Ne'er shall invaders : the major land battles for the reconquest of North Luzon in world war II

USAFIP NL Emblem

This is the approved patch for the USAFIP NL. The black base represented the "horrible days during the Japanese regime, the yellow flame at center of the symbolic light of liberty aglow in the hearts of those who remained with USAFIP NL and the five (5) yellow rays, the five regiments which operated during the Japanese days and eventually aided in the liberation of North Luzon."

NE?ER SHALL INVADERS T he major land battles for the reconquest of North Lu'{on tn World War II

Foreword by DR. ABELARDO G. SAMONTE

Diliman, Quezon City 1972

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Copyright 1972 by the author . . ,

All rights reserved. No part of this boo~ may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph, photocopy or ."any. other means, without the ,~ ...' permission in ' \\i-rltiiig Irani the autnor. '

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Printed by the University of the Philippines Press.

DEDICATION

To the fallen.'

FOREWORD Since the liberation of the country from the Japanese occupation forces in 1945, scores of books, articles and testimonials have been written about the exploits of intrepid fighters of the underground.

Many of these writings focus on the exploits of a particular individual or group; others revolve around certain events and places or the details of a single battle like that of Bessang Pass.

The present volume is perhaps one of the few works which deal with the series of major battles leading to the liberation of a major region - Northern Luzon. Drawing extensively from historical records as well as from interviews and personal experience, the author makes a comprehensive and well-rounded narration of the entire campaign of the United States Army Forces in 'the Philippines, Northern Luzon (USAFIP NL).

The author provides a very good overview of the setting - the Pacific War, Bataan, Corregidor and Capas, as well as the guerrilla movement during the Japanese occupation. He also portrays a vivid picture of how the contending forces - the Japanese and the USAFIP NL - were respectively deployed for battle. The occupation forces in the Region numbered 85,000 to 90,000 including the 19th (Tora) Division which arrived from stations in Korea and Japan toward the end of 1944. Facing them were five infantry regiments of the USAFIP NL: the 11th Infantry based in Cagayan, the 14th Infantry in Nueva Vizcaya and !fugao, the 15th Infantry in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, the 66th Infantry in Bcnguet, and 121st Infantry in La Union. These guerrilla units swelled from 8,000 men in January 1945 to 18,000 two months later. ' Placed in proper perspective, the different encounters are described in a detailed and objective fashion: the long, bloody fight for San Fernando, La Union which was eventually captured by the 121st Infantry, the successful effort of the 15th Infantry to drive away the Japanese from Northwestern Luzon; the epic struggle for Bessang Pass; the battle for Lepanto and Mankayan in which the 66th Infantry, vii

with American artillery and air support, showed its mettle; the operations of the 11th Infantry and 14th Infantry in Central North and Northeastern Luzon.

The book is aptly dedicated "to the fallen"; for the narration of battles reflects the hardships and valiant efforts of the thousands of officers, soldiers, and "bolo" men who demonstrated that indomitable spirit of a people to free themselves of foreign invaders. The author thoughtfully places in the appendix the names of nearly a thousand unsung heroes who paid the supreme price - their very lives - in the liberation of Northern Luzon.

Commander Leonardo Q. Nuval is very well-qualified to write about the reconquest of Northern Luzon. He started as a private and finished as a Master Sergeant during that campaign. Later, he became a commissioned officer of the Philippine Navy where he retired after nearly 20 years of service, and is now a senior executive in a large port-oriented service company. He must be commended for taking time out from his busy schedule as an executive to write this book which may be considered as an act of faith, a tribute to his comrades - both living and dead - who, fpught the invaders in order that we may be free.

ABELARDO G. SAMONTE, Ph.D. Vice-President for Academic Affairs University of the Philippines

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply grateful to the defunct Historical Records Section of G-3, General Headquarters, USAFIP NL which prepared immediately after the war the unit's unpublished "After-Battle Report" and the book Guerrilla Days i.n North Luzon. These two documents furnished much of the information and data I have elucidated on in my book. Similarly, to the Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, Washington D.C. and to the War History Compilation Office, Retraining Institute, Defense Agency of Tokyo, Japan.

