Luz Banzon Magsaysay Part 4 of Chapter 6

Part 4

March to Nueva Vizcaya

General Tomoyuki Yamashita’s Shobu Group continued their march towards northern Luzon. On February 1, they proceeded from Natividad, Pangasinan to Kuyapo, Nueva Vizcaya. From there, they breezed past the Binga and Ambuklao Lakes on their way to Adacay, in Benguet Province. The original plan of the Japanese was to recapture Camp John Hay in Baguio City. They dropped this course of action after noticing American warplanes circling the Baguio City sky. Instead, they left Benguet and proceeded to Ifugao Province and finally settled in the mountains of Kiangan, a kilometer away from the capital town of Banaue.

Preparing for war

In Manila, the American First Cavalry Division and the 37^th Infantry Regiment from the north, together with the newly-arrived 11^th Airborne Division from the south, cut the city off and sealed the defending Japanese forces in Manila.

Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi, head of the Japanese Naval Defense Force, did not bother to break through the American lines. He simply concentrated on the approved defense of Manila. The Japanese also started rounding up civilians in the city in the hope of using them as hostages. In the process, it resulted in the total disregard of human lives of the city residents.

Battle positions

In Bataan, the Battle of Zigzag Pass continued. After about three miles (5 km) of steady progress, the 38th Division and the 152nd Regiment ran into Japanese strongpoints at “Horseshoe Bend,” actually the first known major obstacles of the Zigzag Pass. Again, heavy encounters transpired the whole day between the two protagonists resulting in high casualties for the American 152nd Regiment.

After the American offensive got stalled, General Roy W. Easley relieved the 152nd’s regimental commander who was directing the assault on Zigzag Pass. The 34th RCT was ordered to resume the unsuccessful eastward offensive of the 152nd. Still, all eastward advances of the Americans stopped before dusk.

Subic rehabilitation

US Navy minesweepers began a thorough clearing of Subic Bay. At the same time, American LSTs were already making dry-ramp landings inside the base. Engineers of the 38th Division, meanwhile remained in Olongapo to begin reactivation of the Subic Bay Naval Station. Bridges, buildings and the water distilling plants were repaired while the beaches and streets were cleared.

Atrocity in Laguna

The Japanese dynamited the “El Real” Sugar Central in Calamba, Laguna, then owned by the Dominican Order. In the same town, about  2,000 men, women, and children were killed and their houses completely destroyed by fire. Five Catholic priests were also arrested. Fortunately, after being tied and about to be killed, they were saved by the arrival of the Liberation forces.

All-out battles

The all-out battles on Zigzag Pass resumed February 2, 1945. The Japanese Kembu Group led by Major General Rikichi Tsukada, put up a tough defense at the Zigzag Pass as the Americans on the eastern side started using incendiary bombs, trench mortars and flame throwers to penetrate the tunnels and bunkers occupied by the Japanese. The Americans encountered hand-to-hand combat with the enemy holed up in the areas of Colo and the present Barrio Pagasa in Dinalupihan.

Even the Americans admitted that the Japanese fighting force holed up in the mountain pass were some of the toughest men they had encountered. This was because the enemy had dug in behind big boulders and fortified bunkers long before the Americans came.

The Kembu Group’s principal unit in the eastern pass was the Nagayoshi Detachment (39th Infantry Regiment), under Colonel Sanenbou Nagayoshi. The Japanese group was abundant in supplies and ammunition and had really prepared for a long battle. Even though their main defensive lines were stretched thin at 2,000 yardsvand became vulnerable to flanking maneuvers, they intended to hold out indefinitely.

Advanced Liberation units

In Balanga, an American Liberation unit from Dinalupihann secretly landed in Barrio Puerto Rivas in late afternoon of February 2. A small Army camp was established in Tortugas, near the shore. The American soldiers started collecting intelligence information from the guerillas based in the barrios.

