The Sources: A Critical Note
This volume is based primarily upon the official records of the United States armed services involved in the operations described. Additional material on strategic planning was taken from the records of Allied and American combined and joint agencies and headquarters. Information on the Japanese side of the story derives principally from Japanese sources, the bulk of them postwar in nature. The written record has been supplemented by correspondence, interviews, and comments upon all or parts of the draft manuscript by participants in the action described. Supplementary and complementary sources include both published works and unpublished manuscripts. Unless otherwise indicated, all records employed in the preparation of this volume are in the World War II Records Division, National Archives and Records Service (NARS), General Services Administration (GSA).
Materials on strategic planning in this volume derive mainly from the records of the U.S.-U.K. Combined Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and their various subordinate committees. Copies of these materials are to be found in the files of the wartime Operations Division, General Staff, U.S. Army (OPD). Additional materials on strategic planning are located in the central decimal files of OPD; in the Chief of Staff's Log, filed in the Staff Communications Branch, Office of the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army; and in the files of General Headquarters, Southwest Pacific Area (GHQ SWPA). Some of the GHQ SWPA records are in the custody of the NARS.
The records of the Combined and Joint Chiefs of Staff contain invaluable material upon the background of major strategic decisions relevant to the campaigns that led to the triumph in the Philippines. The OPD files contain important supplementary material on OPD planning and proposals regarding the conduct of the war in the Pacific and provide information concerning the Army's point of view on plans thrashed out at the joint and combined levels. The Chief of Staff's log includes such items as JCS messages to General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz; records of radio-telephone conversations between officers at GHQ SWPA and in Washington; and radios between Generals Marshall and MacArthur.
Strategic planning materials in GHQ SWPA files duplicate to some extent that available in the collections of Washington agencies, but also include additional materials setting forth the theater's point of view on various problems and such items as the theater's plans for its campaigns. Unfortunately, some GHQ SWPA records collections that existed
during the war have not as yet been located. These include the files of the Chief of Staff's Office, the G-3 Planning Division, and part of the G-3 Historical Division materials. There is reason to believe that part of the G-3 Planning Division files were lost in an airplane crash in the Pacific during 1947. Diligent search and extensive correspondence have failed to disclose the location of other missing files of GHQ SWPA, although it appears that some important bodies of papers are still in the hands of former ranking officers at GHQ SWPA.
The most fruitful sources of information concerning the tactical plans for the campaigns in the Philippines are the records of the G-3 Section of GHQ SWPA and of U.S. Sixth Army. The most valuable GHQ SWPA collections in this category are the decimal files of the G-3 Administration Office and the G-3 Daily Journal File. The Sixth Army's G-3 records are particularly valuable in that they contain much important planning information that is not to be located in other available collections, and include many documents that would normally be found in the missing GHQ SWPA files. Important material on naval planning, including many planning papers of the Allied Naval Forces, SWPA, and the III and VII Amphibious Forces as well, are also to be found in the Sixth Army collection. In general, most of the important planning papers in the Sixth Army collection are located in the Sixth Army G-3 Journal Files for the Mindoro and Luzon operations. Some of the Luzon G-3 Journal Files are in the custody of the Federal Records Center Annex, GSA, Kansas City, Missouri. A valuable supplementary source of Sixth Army planning information, and for certain operational information as well, was the file maintained by Brig. Gen. George H. Decker, Chief of Staff, Sixth Army. The material, comprising eleven folders of letters, memorandums, and special reports at various echelons of the commands in the Southwest Pacific Area, was loaned to the Office of the Chief of Military History (OCMH) by General Decker, but has been returned to him. The collection is cited in the footnotes of this volume as Decker Papers.
Valuable planning materials concerning the U.S. Eighth Army's participation in the campaigns described in this volume are to be found in Eighth Army G-3 Journal Files. Additional planning material at all levels is located in the after action reports* of the various units involved in the operations on Luzon and in the southern Philippines, while more information on naval planning can be found in the reports of the naval commands participating in the campaigns. Logistical planning material can be found in all the foregoing sources as well as in the reports of such agencies as the Army Service Command on Luzon and in the files of the U.S. Army Services of Supply (USASOS), SWPA, the latter in the Federal Records Center Annex, GSA, Kansas City, Missouri. Air planning information in this volume has been derived principally from materials in GHQ SWPA and Sixth Army files and
from the Air Forces' official history of World War II (see below, Published Works).
