACA Reps #1-2 – Truk, 2/16/44 (16 pages)

SS INTREPID › Rep of Air Ops vs TRUK Atoll, 2/16/44 and Ops during night of 2/16-17/44 (83 pages)

COMTASK-UNIT 58.3.2 › Act Rep, Truk Air Strikes, 2/16-17/44 (9 pages)


etc........


If you look at the primary sources cited at the end of the Hailstone Article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hailstone

you will see a series of references to several of these fold3 sources. If you click on them you are carried directly to the article (but perhaps only if you have fold3 access). Note that Fold3 has given free access in the past for short periods around Memorial Day in May and Veterans Day in November.

Re: Operation Hailstone
 

Thank you both for the excellent links provided.

The Fold3 documents were exactly what I was looking for so thank you very much!