The natives of the two barrios exchanged eggs, tomatoes, bananas and other fruits for Army rations and canned goods, as well as clothing, being distributed by the advanced Liberation unit.

Bataan visit

General Douglas MacArthur, who was still not pleased with the on-going pace of the Manila-bound Liberation force, expressed his intention to proceed from his temporary quarters in Tarlac to Bataan the following day, February 3.

Tullahan river

In Manila, elements of the United States Army’s 1st Cavalry Divisionunder Maj. General Verne D. Mudge pushed into the northern outskirts of Manila on February 3 and seized a vital bridge across the Tullahan River which separated them from the city proper. They entered Manila through Caloocan City between 4:30 and 5:00 in the afternoon. The Americans came single-file along both sides of major streets surrounding the University of Santo Tomas.

Elements of Brig. General William C. Chase‘s 8th Cavalry also entered the city and began a drive toward the sprawling UST campus-internment camp. Since January 4, 1942,  the university had been used to hold American and Allied prisoners and civilians. Out of the 4,255 prisoners, 466 have died in captivity and three were killed while attempting to escape on February 15, 1942.

The presence of American Liberators in the area was purely a rescue mission for the prisoners being held inside the uniersity’s main buildings for the last 37 months.

Meanwhile, the Batangas (Southern) Force and US 11th Airborne Division entered Pasay City and Makati at the same time.

Negotiation

Major General Vernon D. Mudge, leader of the American raiding team, started negotiating  for the internees’ release in exchange for a safe-conduct pass for all the Japanese guards across the Pasig River. The stand-off lasted into the night.

At 9:00 in the evening, a military jeep crashed into the school’s main gate, triggering a firefight. The jeepney’s driver, Captain Manuel Colayco, a USAFFE guerrilla officer,  and his companion, Lt. Diosdado Guytingco, guided the American First Cavalry inside the campus. Captain Colayco, unfortuately, was shot during the firefight.

Simultaneously, a single tank of the 44th Tank Battalion, nicknamed “Battlin’ Basic,” rammed through the university walls. Sgt. Austin E. Aulds, a combat medic from Texas, was the second US soldier to enter, while four others entered through the Calle España entrance.

In minutes, some 15,000 American soldiers and tanks, supported by city guerillas under the leadership of Captain Manuel C. Colayco entered the campus of the University of Santo Tomas. Intense fightings inside ensued. During the skirmish, many of the internees were immediately freed.

The Japanese guards, commanded by Lt. Col. Toshio Hayashi, gathered the remaining internees together in the Education Building as hostages. There, they exchanged pot shots with the Americans and Filipino guerrillas.

Chinese guerrillas

At the very start of the “Battle of Manila,” the Wa Chi Movement had been involved in the operations of the American Liberation forces. Its squadrons were counted as parts of the US Army’s 1st Cavalry during the Central Luzon Campaign (and 11th Airborne during the Southern Luzon campaign).

Like the “Hunters-ROTC,” the Wa Chi Movement conducted guerrilla operations in Luzon. Wa Chi, also-called 48th Detachment, had a total of six squadrons, about 700 fighting men, grown from the original 40, of whom 90 percent came from Manila. The men who led the Wa-Chi included Felix Cu, Kho Liong Woon, Lim Ki Chin, and Toh Kang Lay, among others.  Just like their comrades in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the Philippine Wa Chi undertook their own 26-day “long march” in 1943, starting from Biak-na-Bato, Bulacan, and ending at Paete, Laguna. They fought the fascist Japanese together with their brothers-in-arms, the Hukbalahaps.

Yamashita’s choice

General Tomoyuki Yamashita had ordered the commander of Shimbu Group, Army General Yokoyama Shizuo, to evacuate the city of Manila after destroying all bridges and other vital installations as soon as any large American forces made their appearance. But Shizuo’s men left the city without destroying those instalations.

