The Fall of the Philippines

Chapter 14

“To the people of the Philippines whence I came, I shall return.”

As the Japanese destroyed the US Pacific Fleet they concurrently attacked other American and British possessions around the Asia/Pacific Region. The largest of the US holdings in this area was the Philippines, an archipelago that had been under American jurisdiction since the defeat of the Spanish in the Spanish-American War of 1898. By 1941 the Philippines were under a local administration with a plan to achieve peaceful independence in 1945.

Manila, capitol of the Philippines on the island of Luzon

The US territory had adopted a new constitution in 1935, establishing the Commonwealth of the Philippines. A President, Manuel Quezon, had been elected and the US Governor-General redesignated as the US High Commissioner, who served as a representative of Washington rather than a leader. A Philippine Army was also established, with the US Army working to train and organize it as well. President Quezon had requested and been given US General Douglas MacArthur, a personal friend of his, to take command of the new Army, and as tensions rose US President Franklin Roosevelt placed MacArthur in command of the US Army Force in the Far East (USAFFE) in the summer of 1941, concurrently federalizing the Philippine Army.

General Douglas MacArthur attends a ceremony in the Philippines

Word of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor reached the USAFFE in the early hours of the morning of 8 December, and orders were issued for preparations for Japanese attacks. The commander of the US Far East Air Force (USFEAF) tried and failed to speak with MacArthur regarding preparing a retaliatory strike against the Japanese by bombing Formosa, and in the ensuing confusion as orders came from the US mainland, the bulk of the USFEAF was on the ground when the Japanese bombers arrived overhead. In the space of three quarters of an hour half of the US aircraft in the Philippines were destroyed on the ground, leaving the prospects of the coming defense in the archipelago grim.

A Japanese B5N Kate flies past burning US PBY seaplanes on the Philippine coast

On the same day Japanese troops landed on a small island north of Luzon, followed by larger scale landings on the island on 10 December. These forces had sailed from Formosa, and were not hindered by the piecemeal attacks by the remnants of the US air forces. Further landings would also take place further south on the island in the coming days. The Japanese air attacks also forced the withdrawal from of the US Asiatic Fleet from Cavite near Manila, leaving only a handful of submarines and torpedo boats to defend the islands.

General Mashaharu Homma lands at Lingayen Gulf

The main Japanese landing took place on 22 December, with large force landing at Lingayen Gulf to the north of Manila along with General Mashaharu Homma, the commander of the Japanese 14th Area Army. Attacks by US B17 bombers and submarines had negligible effect on the landing forces or the Japanese beachheads, and the efforts of the Philippine Army to contain the beachheads proved untenable, with the outnumbered and poorly trained Filipino troops being overrun by the Japanese.

Philippine Scouts advance toward Lingayen Gulf with an M3 Stuart light tank

Filipino troops under the command of General Jonathan Wainwright marched north from Manila to meet the Japanese advance from Lingayen Gulf, and although the Philippine Scouts made a strong stand at Rosario they were overwhelmed and soon it became apparent that the capitol was directly threatened by the Japanese advancing from both north and south. Within a day of the main landing the Japanese had penetrated ten miles inland, and the lack of adequate artillery and air support meant that US forces were unable to offer significant resistance in the south. As the vice closed on Manila General MacArthur and President Quezon made the decision to initiate War Plan Orange 3, which redeployed the remaining US and Filipino forces into a series of five phase lines intended to delay the Japanese advance while a withdrawal onto the Bataan Peninsula was effected, with the headquarters elements as well as the Filipino Government relocating to the heavily fortified island of Corregidor in Manila Bay.

Japanese troops enter Manila

Manila was declared an open city on 26 December, even as evacuations were ongoing. After scattered bombing raids soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army entered the city on 2 January, their columns passing silent civilians lining the streets. The US Stars and Stripes were hauled down from the High Commissioner’s Residence and replaced with the Rising Sun of the Empire. It marked the first time that a major American city had fallen to a foreign power since the Fall of Washington in 1812. The Japanese quickly set about rounding up American civilians and placing them into internment camps, as well as stripping the city of luxury goods. Streets were renamed in Japanese, and American cultural items, even including children’s comic books, were burned.

Japanese troops advance on Bataan

As Manila fell, the battle for the Bataan Peninsula was escalating. US and Filipino forces were digging in along the peninsula, with a series of defensive lines that would prove difficult for the Japanese to reduce. Two corps were arranged to defend the first line, with Generals Wainwright and Parker in command, with their respective areas separated by the towering Mount Natib. Japanese attacks began in earnest on 9 January, with aerial bombardment, tank attacks and Banzai charges (mass attacks with bayonets) hammering the USAFFE lines. Despite prolonged hand to hand combat, the Japanese were unable to push past the line until 22 January, when a penetration into the American rear threatened Wainwright’s corps with envelopment, leading to a general withdrawal to the next defensive line.

A Japanese flamethrower in action against an American pillbox on Bataan

The withdrawal to the next line, running on the Orion-Bagac axis, was not smooth. Japanese attacks almost turned the American withdrawal into a route, but the line was stabilized with some Japanese isolated in pockets behind the lines. These were reduced, and the fighting settled into a similar pattern as on the last line as February began. An attempted Japanese amphibious landing on January 22 was also repelled, in part due to an attack by US Navy torpedo boats on the Japanese landing force. Those that did land were scattered and isolated, with the small beachheads eventually destroyed, in part by US Army Air Force pilots and ground crews pressed into infantry service as their last machines were lost.

