US Navy 'practice' gunnery

20th May 1944: Isolated Japanese coastal artillery positions on Bougainville hit back when they are used for target practice

USS Montpelier (CL 57) En route from the Marshall Islands to take part in the invasion of Saipan, 11 June 1944.

In the US Navy, as in many other services, it was strictly forbidden to keep a diary. All around the world there were people defying that order. Some of them were to form the basis for fascinating memoirs later. It took great ability to write c…