Yamashita also ordered Navy’s Vice Admiral Denshichi Okochi, commander of the Southwestern Area Fleet, for the naval forces to leave the capital after destroying the naval facilities in Manila. But Admiral Okuchi resisted Yamashita’s direct order to leave the city.

This insubordination can be seen as one example of the contrast of views and failing cooperation between the Army and the Navy during this last phase of the war. Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi of the Japanense Naval Defense Forces was specifically entrusted by Navy Vice Admiral Denshichi Okochi with the task of the holding the city by any means necessary. It turned out later that Iwabuchi was really committed to defending Manila to the last man. He ordered his motley group of about 16,000-19,000 Imperial Marines, sailors, and varied troops to utilize Intramuros as their main battleground.

Iwabuchi’s men immedately blew up every outlying facility of even marginal value, like bridges and footpaths in Manila and set up minefields, barbed wire, interlocking trenches, and hulks of trucks and trolleys, to create bottlenecks and traps inside the city. Thereafter, he ordered his troops to form a strong defensive zone.

However, Iwabuchi and his men belonging to the 31st Naval Special Base Force and a few units of the Special Naval Landing Forces (also called the “elite naval infantry”) found themselves without armors, low number of artillery pieces and limited supplies for their light weapons.

The bulk of the naval force amounted largely on regular sailors without any kind of practical knowledge on land warfare, and about a hundred Japanese civilian employes. There were also Korean and Formosan construction personnel in the unit but only a few of these naval personell received minimum knowledge on ground warfare training, let alone urban warfare tactics.

These Japanese troops relied on limited defensive equipment and largely light weaponry. There were avaliable high quantities of A/A-20- mm guns though, effectively usable against infantry personnel. There were also hundreds of 7.7-mm light machine guns and sixty 120-mm dual-purpose naval guns.

Artillery pieces, however, were limited to very few units of 100-and 105-mm light guns. Infantry weapons were also not entirely available for all and so even captured American weapons will have to be utilized.

There were also shortages of hand grenades and molotov cocktails. Artillery shells and naval mine became buried land mines. And in some cases, aerial bombs will have to be disperately dropped from upper floors of buildings for effectivity.

Manila defense plan

Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi had divided his force into three major units: a Northern Force, a Central Force, and a Southern Force. The Northern force would be the most fanatical of all. It was commanded by Colonel Katzuo Noguchi, and its territory covered  north of the Pasig River, the Manila suburbs in the north and northeast, and the eastern sector of Manila, to include  Intramuros.

Iwabuchi busied himself on the southern side of the Pasig River. He concentrated most of his troops in Ermita, the government center from the Post Office to the Agriculture and Finance buildings. He also mined streets, established gun emplacements in government buildings, and set up hardened positions along bridges.

Intramuros, a fortress protected by high walls, was the only key point in the overall Japanese defensive position inside Manila. Rear Admiral Iwabuchi decided to use the full potential of the Walled City. 

Southern Liberation Force

On February 3 in Cavite, the remaining Japanese force in Imus, located only five (5) miles south of Manila, mounted a not-so-strong defense against the advancing Liberation Forces. An entrenched force of about 50 Japanese held a defense position centered on an old stone building in the historic town.

A bombardment by the Liberation Forces’ 75-mm howitzers had earlier failed to dislodge the Japanese. A small band of the Japanese 31st Naval Special Base Force was able to stop the Americans temporarily near the Paranaque River, part of the main Japanese defense in southern Manila. They blew up the Paranaque bridge to further stop the Americans.

MacArthur in Bataan

Early in the day, General Douglas MacArthur arrived at Layac Junction after an early morning ride from Tarlac. He wanted to personally assess the on-going “Battle of Zigzag Pass” in the Hermosa-Dinalupihan area. He spent the day discussing plans with his commanders on how to end the impasse.

New Zambales governor

Late at night of February 3, Ramon and Luz Magsaysay were awakened by a sound from outside their shack. A voice which sounded American was calling out Ramon’s name. Afraid that it was a drunken soldier, Luz took her children away from the sala where they were sleeping while Ramon got up,reached for his gun, and went to the door.