American soldiers dug in on Bataan

As the situation continued to worsen, with supplies of all types running low, the defenders of Bataan took up a cynical attitude about their situation. General MacArthur in particular was held in some disdain, with a song becoming popular with the “Battling Bastards of Bataan”:

“Dugout Doug MacArthur lies a shaking on the Rock
Safe from all the bombers and from any sudden shock
Dugout Doug is eating of the best food on Bataan
And his troops go starving on.

Dugout Doug’s not timid, he’s just cautious, not afraid
He’s protecting carefully the stars that Franklin made
Four-star generals are rare as good food on Bataan
And his troops go starving on.

Dugout Doug is ready in his Kris Craft for the flee
Over bounding billows and the wildly raging sea
For the Japs are pounding on the gates of Old Bataan
And his troops go starving on…”

General MacArthur in his bunker on Corregidor

The situation continued to deteriorate, and on 23 February orders arrived directly from President Franklin Roosevelt instructing MacArthur to move immediately to the island of Mindanao and thence to Australia. The decision was made to save the man considered by many to by the best general the US had, as the possibility of him being killed or captured was considered politically unacceptable. PT (Patrol Torpedo) boats were selected for the escape, with MacArthur requisitioning the last remaining four P40 fighters to provide air cover. On night of 11 March MacArthur fled the Philippines with his family and several other high ranking officers of his staff, leaving General Wainwright in command of the doomed garrison.

Captain Arthur Wermuth (left with Thompson submachine gun) and a Filipino soldier on Bataan. Captain Wermuth had a reputation as a fierce fighter during the defense of the peninsula

By this time the stubborn resistance of the remnants of the US and Filipino forces had come to the attention of the highest levels of the Japanese command structure. Emperor Hirohito himself had begun to pressure his generals, including Homa, to crush the resistance on Bataan quickly, ending the battle that was helping to rally Allied resolve in the face of crushing defeats on all fronts.

When MacArthur left the USAFFE was disbanded, and the remnants left to General Wainwright were redesignated the US Forces in the Philippines (USFIP). This was to face a redoubled Japanese assault, as additional heavy artillery and armored forces were brought up by an exasperated Japanese command to break the deadlock. A massive bombardment on 3 April heralded the renewal of the Japanese attacks, and three days later the line was broken. The Japanese forces then drove deep into the center of the American rear areas, with the exhausted defenders collapsing. With communications with his forces no longer possible, General Edward King, the commander on the ground at Bataan, surrendered to the Japanese on 9 April. The remaining Americans on the fortified islands in Manila Bay were now left to prepare their last stand.

General Edward King surrenders Bataan to the Japanese

The island of Corregidor was known as “The Rock”, and was a rocky feature in Manila Bay that had been heavily fortified to serve as a coastal artillery base to defend the anchorage, and it was from the deep bunker systems that honeycombed the island that MacArthur and now Wainwright led the defense of the island. Japanese bombardment of the island began in earnest the day Bataan fell, but despite the power of the guns on the island Wainwright forbade return fire out of concern for American wounded still on the peninsula. Thousands of Japanese bombs and shells would hit the island fortress over the coming weeks, and on 4 May an Australian submarine evacuated a handful of personnel along with rosters and records from the island.

After a short but brutal fight following Japanese landings on the island, General Wainwright surrendered his exhausted forces on 6 May. Under threat of mass executions of prisoners, Wainwright was further coerced into surrendering all remaining US troops in the Philippines, including those in the southern islands that remained combat capable.

Despite the end of organized resistance in the Philippines, the ordeal of the defenders was not yet over. When Bataan surrendered, the defenders were forced to turn over all valuables to their captors, and those found to have Japanese souvenirs were summarily executed. The looting extended even to knocking out men’s teeth to recover gold fillings, and soon the beaten and bedraggled men were formed into columns for the march into captivity.

Japanese soldiers guard prisoners during the Bataan Death March

The march was brutal, with the prisoners forced to struggle onward in the brutal tropical heat. Many were beaten and tortured by sadistic Japanese guards, and little to no food or water was distributed. Some men were forced to strip naked in the sun within sight of water. If they moved toward it or asked for it, they were shot. Those who collapsed from fatigue were often bayoneted or simply run over by following Japanese trucks. Eventually the survivors arrived at San Fernando, where they were crammed into sweltering metal box cars and then forced to march again before arriving at prison camps. Up to 20,000 Americans and Filipinos died on what became known as the Bataan Death March, including several hundred Filipino soldiers who were massacred by the Japanese before the march began. The officers from Corregidor were sent to the civilian prisons in Manila, where they would remain. All suffered brutal treatment under Japanese captivity, and casualties would mount for the duration of the war.

General MacArthur in Australia with Prime Minister Curtin

Enemy propaganda eagerly seized upon the flight of MacArthur to brand him as a coward, leading directly to a decision to award him the Congressional Medal of Honor to counter that narrative. After his arrival in Australia the general, ever conscious of the press, was quick to make a statement, one which would become one of the most famous of the war:

“I came through and I shall return”