The very human nature of the war in ... - Talking Proud Home · The very human nature of the war in the Paciﬁc By Ed Marek, ... his forces fought their way ... Of the divisions

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The very human nature of the war in thePacificBy Ed Marek, editor

December 10, 2007

The Philippines

The Bataan Death March, the Philippines, U.S. National Archives, presentedby Department of History, University of San Diego

Table of Contents

Guadalcanal through theMarianas.

Philippines

Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Concluding section offersopinions about the end ofthe war from the troops whowere there

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The very human nature of the war in the Pacific file:///Users/edmarek/Documents/Talking%20Proud/HistoryHu...

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These two maps roughly describe the overall Americanstrategy employed in the Pacific War. The top map shows theisland hopping under the command of Admiral ChesterNimitz. For purposes of this report, his forces fought their wayto the Marianas. The second map shows the forces of GeneralDouglas MacArthur who first blocked Japanese designs onAustralia, then fought their way across New Guinea on theirway to the Philippines. Despite massive losses, and repeated


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defeats the Japanese showed no sign of surrender.

The strategy was for MacArthur to take back the Philippines,Nimitz to capture Iwo Jima, and the forces of both to convergeon Okinawa, positioned to invade Japan's Home Islands.

Of the divisions identified for the Operation Olympic invasionof Kyushu, Japan, the 1st Cavalry, 25th Infantry, 33rd Infantry,41st Infantry, 43rd Infantry, and 77th Infantry Divisionsfought in the Philippines. The 25th "Tropic Lightning" wouldsuffer the most casualties of the divisions that fought here.Each one of these divisions, once done fighting in thePhilippines, began training for the invasion of Japan's HomeIslands.


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As you can see from this map of the Philippines, taking theislands back would be a massive undertaking. The Japanesehad prepared for the American invasion.

Leyte, the Philippines

The original plan was to take Mindanao, Leyte and thenLuzon. That plan changed at the last moment. The Army AirCorps and Naval Aviation dominated the skies, having wonmajor air war victories. As a result, the JCS decided to firsttake Leyte. Taking Leyte would demand the largestamphibious operation in the Pacific to date. The Japanese hadused Leyte as "home waters" since 1942.

The fight for Leyte was quite complicated. At a top level, itconsisted of at least four major naval battles at sea and theground force invasion. We'll focus on the ground forceinvasion. The American victories at Leyte were disastrouslosses for the Japanese. The Japanese hold on the Philippineswas now destined to be lost. The Americans were aggressiveand confident. Three weeks before the Leyte invasion eventook place, the JCS ordered MacArthur to invade Luzon andNimitz to take Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Command over theOkinawa operation would later shift to MacArthur.

Troops of the 1st Cavalry Division wade through a swamp to their landingobjective, Leyte. Presented by US Army.

Emil B. Justimbaste has documented MacArthur's return to thePhilippines. He commented that the assault waves wereformed by 9:30 on October 20, 1944, and then wrote:


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The Leyte landing. White Beach is in the foreground, with Red Beach,bounded by the Palo River, beyond. Presented by the US Army.

"A few minutes later, the race for the beaches began. Atfour knots, it was indeed a slow race, one that made boatoccupants agonized. As the warships covering the assaultlifted their fire inland, the forces in the barge were now opento whatever the Japanese had left in their arsenal. Surprisingly, quite a number of concealed Japanesemortars and machine guns were able to open fire on theincoming boats. "At exactly 10:00, the men on the landing craft felt asudden thug, 'a sickening lurch', as their boats grounded on theLeyte coast. At a few minutes after 10:00 on October 20,1944, the first soldiers of MacArthur's liberation forces landedon Leyte."