The problem of Army ground forces operational records for the preparation of Triumph in the Philippines was one of plethora. The Sixth and Eighth Armies, the I, X, XI, and XIV Corps, the divisions, engineer special brigades, separate regimental combat teams, and all other units involved generally maintained excellent records for the operations. Most of the units submitted good narrative after action reports which, with supporting documents such as journals and journal files, provided more than ample information upon which to base the contents of the volume. The end of Japanese resistance in August 1945 gave most units time to assemble better and more complete reports and supporting documents than had been possible under earlier conditions of almost constant combat, training, or movement.
There are, unfortunately, a few outstanding exceptions to these generalizations. The most intensive efforts failed to locate the I Corps' G-3 Journal Files or other I Corps G-3 Section materials except for an incomplete and abbreviated G-3 Journal. The 40th Infantry Division's G-3 Journal Files are incomplete for the early days of operations on Luzon, and virtually no records for the division's 108th and 160th Infantry Regiments can be located for the period 9-11 January, the critical days of the invasion. The most frustrating case concerns the records of the 11th Airborne Division. That unit lost virtually its entire collection for the Luzon Campaign in a disastrous fire at its headquarters building while on occupation duty in Japan. The author managed to assemble less than a file drawer of 11th Airborne Division records, including a short after action report, from Army depositories and the division's home station at Camp Campbell, Kentucky. Additional materials are to be found in the records of adjacent units and higher headquarters. Upon occasion--as, for instance, in the case of the entire collection of XIV Corps G-3 Journal Files--operational material is to be found in Federal Records Center Annex, GSA, Kansas City, Missouri, where most of the administrative files (used only sparingly in this volume) for all units are also located.
Generally, but by no means always, the lower the echelon the more accurate and complete are the narrative after action reports. The Sixth Army's narrative stands head and shoulders above almost all the others for reliability and coverage. I and XI Corps narratives leave much to be desired; the XIV Corps narrative, prepared largely by the Corps' chief of staff, Col. Hugh M. Milton, is by contrast a very good piece of work. Some division reports, like that of the 40th, are quite poor. Regimental reports attain every conceivable degree of quality and quantity. There is often, but not always, an apparent if not real relationship between the quality of a unit's report and records and its performance in the field.
Useful as the after action reports are, they do not provide the basis for complete and accurate coverage of operations. For this it is essential to rely upon the supporting documents such as journals, journal files, message files, daily operational and intelligence reports, overlays, sketches, and special reports, of the various echelons of the commands
engaged. For this volume the normal level of such source material for combat coverage is that of the infantry regiment.
Despite the almost embarrassing abundance of records, there are still gaps. It is seldom possible to correlate infantry and artillery action--reports and records of artillery units do not contain sufficient detail for that. Detailed information on air support operations is also difficult to come by. The infantry units made few systematic attempts to record the time, target, and results of air strikes, although they almost invariably recorded the fact that an air strike was late or misplaced. Details of tank-infantry operations are equally difficult to assemble. The tank battalions did not have the records-keeping facilities of larger units and they normally fought broken down to companies or platoons, far from their parent battalion headquarters. Details of supply operations within divisions and regiments are also usually impossible to ascertain--the problems are set forth "by the numbers" but the solutions are at best generalized. In a few cases G-4 or S-4 staff section reports and journal files provide good and interesting coverage of tactical supply operations.
Detailed information on the activities of regimental cannon companies is another common gap, and it is usually impossible to obtain any meaningful data on the operations of divisional Quartermaster, Ordnance, and Signal units. On the other hand, most divisional Engineer battalions submitted valuable after action reports with supporting documents. A most baffling and frustrating gap in the information is that pertaining to the activities of divisional reconnaissance troops and regimental intelligence and reconnaissance platoons. Almost never is material on these units included among the records, and even when some data are available they are all too seldom related to division or regimental plans and operations.
Naval operational records employed in the preparation of this volume are limited for the most part to action reports of the various task forces, task groups, and task units involved in the operations described. Some of these reports have abbreviated war diaries or logs (corresponding roughly to an Army unit's G-3 Journal) attached. Material on Third Fleet supporting operations for the Mindoro and Luzon invasions comes mainly from Admiral Nimitz' monthly operations reports (CINCPAC-CINCPOA, Operations in the Pacific Ocean Areas, December 1944 and January 1945). Copies of such naval reports as are not to be found in Army depositories are located in the Classified Operational Archives, Naval History Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Department of the Navy. The requirements of this volume did not make it necessary to consult naval unit war diaries or individual ship's logs, which are also filed in the Classified Operational Archives.
