page_title: Philippine resistance against Japan
section_title: USAFFE and American sponsored guerrillas
hierarchical_section_title: Philippine resistance against Japan / Resistance in Luzon / USAFFE and American sponsored guerrillas
caption_attribution_description: English: Among the many internment camps for civilians set up by the Japanese in the Philippines during World War II was one near the little town of Los Banos, forty-two miles southeast of Manila. Here, several miles behind enemy lines and approximately two miles from the southwest shore of Laguna de Bay, on Luzon Island, was the second largest concentration of allied men, women, and children in the Philippines. Represented were ten nationalities whose citizens ranged in age from six months to seventy years. While many were missionaries, nuns, and priests of various orders, a few were U.S. Navy nurses who had been incarcerated since their capture on Corregidor in 1942. In February 1945, the 11th U.S. Airborne Division and six Philippine guerrilla units operating on Luzon devised a plan to liberate the camp and for that purpose formed the Los Banos Task Force under Col. Robert H. Soule. The group consisted of approximately two thousand paratroopers, amphibious tractor battalion units, and ground forces as well as some three hundred guerrillas. The key to the rescue was an assault force consisting of a reinforced airborne company who were to jump on the camp while a reconnaissance force of approximately ninety selected guerrillas, thirty-two U. S. Army enlisted men, and one officer pinned the guards down. The remainder of the force was to launch a diversionary attack, send in amphibious reinforcements, and be prepared to evacuate the internees either overland or across the lake. The bulk of the Philippine guerrillas were to assist by providing guides and marking both the drop zone and beach landing site. This plan was based on intelligence provided by guerrilla observations of the camp guard locations and routines, supplemented by a detailed map of the Los Banos Camp which had been drawn by a civilian internee who had managed to escape. The group learned that eighty guards and a well-armed garrison maintained the camp and were backed by eight to fifteen thousand troops who were several hours' march away. Using this information, the reconnaissance force was directed to approach the area by way of Manila and Muntinlupa under cover of darkness on 21-22 February, in preparation for an attack on 23 February. At dawn, just before the planes were within sight bearing the paratroopers whose chutes would signal the attack, an alert Japanese sentry spotted a guerrilla moving into position and fired a shot to alert the garrison. The attack was forced into motion as a guerrilla wielding a bolo knife quickly silenced the guard, while others in the reconnaissance force killed most of the sentries who remained. By the time the airborne company could join the assault, most of the guards had been either killed or driven from their posts. When the remainder of the parent airborne battalion and pack howitzers arrived by amphibious tractors, the remaining pillboxes were taken and the force turned its attention to the sole reason for the entire mission: the liberation of the 2,147 internees from almost certain death. By 1:30 P.M. that day, the last of the internees, paratroopers, and guerrillas had been evacuated from Los Banos. Casualties consisted of three guerrillas killed and six wounded and two U.S. paratroopers killed and four wounded. Apparently, the entire Japanese garrison was killed. Clearly shown in the painting is a guerrilla armed with a bolo knife divesting a Japanese sentry of his rifle. Crouched behind the foliage and clutching U.S. issued .30 caliber M1903 series rifles, are other members of the force who wait to assist the 11th Airborne force landing in front of the camp.
context_page_description: During the Japanese occupation of the islands in World War II, there was an extensive Philippine resistance movement, which opposed the Japanese and their collaborators with active underground and guerrilla activity that increased over the years. Fighting the guerrillas – apart from the Japanese regular forces – were a Japanese-formed Bureau of Constabulary, the Kenpeitai, and the Makapili. Postwar studies estimate that around 260,000 persons were organized under guerrilla groups and that members of anti-Japanese underground organizations were more numerous. Such was their effectiveness that by the end of World War II, Japan controlled only twelve of the forty-eight provinces.