A 1st Cavalry Division operations report said that immediatelyafter landing on a narrow beach, the 5th and 12th Cavencountered a deep swamp. The Army's summary of thatreport said this:

"The morass was often waist deep, in places even up tothe armpits, and men of the advancing line of troopscursed heartily as they floundered toward the highway.Under such circumstances it was impossible for the mento carry all of their personal equipment, and they had tomake three trips in order to complete the crossing ofcertain areas."

The beachhead was established later in the day, and GeneralMacArthur and members of the Philippine government inexile came ashore.

Kenneth Kehl was with the 125th Quartermaster (QM)assigned to the Americal Division. He said his was "the


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second Army troop to make a beach head on Leyte island."His job was to drive a supply truck to the front lines. He thenreported this unusual story:

"On one of my drives, my group wanted to get out andwalk up ahead and look around. I stayed with the truckand while the guys were going up the road, a group ofJapanese came out of the brush behind them, with theirhands raised over their heads. They wanted to surrender.It just so happened that the Japanese captain turned outto be a guy that one of our guys had been in school withwhile in California."

Richard J. Foss was with the 7th Cav of the 1st Cav Division,and part of the third wave that would hit the beach with heavyequipment on October 20, 1944. We mentioned thecomplexity of amphibious landings early on in this report.Foss describes this well:

Main battery USS West Virginia firing in Leyte Gulf with landing craft and atroop transport in the foreground. Presented by Battleships

"On October 20 our ship pulled into Leyte Bay. Ourship seemed to be vibrating. I went up on A deck to seewhat was going on. And I could see a group of hugebattleships nearby shelling the beach. That is whatcaused the shaky feeling in the ship I was on. Their gunsmake everything around shake and vibrate. It was agreat sight. When the battleships ceased firing, rocketships headed toward the beach firing tons and tons oflarge rockets. In front of these rocket ships the firstwave of American soldiers was moving toward thebeach. Then they hit Leyte Island (and) the (fight forthe) Philippines was on ... When the first wave wasabout to storm the beach, rockets ceased firing."At this point the second wave was about halfway to thebeach. Now this was our signal. We were in the thirdwave, heavy equipment, with our weapons to go overthe side and down the rope ladder into waiting barges.Load, and head for a rendezvous point to form the third


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wave. The formation of these waves to hit the beachwas a very organized plan by our Army. Loading into abarge while on a roped ladder being strafed at by enemyplanes causes one to lose almost all of theirconcentration. What I mean is, it's really scary. Yourmind almost goes blank.

This is a photo of the waves of landing craft heading toward Iwo Jima, togive you the idea. In the lower left, you see the battleship USS Tennesseedoing its thing to support the waves heading in. Presented by Battleships.

"After all barges going on the third wave, heavyweapons, arrive at the designated rendezvous point, youhead directly for the landing point. During this shortwait at the rendezvous point, this is the scene Iremember seeing. There were airplane dogfights, shipsfiring at planes, planes firing at ships, shoreguns firing atships, ships firing at shoreguns, planes strafing bargesheading for the beach. Everything, everything washappening at once ...

"The driver of our barge in this particular invasionpanicked, and let the ramp down too soon. We steppedinto water over our heads. We had trouble moving in thewater with all our heavy equipment. By the time I madeit to the beach, it seemed like forever, there were anumber of GIs floating in the water. Some had beenshot. Some no doubt had drowned."


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Philippine guerilla scout. Presented by the US Army.

In the Philippines, there were large indigenous guerrillaformations who fought with the Americans. These guys hadbeen fighting a long time, they knew the territory, and theywere tough. In an article published by the Philippines FreePress, June 28, 1947, Asisclo S. Fiel recalled:

"Major Isidro C. Tizon ... told his (nine) men to waituntil he gave the signal to pull the triggers of theirlatongs' (single-shot rifles made of GI pipes). The trucks(filled with Japanese troops) - three of them - camenearer and nearer. Suddenly, at 3:35, he gave the signalto fire. The men retreated behind the hill afterexchanging fire with Tojo's troops. The trucks stoppedfor a while, then rolled on. When the trucks had gone,Maj. I.C.Tizon went back with his men to the scene ofthe brief encounter and found one truck destroyed, aJapanese rifle and blood on the road. Those were thefirst shots fired against the Japanese in Leyte. That daywill live - July 4, 1942. It marked the beginning of one


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of the largest guerilla organizations in the Philippines,the Western Leyte Guerrilla Warfare Forces."