This volume being primarily the story of U.S. Army ground combat operations, no requirement existed for extensive research into Air Force sources and detailed coverage of air operations has been left to the U.S. Army Air Forces' official history. Some information on air operations is to be found in ground force records already described; the rest, including that on Marine Corps aviation, derives from secondary sources. The principal collection of Air Force unit reports and supporting documents
is located at the Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. Original records on Marine Corps aviation in the Philippines are filed in the Records and Research Section, Historical Branch, G-3 Section, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps.
The main body of relevant Army Service Forces unit records are located in the Federal Records Center Annex, GSA, Kansas City, Missouri, but for the most part the volume makes little use of service forces records and leaves the details of supply operations to the historians of logistics. The principal sources of information on supply matters are the records of USASOS and its subordinate echelons. Some of the records of the Army Service Command on Luzon (the Sixth Army's ASCOM) are also in the Federal Records Center Annex, GSA, Kansas City, Missouri. The ASCOM report for the period before the headquarters passed to USASOS was adequate for the purposes of this volume. Records of service units organic to divisions, already mentioned, are to be found in division files.
Reports of Philippine Civil Affairs Units (PCAU's) are sometimes filed as attachments to the reports of the commands with which the PCAU's worked; other PCAU records are scattered between the Federal Records Center Annex, GSA, Kansas City, Missouri, and NARS. The PCAU records are generally disappointing in both quality and quantity, being usually limited to statistical data with little meaningful discussion of problems and their solutions. More materials on civil affairs, re-establishment of civilian government, and civil relief are to be found in the records of the Civil Affairs Sections of various headquarters. Usually classed as administrative records, the materials of such sections are often to be found in the Federal Records Center Annex, GSA, Kansas City, Missouri.
A major deficiency in the records of the campaigns described in this volume is the absence of material on guerrilla units. The best guerrilla report is that of the U.S. Army Forces in the Philippines (Northern Luzon), which includes not only a good narrative not unlike the after action report of a regular division but also supporting documents such as biweekly intelligence and operations reports. The only other formal guerrilla report is the Historical Record, Mindanao Guerrilla Resistance Movement, Tenth Military District, 16 September 1942 to 30 June 1945. A copy of this document, which is weak on operational material for the period after the X Corps' landing on Mindanao, was borrowed from Colonel Fertig.
No report can be found for the Marking Guerrillas, which operated with the XI and XIV Corps on the Shimbu front; for the Anderson Battalion, on the Shimbu Group's rear; for the Buena Vista Regiment, which fought well with the 32d Division; nor for many other guerrilla units which played significant parts in the campaigns. For the most part, accordingly, guerrilla information has been derived from relatively scanty materials in U.S. Army records. The Historical Section, Philippine Army, maintains a collection of documents concerning guerrilla operations, but this collection, some of which is not in English, could not be exploited for this volume. In brief, a great deal of work remains to be done in assembling, correlating, and exploiting the sources on
guerrilla operations to give the guerrillas proper coverage in the campaigns for the reconquest of the Philippines.
Sources of Japanese Information
The most comprehensive available accounts of Japanese operations described in this volume are to be found in the series Japanese Studies in World War II, compiled after the war by former Japanese Army and Navy officers in Tokyo under the direction of the Historical Division, G-2 GHQ FEC. Translation of these studies--which total almost 150 separate reports--was accomplished by the Allied Translator and Interpreter Service (ATIS), Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP). (This ATIS was a lineal descendant of ATIS GHQ SWPA, a subordinate agency of G-2 GHQ SWPA.) Dubious parts of a few translations were checked by Japanese language experts formerly with the Pacific Section, OCMH, while some of the earliest studies came out in revised versions during the preparation of this volume. The Japanese who prepared the studies relied upon available official documents, on personal diaries, on their own memories, and on the memories of other Japanese officers participating in the events described. Checking of these studies against other sources of information, such as captured Japanese records and U.S. Army materials, indicates that the studies are remarkably accurate at their level of treatment. Their major deficiencies involve lack of information on command decisions at division and regimental levels, together with a paucity of data concerning exact strengths and dispositions of units.