  Select units of the resistance would go on to be reorganized and equipped as units of the Philippine Army and Constabulary. The United States Government officially granted payments and benefits to various ethnicites who have fought with the Allies by the war's end. However, only the Filipinos were excluded from such benefits, and since then these veterans have made efforts in finally being acknowledged by the United States.
context_section_description: After Bataan and Corregidor, many who escaped the Japanese reorganized in the mountains as guerrillas still loyal to the U.S. Army Forces Far East (USAFFE). One example would be the unit of Ramon Magsaysay in Zambales, which first served as a supply and intelligence unit. After the surrender in May 1942, Magsaysay and his unit formed a guerrilla force which grew to a 10,000-man force by the end of the war. Another was the Hunters ROTC which operated in the Southern Luzon area, mainly near Manila. It was created upon dissolution of the Philippine Military Academy in the beginning days of the war. Cadet Terry Adivoso refused to simply go home as cadets were ordered to do, and began recruiting fighters willing to undertake guerrilla action against the Japanese. This force would later be instrumental, providing intelligence to the liberating forces led by General Douglas MacArthur, and took an active role in numerous battles, such as the Raid at Los Baños. When war broke out in the Philippines, some 300 Philippine Military Academy and ROTC cadets, unable to join the USAFFE units because of their youth, banded together in a common desire to contribute to the war effort throughout the Bataan campaign. The Hunters originally conducted operations with another guerrilla group called Marking's Guerrillas, with whom they went about liquidating Japanese spies. Led by Miguel Ver, a PMA cadet, the Hunters raided the enemy-occupied Union College in Manila and seized 130 Enfield rifles.
  Also, before being proven false in 1985 by the United States Military, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos claimed that he had commanded a 9,000-strong guerrilla force known as the Maharlika Unit. Marcos also used maharlika as his personal pseudonym; depicting himself as a bemedalled anti-Japanese Filipino guerrilla fighter during World War II. Marcos told exaggerated tales and exploits of himself fighting the Japanese in his self-published autobiography Marcos of the Philippines which was proven to be fiction. His father, Mariano Marcos, did however collaborate with the Japanese and was executed by Filipino guerillas in April 1945 under the command of Colonel George Barnett, and Ferdinand himself was accused of being a collaborator as well.
  In July 1942, South West Pacific Area (SWPA) became aware of the resistance movements forming in occupied Philippines through attempted radio communications to Allies outside of the Philippines; by late 1942, couriers had made it to Australia confirming the existence of the resistance. By December 1942, SWPA sent Captain Jesús A. Villamor to the Philippines to make contact with guerrilla organizations, eventually developing extensive intelligence networks including contacts within the Second Republic Government. A few months later SWPA sent Lieutenant Commander Chick Parsons, who returned to the Philippines in early 1943, vetting guerrilla leaders and established communications and supply for them with SWPA. Through the Allied Intelligence Bureau's Philippine Regional Section, SWPA sent operatives and equipment into the Philippines to supply and assist guerrilla organizations, often by submarine. The large cruiser submarines USS Narwhal and USS Nautilus, with a high capacity for personnel and supplies, proved especially useful in supporting the guerrillas. Beginning in mid-1943, the assistance to the guerrillas in the Philippines became more organized, with the formation of the 5217th Reconnaissance Battalion, which was largely composed of volunteer Filipino Americans from the 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments, which were established and organized in California.
  In Nueva Ecija, guerrillas led by Juan Pajota and Eduardo Joson protected the U.S. Army Rangers and Alamo Scouts who were conducting a rescue mission of Allied POWs from a counterattack by Japanese reinforcements. Pajota and the Filipino guerrillas received Bronze Stars for their role in the raid. Among the guerrilla units, the Blue Eagles were a specialized unit established for landmine and sniper detection, as well as in hunting Japanese spies who h
caption: Painting of a guerrilla armed with a bolo knife disarming a Japanese sentry of his rifle during the raid at Los Baños
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "150", "Image YResolution": "150", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2005:04:15 13:17:52", "Image ExifOffset": "156", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "294", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5373", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1037", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1455"}