MacArthur would later praise the guerrilla forces forsupporting the American invasion of 1944.

Fourteen American warriors would receive the Medal ofHonor for their actions at Leyte, nine posthumously. The USNavy virtually eliminated the Japanese Navy as a majorseapower in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Lingayen Gulf and Luzon, Philippines

The next invasion of the Philippines began on December 15,1944 with landings on the lightly defended island of Mindoro,central to the planned invasion of Luzon. By the first day, USengineers were building airstrips. By December 28, twoairfields were ready for Army Air Force use against Luzon. Bythis time, the main Japanese threat from the air came from thesuicide missions, known as kamikazes. They did some heavydamage to US naval forces supporting the Mindoro effort.That said, and while the kamikaze remained a threat throughthe remainder of the war, American air power was ruling theskies. The kamikaze was a last gasp, and would be thecenterpiece of Japan's air force defense of the US invasion ofthe Home Islands.

Landing barges sweep through the waters of Lingayen Gulf carrying the firstwave of invaders to the beaches of Luzon following a naval bombardment ofJapanese shore positions. January 9, 1945. Presented by History Place.

The initial landings were at the Lingayen Gulf, and wereaccomplished by units not designated for the OperationOlympic invasion of Kyushu.


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The 1st Cav arrived in the area in late January 1945, andrelieved units involved in the initial landings. The 1st Cav'sorders were to drive south toward Manila. MacArthur's exactdirection was as follows:

"Go to Manila, go around the Nips, bounce off the Nips,but go to Manila."

The 1st Cav organized a mechanized task force to do just that.It came to be known as the "flying column."

On January 31, landings commenced southwest of Manila,mainly by the 11th Airborne Division. By February 3, 1945,elements of the 1st Cav were in Manila, with the 11thAirborne approaching from the south, followed by the 37thInfantry Division coming from the north.

Manila Destroyed: 1945. Presented by Battling Bastards of Bataan.

The battle for Manila would rage on through March 3. Plansfor victory parades in early February were quite premature andcancelled. Manila would be largely destroyed before it was allover.

Thereafter, the fight for the Philippines was fought mostly tothe west to regain Corregidor and the Bataan Peninsula, and inthe north, especially in the rugged Zimbale Mountains, rightup until the Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945.

Ten U.S. divisions and five independent regiments would seeaction on Luzon, making it the largest campaign of the Pacific


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war.

The fighting here was as fierce as anywhere. That said, wehave found a few stories that address things we have notaddressed as of yet, so we've included these to broaden ourunderstanding of this war.

This is a quartermaster story, from The Quartermaster Review,July-August 1945, held in the archives at the ArmyQuartermaster Museum. We commend this story to you.

Moving supplies in the Pacific was always hard, largely due toenvironmental conditions, but also due to rapidly moving forces. Presentedby Quartermaster Supply in the Pacific During World War II.

Combat engineers first had to carve out a road on the sides ofmountains. The roads were barely wide enough to handle ajeep. They had to set up food dumps along the way, and thenset up human pack trains, using native labor, 30-70 men andwomen, led by a Filipino officer, to get the stuff to the frontlines. The K-ration proved to be the most popular for thetroops in the fight, because it was light and small. The humanpack trains were attacked frequently, and suffered highcasualties. Recruiting replacements was hard.

Lt. Col. Lawrence E. Swope, staff officer in Genera1 WalterKrueger’s 6th Army Quartermaster Section, estimated that ittook one carrier to supply three men on the line. He said:

"Every bite of food the men eat, the clothes they wear,and the ammunition they expend, has to be carried onthe backs of carriers up hills which the average personcouldn't climb empty handed."