The series provides invaluable information concerning Japanese high-level command decisions, planning, orders, personnel, order of battle, and movements that cannot be found in other records. For Japanese strategic planning the most valuable single study is the History of the Army Section, Imperial GHQ, 1941-1945. Other especially valuable studies for this volume are: 14th Area Army Operations on Luzon, 14th Area Army Plans, 1944, Operations of the Kembu Group, Luzon Operations of the Shimbu Group, and Philippine Area Naval Operations, Part IV.
Copies of both the translated and Japanese versions of the studies are in the files of the OCMH. Since there were many changes in the numbering and titling systems of the series during the early stages of its preparation, the OCMH copies have different numbers than those assigned by G-2 GHQ FEC. The numbers employed in the footnotes of this volume are those of the OCMH collection.
Another extremely important source of Japanese information comprises a four-volume series entitled Statements of Japanese Officials on World War II, also prepared in Tokyo under the direction of the Historical Division of G-2 GHQ FEC. These statements comprise narratives of Japanese officials ranging from cabinet ministers to infantry company commanders, and contain invaluable information on every phase of Japan's conduct of the war. Indeed, without these statements, taken in conjunction with the studies described above, it is difficult to see how the tactical information on Japanese units contained in Triumph in the Philippines could have been produced.
Supplementing the foregoing statements to some extent is a two-volume series entitled Personal History Statements, which comprise brief biographies of the officials contributing to the four-volume series. Also prepared in Japan under the direction of the Historical Division, G-2 GHQ FEC, this two-volume series is on file in the OCMH with the four-volume series.
After the war the 10th Information and Historical Service (10th I&H) of Headquarters, Eighth Army, produced in Japan a series of works entitled Staff Studies covering, from the Japanese side, many phases of the campaigns described in this volume. These Staff Studies contain both narratives and interrogations of various Japanese commanders in the Philippines and are supplemented by maps produced by the Japanese. To some extent the Staff Studies duplicate information to be found in the Studies and Statements described above, but in many instances they provide considerably more tactical detail. The 10th I&H series includes Staff Studies entitled Japanese Operations on Luzon, the Batangas Area, Mindanao Island, Zamboanga, Panay, Negros Island, Jolo Island, and the 102d Division on Leyte and Cebu.
Translations of Japanese documents have also proved a valuable source of information. The most important wartime translations are those of ATIS G-2 GHQ SWPA, broken down for the most part into two series entitled Current Translations and Enemy Publications. ATIS had small advance detachments with combat units on Luzon and the southern Philippines. The detachments' translations are normally to be found in the unit G-2 or S-2 files, and Sixth Army G-2 weekly reports also contain some valuable translations. For the most part these wartime translations are of value primarily for order of battle information, although the ATIS G-2 GHQ SWPA series is useful in helping to trace the development of Allied intelligence estimates.
The largest and most valuable single body of postwar translations is a four-volume series entitled Translations of Japanese Documents, prepared under the direction of the Historical Division, G-2 GHQ FEC. This series contains mostly translations of documents confiscated in Japan, and includes such valuable items as the memoirs of Lt. Gen. Akira Muto (the 14th Area Army's chief of staff), as well as a series of 14th Area Army plans, orders, and situation reports.
Wartime interrogations of Japanese prisoners fall into two categories: the preliminary "tactical" interrogations made at the front by ATIS language experts attached to combat units; and more extended interrogations by ATIS at prisoner of war compounds in rear areas. The "tactical" interrogations are useful for order of battle information. Many of the more extended interrogations add little to the ground combat story but are valuable for tracing the development of Allied intelligence information.
An important group of postwar interrogations comprises two volumes entitled Interrogations of Japanese Officials on World War II, produced in Tokyo under the direction of the Historical Division, G-2 GHQ FEC. Most of these supplement information in the series Statements of Japanese Officials and are quite brief. In addition to this group, ATIS conducted many special interrogations in Japan after the war, most of which
are on file in OCMH. An equally important series of postwar interrogations are those of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS), some of which have been published (see below, Published Works). Some unpublished USSBS interrogations used for this volume are on file in OCMH. Occasionally the USSBS interrogations were influenced by the branch of service and rank of the interrogator. Finally, the reports of some of the combat units on Luzon contain interrogations of high-ranking Japanese commanders obtained immediately after the surrender.