Special acknowledgment is made to the W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. of New York for allowing me to reproduce some of their pictorial materials that appeared in the book "We Remained" by Russell W. Volckman, copyrighted in 1954.

I would like to acknowledge too supplementary information I received from veterans of the USAFIP NL on certain aspects I have chosen to delve on quite deeply in the Battle for Bessang Pass. They are former Lieutenants A velino L. Battad and Santos M. Morden of the third battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment. On thc activities of the 14th Infantry Regiment, former Sl aff Sergeant and now practicing lawyer Gerardo V. Cui through his newspaper article, "Battle of Hapid," provided useful information.

By the same to,ken, it will be extreme ungratefulness on my part if I fail to single out my wife, Mrs. Beulah D. Nuval, (BSE, MEd, EdS), for the help, guidance and provocative ideas she has given me during the two and a half years that I wrote the draft manuscript.

She gave her time and patience in mechanically preparing and reviewing parts of this manuscript aside from helping me correlate my recollections of the war as a teen-aged enlisted man in the USAFIP NL with those of information available from the sources mentioned ab0vc.

She too prepared the index of this book.

LEONARDO Q. NUVAL (Former Private, 66th Infantry and Master Sergeant GHQ, USAFIP NL)

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CONTENTS Foreword

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Acknowledgments 1. Introduction

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vii ix 3

Fall In! .................. i •• : • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 6 The Enemy ..................................... .

12 T'ne Investiture of San Fernando ................... .

20 The Northwestern Luzon Operations ................. . 31 "The Battle Among the Clouds" ..................... .

44 The Battle for Lepanto and Mankayan ............... .

61 The Central North Luzon and Northeastern Luzon Operations ............................... :: 71 9. Pursuit and Triumph! ...................... : ..... : .

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96 10. Attests .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

11. Epilogue .. ...................................... . 101 Appendices Bibliography lnde}{

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ILLUSTRATIONS USAFIP NL Emblem

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USAFIP NL Initial Deployment

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USAFIP NL Organizational Schematic

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Volckmann and some of his staff officers ..... .. .. ... .... ... .

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The Darigayos Inlet

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The road to Bessang Pass after a rain .... ......... . ... .. .

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Field Artillery pack howitzer crew supporting Infantrymen in Bessang campaign .. ...... . ... ... .. .... ..... . .... .

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122nd FA Bn (US) fire 105-mm guns at maximum elevation in Bessang campaign .. ..... ...... ..... ....... ... ... .

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The Howe wooden truss bridge at Butac built by the Engineer Battalion .. .. . .. . . ........ ... ...... .. .. .. .

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Upper and Lower Cadsu ............................... .

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Bessang Pass upon its capture ..... .... ......... ........ .

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The Bessang Pass Memorial Shrine ....................... .

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The final situation map in the Battle for

B ~ss a ng

Pass ....... .

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The Lepanto Mines upon its capture ............. ... ... .

Japanese Prisoners walk to entrucking points .............. .

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Volckmann unsheaths Ozaki's sword .... .... . ...... ... .... .

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The formal surrender ceremonies in Baguio ................ .

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The situation on V -J Day .............................. .

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The Asin Valley ....................... : ......... ..... .

General Yamashita leaves Asin Valley ............. '" . .... .

The "Tiger of Malaya" .......... ............. . .. . ... .. .

Colonel Barnett and General Ozaki .... . ............... .. .

A student demonstration at the University of the Philippines . .. . 103

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NE'ER ยงJHALL

XNV~ADERยง

1

INTRODUCTION

Shortly after sunrise on Sunday, December 8, 1941 at Barrio Catbangen, San Fernando, La Union, our elders began arriving home from hearing the early morning mass at the town's Roman Catholic church. It was the feast day of the Lady of the Immaculate Conception. Overhead was a glittering formation of seventeen planes that spelled a "V," basking in the early morning sun and flying at an altitude of almost ten thousand feet on a general easterly course¡ It was a beautiful sight!