Bakeries set up by the quartermaster were top favorites. Wemight not think of the bakers as seasoned, but they were. The


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ones setting up shop in the Philippines had been through thegauntlet in New Guinea. Their bread was moved by road anddropped by aircraft.

Salvage trucks were also very busy. The combat soldierswould fight it out with their enemy, and once victorious, incame the salvage trucks to clear out the enemy's artillery andammo from the caves. The US then employed those shells andsent their love and kisses to the Japanese using Japaneseshells. The troops liked that. The salvage units would also givethe Japanese equipment to the Filipino guerrilla units. Butfirst, the Enemy Equipment Intelligence Service had to gothrough the stuff to collect samples, weapons, documents,radio and fire control gear etc. Salvage dumps soon grew to bethe size of villages. Salvage staff had each item memorizedlike a mail-order catalogue, and could take soldiers coming indirectly to what they needed.

Liberated American POWs from Bilibid, Philippines, February 1945.Presented by the China National Aviation Corporation.

Another topic we've not addressed much is American POWsheld by the Japanese throughout the war. The problem wasespecially pronounced in the Philippines as the result of theJapanese invasion that began in December 1941, whenconsiderable US forces were stationed there.


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Bataan Death March to Camp O'Donnell. Presented by the Oklahoma WorldWar Blog.

There was the historic Bataan Death March, which ended atCamp O'Donnell, and there were many others captured andheld in Japanese POW camps elsewhere, to include in Japanand China. Some 1,600 Americans and 20,000 Filipinos diedin the first 40 days at Camp O'Donnell. These POWs facedhorrific living conditions and regular brutality, even tortuousmurder. The invasion forces came upon these POWs campsand where necessary, raided them with the Japanese still there.Many Americans were transferred to Philippines, China,Japan, and Korea, aboard what came to be known as "HellShips." Upon reaching their destinations, they where as slavelabor. You might wish to read the Ghost Soldiers by HamptonSides.

Hellship Noto Maru. Extracted from, "The Hellships of WWII," by RuthJorgenson, presented by the West Point Connection.

We have learned from Ruth Jorgenson that four Hell Shipswere destroyed by US attacks, killing nearly all US POWsaboard. They were the Arisan Maru, torpedoed by a US


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submarine in the South China Sea, 1795 of 1800 POWs died;Shinyo Maru, torpedoed by a US submarine near Mindanao,Philippines, 668 of 750 POWs died; and Oryoku Maru, sunkby USN aircraft after leaving Manila, with 286 killed or shotin the water; the Enoura Maru, sunk by a USN bomber, killingover half the 50 POWs aboard. While our immediate reactionmight be to hang our heads in shame, the Japanese decision totransport these POWs aboard unmarked ships made themlegitimate targets. The fog of war can be brutal.

Back View of Education Building with Shacks, Latrines, etc. Photo courtesyof Robin Prising. Presented by the China National Aviation Corporation.

There were also many, nearly 4,000, American and alliedcivilians held captive by the Japanese in the Philippines. Mostwere interned at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp, and aplace called Los Banos.


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Liberated internees as Santo Tomas, February 6, 1945. Presented by the USArmy.

The 2nd Squad, 8th Cavalry had the honors at Santo Tomas.They sent a tank forward to use as a battering ram, brokethrough the front gates, saw Formosan guards working for theJapanese Army, took them down within a matter of minutes,and freed 3,500 internees. A Japanese officer held 275 othersin another building, demanded safe passage out to release thehostages, was granted that, and they too were freed.