Upon seeing an American soldier, Ramon lit a lamp and talked to him on the stairs. In a minute, Ramon was back inside the house and told Luz that “General Charles P. Hall was appointing him as military governor of Zambales and that a ceremony will be held the next morning in Iba, the capital town.”

UST peace negotiation

Early at dawn of February 4, 1945, Lt. Col. Toshio Hayashi, commander of the UST concentration camp started renegotiating with Major General Vernon D. Mudge of the American raiding team who initially offered to allow them to rejoin the other Japanese troops concentrated in the Intramuros area. Colonel Hayashi finally agreed.

The Filipino guerrillas, however, demanded that the Japanese leave their rifles, pistols and swords behind. The soldiers were also asked to stay inside the campus for a little while as the remaining internees were being secured. They also agreed.

Immediately, the combined American and Filipino soldiers successfully liberated a total of 6,865 prisoners: 3,000 were Filipinos,  2,870 Americans, 745 British, 100 Australians, 61 Canadians, 50 Dutch, 25 Poles, seven French, two Egyptians, two Spaniards, one Swiss, one German, and one Slovak.

The Americans include the remaining “Angels of Bataan”  (also known as the “Battling Belles of Bataan and Corregidor) who were also liberated after three years of incarceration and hardship.

The sad news was: former USAFFE commander General Jonathan Wainwright was no longer confined at the UST camp. It turned out that he had been moved from the Manila camp to Formosa, and then to a prisoner-of-war camp in Manchuria, China.

Also found inside the UST campus were dead Japanese soldiers from the night’s fighting. They were all in their stockinged feet.

Throughout the day, open trucks flying Philippine flags and filled with American soldiers and guerrillas drove around the Sampaloc area hunting down Japanese stragglers and Filipino “collaborators.” Those found were beaten to death on the streets.

Old Bilibid Prison

At noon, the American Liberation forces also attacked the Old Bilibid Prison located beside the Manila Central Market and two miles from the newly-freed University of Santo Tomas. Intelligence reports have it that a big number of former USAFFE soldiers, guerrillas, and suspected guerrillas were being held there by the Japanese Kempetai police. The Americans proceeded there immediately.

Except for some booby traps, there was little blood spilled during the prison raid. It turned out that majority of the Japanese guarding the prison had left earlier and reassembled in the Intamuros district.

Japanese road blocks

At noon, all American forces in Manila were reassembled and tasked to finish all the remaining Japanese defenders holed up in Intramuros. The guerillas in the city also joined the assault which started immediately. Road blocks laid out by the Japanese along Quezon Bridge however, stopped every Liberation forces advance on the first day. The situation quickly came down to a series of bitter street-to-street and house-to-house struggles.

In the north, elements of the XIV Corps pushed south from Santo Tomas University toward the Pasig River. Late in the afternoon, the 2nd Squadron of the 5th Cavalry seized Quezon Bridge, the only crossing over the Pasig River that the Japanese did not destroy for loss of time.

As the American squadron approached the bridge, however, Japanese heavy machine guns opened fire from a formidable roadblock thrown up across Quezon Boulevard. The Japanese defense forced the cavalrymen to stop their advance and withdraw until nightfall. As the Americans and Filipinos pulled back, the Japanese finally succeeded in blowing up the bridge.

Turmoil in the south

In Manila’s southern sector, the Japanese blew up all bridges crossing the Pasig River before the 11^th Airborne and the Batangas force could consolidate positions in Makati and Mandaluyong. Thus, the American southern force was isolated temporarily. The Japanese, knowing that they would not come out of Manila alive, vented their anger on the hapless residents.

Manila’s destructon

Unable to advance further across Pasig River, the Americans used their artillery and tanks to shell Japanese positions in Pandacan, Paco and Intramuros, including the Post Office building and Manila City Hall. American shells sizzled as they hurtled toward Japanese positions from afternoon until night time.