World War II was raging in Europe. The Axis Powers of Germany' and ItalY w&re scoring victories over the Allied Powers of France and Great Britain. In Asia, there was tension. The third Axis Power, Japan, was in highest level negotiations with the United States of America.

In Manila, sometime in the middle of the year, the United States Am1y Forces in the Far East, USAFFE for short, was activated and placed under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, Military Adviser to the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

Into this command was inducted the fledgling Philippine Army, composed largely of reservists who completed five and a half months of military training in cadres distributed throughout the country's ten military districts. Troop mobilizations and other signs of military build-up began to be common sight. To the civilians and us, the school children then, these were reassuring signs. They reinforced our general belief that a "second-rate" power like Japan whose Navy was limited to a "5-5-3" ratio would not dare cross swords with the

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NE'ER SHALL INVADERS

Unitcd States of America. The 5-5-3 ratio supposedly indicated the ceiling strengths of the navies of Great Britain, United States and .I a pan in th~~t order and proportion. It therefore appeared that the Commonwealth of the Philippines, well on its w~y of transition into political independence, will be safe frum any war intentions of nearby Nippon.

Later that same Sunday morning, our household radi o blared information that the United States military reservation of Camp John Hay in Bagu!o City had been bombed earlier by seventeen Japanese planes that approached from the general westward direction of San Fernando. La Union. Other localities in the Philippines like Fort Stotsenburg, now Clark Field, were attacked too. Could it be that "second-rate" Japan has struck and thus, began the Pacific War? What followed that fateful December morning is now historytreasured moments, events and phases of contemporary Philippine history. There were Bataan, Corregidor, Capas and a host of others.

Through this book. I havc attempted to pass on to the reader what to mc is one such glorious phase of our history, a very glorious one.

It is the Philippine military campaign against the combined forces of thc Japanese Empire all over North Luzon from January to October in 1945. J refer to the mIlitary operations of the United States Army Forces in the Philippines, North Luzon, commonly known as the USAFIP NL. This account shall not, however, trace the history of the organization, its evolutionary development from the isolated communities of armed military men who refused to surrender to the Japanese forces in 1942 to its metamorphosis as an oversized combat division of the infantry. Neither shall I make an interpretation of the campaign.

Rather , the book shall present m a most objective and informative manner the facts of the campaign as they were and as they happened, all representative of the efforts of a resolute people to fight and will back from an encmy invader a priceless possession temporarily lost. I !>peak of Freedom, that collection of individual rights I~nown and enjoyed by only the free, posscssion of which spells the difference between the free man and the slave.

introduction / 5

In all pride and distinction, it can be claimed that this military campaign completed the defeat of the Imperial Japanese Forces in the Philippines. With this victory, the Pacific land war was brought to an end.

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r. Ne'er ..... Invaclera ; the major land IIIIIIIe. for the reconqlMSt of North Luzon In world war " I Leonardo Q NuYII' ; forW«lrd bv Dr. AbeIardo G. Samonte

LIB R A R Y

COMMANDER LEONARDO Q. NUVAL, a mechanical engineer, was born in Luna, La Union in 1925 and was a senior student in the La Union High School at the outbreak of the Pacific War. He enlisted in the 66th Infantry at Kapafigan, Benguet as a Private in 1944 and was honorably discharged from the USAFIP NL in 1946 as a Master Sergeant. He was the youngest of four (4) brothers who served in the USAFIP NL, his other brothers being Pcdro, a LieuLenant in the 121s1 Infantry and now a retired Lieutenant Colonel, Santiago, a Major ia the 66th Infantry and now a retired Commodore and former FlagOfficer-in-Command of the Philippine· Navy and Eliseo, a Lieutenant in the 15th Infantry who was killed-in-action in the battle for Bessang Pass. His brothers were officers in the USAFFE, served in Bataan and were aU incarcerated in Fort Santiago.

While in college working towards his engineering degree, he was called back to active military service, given a reserve commission as Ensign in the defunct Philippine Naval Patrol, later the Philippine Navy, where he served until he retired in 1968 after a total military service of nineteen and a half years.

He is married to the former Beulah Garcia Dalao of Iba, Zambales with whom he has t... o daughters , Barbara and Cynthia .

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