Changing the subject, Staff Sergeant Harry E. Schack,L/3-35th Infantry "Cacti", 25th Infantry Division, came toLuzon aboard the the troop ship, The General John Pope. Hewrote this:

"There were 6500 GI's aboard and sent in a convoy tothe Philippines Island of Luzon. We were in areplacement camp just out of Manila and some weresent as replacements to the front lines just beyondBelete Pass which had just been recaptured. In thatbattle there is a marker showing that on May 13, 1945,7403 Japs were counted dead and 2365 25th Divsoldiers were killed and wounded. We were replacing


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some of those soldiers. We were sent to the front andstayed there 33 straight days before falling back toCrow Valley. While on the front I was sent to the fieldHospital. I returned to the front 4 days later on June12th my 20th birthday. I had malaria in Luzon and againin Japan."

Luzon and other islands of the Philippines were also placeswhere US soldiers saw first hand the extreme brutality of theJapanese toward civilians: chopped off heads, experimentaland training surgeries on live humans, pits loaded with bodieswith their stomachs cut open and intestines ripped out, andrats eating dead body parts in caves where the Japanese hid.An article about Akira Makino's experiences is on the net,written by Harumi Ozaka. We also invite you to see the website, Battling Bastards of Bataan. Bring a strong stomach.We'll not show the photos here.

On a different note, we saw a November 20, 2007 interviewwith Thomas Burrows, now 84. He was a Navy man, withLST 701, at the landings on Luzon. We saw that he referred to"Tokyo Rose" as a man. This gives us a chance to raise thesubject of Tokyo Rose.

For the record, there was no single "Tokyo Rose." Instead,various Japanese, we believe all women, broadcastpropaganda messages to the Americans. Furthermore, it wasthe Americans who named these women Tokyo Rose. Noteveryone knows that.

There was a woman named IvaToguri D'Aquino, born in Tokyo,but raised in California, a UScitizen. She was visiting relativesin Japan when the Japaneseattacked Pearl Harbor. Her storyis most interesting, and tragic.While in Japan, she refused torenounce her Americancitizenship and refused tobroadcast anti-Americanpropaganda. The FBI laterinvestigated her and found her tobe true red, white and blue. But Walter Winchell, a famousradio broadcaster in the US, lobbied against her when shesought to return to the US so her baby could be an Americancitizen. Shortly after returning to the US, her baby died. Shewas subsequently convicted on one of eight counts of treason,and sentenced to 10 years. After six years, she was released. Itwas learned that witnesses in her trial lied. President Fordpardoned her and restored her citizenship. There are, as we


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know, many sad stories about how Americans treatedJapanese-Americans.

I read many letters and blogs written by children andgrandchildren of our men and women who fought in thePacific. This one was particularly poignant. It was written byJulie Pheasant-August and posted on October 3, 2007. Shesaid this:

"My father served in the 161st Infantry ("FirstWashington") (of the 25th Infantry Division) in theSouth Pacific, and won a Bronze Star at the battle ofLuzon. He voluntarily removed live mortar rounds froma burning ammo dump. My uncle died at the Battle ofthe Coral Sea, and my other uncles served atGuadalcanal, and Leyte. My godfather was a shipcaptain; his ship shot down 17 kamikaze planes atOkinawa. All of these men were gentle, kind menthrown into the horror of war. We would do well toremember the sacrifices that they made to defend ourcountry."

One striking aspect to this memoir is how many in her familyserved. It was that way everywhere in the country. Everyonewas touched by the war.

Rich Johnson was with the Alpha Co., 136th Battalion, 33rdInfantry Division. He saw the enemy for the first time in NewGuinea, and next he helped liberate Manila. He's now 85,battling lung cancer. He said this:

“I told my doctor that I don’t want to die (of the lungcancer). But I have seen death and it’s no stranger tome. It was a sad time.”

Susan Anderson, who interviewed him, said:

"By war’s end, he had witnessed death, of both friendand foe, more times than he could count."