Cut off by the Americans, the Japanese turned again on the defenseless civilian population of Manila. They seemed to have decided that if they were going to die then they would take as many Filipinos with them as possible. The mindless violence became known as the “Rape of Manila.”

True objectives

Besides liberating the prisoners-of-war at the UST concentration camp, liberating Manila was as important for both military and psychological reasons. One important objective was to open the port at Manila because logistics in Lingayen Bay were at a major bottlneck. There were no real port facilities there. Supplies and equipment had to be landed on the beach which significatly slowed down operations.

Manila, on the other hand, was a major port with facilities that could handle ocean-going shipping. Operating the port would be difficult while Bataan and Corregidor were still in Japanese hands. These two locations must also be liberated as soon as possible.

Liberation of Cavite

On February 4, the province of Cavite was also proclaimed liberated from the Japanese. It only took four days after the American liberation forces landed on the beaches in Nasugbu, Batangas (on January 31, 1945) when the joint U.S. and Filipino soldiers, supported by the Cavite resistance groups, finally defeated the enemy in the province.

Northern fortifications

In Ifugao Province, General Tomoyuki Yamashita tasked his troops to fortify the town of Kiangan. He also ordered the arrest of many civilians in the town of Kiangan to be used as hostages. He also tried in vain to contact Tokyo.

During this time, President Jose Laurel, General Manuel Roxas, Jorge Vargas and General Mateo Capinpin were still in Baguio City but under Yamashita’s custody.

MacArthur’s friend

General Douglas MacArthur, while still in Dinalupihan, Bataan, gave specific instructions to his men currently gathered outside Baguio City to locate General Yamashita’s hideout and liberate his friend, General-Senator Manuel A. Roxas alive.

Zambales governor

The oath-taking ceremony of Ramon Magsaysay as military governor of Zambales and commanding officer of the Zambales Military District (ZMD) was  held at the provincial capitol building in Iba. It was attended by Major General Charles P. Hall of the 38th Division (XI Corps), his staff officers, Luz Magsaysay and the three children, along with a platoon each of American soldiers and guerrillas.

At breakfast, Hall and Magsaysay talked about mutual assistance between the US Army, the guerrillas and the people of Zambales. Magsaysay did not conceal his  pleasure at having a  big bowl of oatmeal, bread and butter, etc. after the oathtaking. He and wife Luz exchanged understanding glances. It had been so long since they had such a nourishing breakfast.

To prepare himself for provincial administration, Ramon immediatey sought the advice of two well-known provincemates: Judge Guilermo Pablo, pre-war judge of the Court of First Instance in Nueva Ecija and Attorney Cesar Miraflor, the former secretary of the mayor of Manila.

As military governor, his main function was to provide the people of Zambales with food, clothing and medicine from the provincial branch of the US Army’s Philippine Civil Affairs Unit (PCAU). He  was also furnished with a jeep and free gasoline at every US Army camp and was able to travel freely to observe conditions in the towns. He also requisitioned the needed supplies and medical services from the PCAU.

He also asked the newly-appointed and retained town mayors to reestablish their offices, which the PCAU supported financially. Through the mayors, he issued instructions regarding the maintennance of peace and order, keeping good relationship with US military personnel, and the production of food.

All this time, Luz remained a loving mother to their children and an inspiration to her husband Ramon.

UST truce

On the morning of February 5, the 47 Japanese soldiers formerly in-charge of the UST concentration camp were escorted out of the campus by American soldiers up to the spot they earlier  requested. Each group saluted each other and departed.

Unfortunately, the Japanese were unaware that the area they requested was near the American-occupied Malacañan Palace. Soon afterwards, they were fired upon by the palace guards and several Japanese were killed, including Lt. Col. Toshio Hayashi. Later in the afternoon, the surviving Japanese returned to the university and surrendered.

To be continued…