We reported earlier that the fight for Luzon went on throughthe end of the war. Frederick Lieneke entered military servicein July 1944 and was sent to Luzon in June 1945. He said this:

"It took a long time to get there. We had to zigzag tokeep from being hit by the enemy. We went over theside down a rope net into a landing craft and beached atManila Bay. At this time, the Japanese had been drivento the northern part of Luzon, and there was noresistance in this area (of the landing) ... We weretrained to be proficient with all light infantry weapons.


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Late one evening, in a remote place in northern Luzon,our names were called and we were assigned to ouroutfits. Our destiny was decided in numerical andalphabetical order. I was assigned to the 25thQuartermaster Company of the 25th Division. My dutieswere supplies and grave registration. We were stationednorth of Clark Field, Luzon. In the distance I would seetracers at night."

Sgt. Stanley Ciemiega was with the 35th Infantry of the 25thDivision. By the time he landed in the Philippines, he hadalready fought at Guadalcanal, Vella Lavella and then foughton Luzon from January through April 17, 1945, when he waskilled near Balete Pass on Luzon. His regiment was clearing aridge near the town of Kapintalan, just southeast of the pass.Ciemiega was killed by machine-gun fire. He died on April17, but the battle went on in this area until May 6. Had hesurvived that, he would have been on the roster to invadeJapan.

This is Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita, general of the JapaneseImperial Army, walking out of northern Luzon to surrender. Presented by theUS Army.

Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita, commanding the 14thArmy, surrendered on August 15, 1945, only after his emperorhad given his radio speech. His army began with about


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262,000 troops. At the end, some 50,500 of his force came outof the mountains of northern Luzon, nearly 40,000 of themconcentrated in the Asin Valley area known as the "LastStand." This force could have fought for at least anothermonth or more.

We'll get a little ahead of ourselves on the timeline here, butthere are two photos we wish to highlight before closing onthe Philippines.

We have not discussed this, but in February 1942, Lt. GeneralArthur E. Percival, British Army, surrendered Singapore to theJapanese, after learning his forces were out of water andammunition. The war in the Pacific was only 10 weeks old.Percival was taken captive, and held in several prisons. InMay 1942, General Jonathan M. Wainwright, USA,surrendered the Philippines to Japanese General Homma andwas imprisoned in Manchuria. Percival would later be sent tothe same prison. Wainwright's men, known as the "BattlingBastards of Bataan," were force marched to a Japanese POWcamp in the infamous Bataan Death March. Wainwright, wholater received the Medal of Honor from President Truman,said this to MacArthur in his final communication beforesurrender:

"As I write this we are being subjected to terrific air andartillery bombardment and it is unreasonable to expectthat we can hold out for long. We have done our best,both here and on Bataan, and although we are beaten weare still unashamed."

This is a photo of the surrender of Japanese Forces in the Philippines to theUS on September 3, 1945, at the American residence in Baguio City, thePhilippines. Seated second from the left is General Wainwright. Standing atabout photo's center is General Percival, who witnessed the surrender. Withtheir backs to the lens, the man second from left is General Yamashita.


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Yamashita had used this residence as his own during the war. Presented bywikipedia.

Appropriately, General Yamashita had to surrender before theeyes of Generals Percival and Wainwright.

In this photo, General Douglas MacArthur signs as SupremeAllied Commander during the formal Japanese surrenderceremonies on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, September 2,1945. Behind General MacArthur are Lieutenant GeneralJonathan Wainwright, nearest the microphone, and LieutenantGeneral A. E. Percival to Wainwright's immediate left.Presented by wikipedia.

Let's return to the war. There is a lot more of it to fight.Indeed, fighting remained intense in the Philippinesthroughout the first half of 1945, right up until the surrender.Nonetheless, confident of victory, the JCS ordered the Marinesto land at Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. They fought therethrough March 26. The Marines and Army then invadedOkinawa on March 26 and fought through June 21, 1945.

We will move on to the US invasions of Iwo Jima andOkinawa in the next section.


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