"Before the Military Commission Convened by the United States Army Forces Western Pacific, United States of America versus Tomoyuki Yamashita, Public Trial," is the full title of the complete transcript of the famous Yamashita trial. The testimony of various defense witnesses, including General Yamashita, together with sundry attached exhibits of every conceivable nature, provide invaluable information on Japanese plans and policies in regard to the conduct of operations in the Philippines, and supply data on defensive dispositions and operations supplementing that to be located in other sources of Japanese information. The testimony and the exhibits are absolute "musts" for any study of Japanese operations on Luzon, and are especially valuable in that they bring to light disagreements between Japanese Army and Navy forces and contain much material on operations at Manila.
A valuable narrative source for Japanese operations in the southern Philippines is a booklet entitled The True Facts of the Leyte Operation by Maj. Gen. Yoshiharu Tomochika, the chief of staff of the 35th Army. Originally published in Japan by Keisuke Sata, the volume was translated by the 166th Language Detachment, G-2 Eighth Army, and distributed by the 10th I&H. Tomochika's work is valuable for Triumph in the Philippines in that it describes the attempted evacuation of the 35th Army from Leyte, the command arrangements on Cebu, plans for the defense of eastern Mindanao, and operations along the northwestern section of the Kibawe-Talomo trail. A copy is in OCMH files.
A valuable source for Japanese order of battle in the Philippines is the 14th Area Army Troop Organization List, a booklet originally published in Japan by the 14th Area Army Home Organization Board, a sort of veterans' organization. Going as far as the level of infantry battalions, the order of battle is good for infantry units. Generally accurate as far as it goes, the list does not cover the later phases of the campaigns and is not complete for provisional units, miscellaneous combat organizations, or service units. A translated copy is in OCMH files.
Used in conjunction with the foregoing list, an ATIS G-2 GHQ SWPA publication providing a translated list of Japanese Army officers, giving rank and position as of September 1942, proved a valuable source. A copy is in OCMH files. The Naval History Division, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), maintains a more up-to-date and complete roster of Japanese Navy officers.
Miscellaneous Japanese information is to be found in the serial publication, Military Reports, of the Military Intelligence Division (G-2), War Department General Staff, for the last months of the war. Additional sources of information
on the Japanese can be found in the G-2 library, G-2 GHQ SWPA, in NARS.
The list of Japanese source material would not be complete without mention of a review of the draft manuscript of this volume that a group of former Japanese Army and Navy officers undertook in 1957. The draft was sent to Japan, where the Foreign Histories Division, Office of the Military History Officer, Headquarters U.S. Army Japan, translated pertinent sections of the manuscript and submitted them, together with some 250 questions on specific points, to the Japanese study group, which Col. Susumu Nishiura (in 1957 chief of the Japanese Self Defense Force Historical Records Section) directed. The principal Japanese officers (with wartime rank and position) who contributed to the review were:Lt. Gen. Shizuo Yokoyama, Commanding General, 41st Army
Maj. Gen. Haruo Konuma, Chief of Staff, 14th Area Army
Col. Takushiro Hattori, Chief, Army Operations Section, Imperial GHQ
Lt. Col. Shigeo Kawai, Staff, 2d Tank Division
Maj. Katsumi Hirabayashi, Staff, 10th Division
Maj. Chuji Kaneko, 102d Division
Capt. Toshikazu Ohmae, IJN, Chief, Navy Operations Section, Imperial GHQ
Capt. Masataka Nagaishi, IJN, Navy Aeronautical Department
Comdr. Tadao Kusumi, IJN, Staff, Southwest Area Fleet
The review, filed with other external reviews of the draft manuscript in the OCMH, was valuable in clearing up some misty points such as unit designations and strengths, and in providing background on various Japanese tactical decisions.
Unfortunately, financial limitations left unexploited a major mine of untranslated Japanese source materials, a collection of Japanese documents turned over to the National Archives by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). This collection, which contained, inter alia, records of the Japanese Army and Navy ministries dating back to the days of the Meiji Restoration, was confiscated by U.S. agencies in Japan after the war. Amounting to about 7,000 linear feet the collection, while in American hands, was never properly organized or catalogued. A partial description of its contents appears in an article by James W. Morley, "Check List of Seized Japanese Records in the National Archives," in Far Eastern Quarterly, IX, No. 3 (May, 1950). A grant from the Ford Foundation permitted microfilming of a portion of the collection under the direction of Dr. Chitoshi Yanaga of the Department of Political Science, Yale University, while the Naval History Division, CNO, undertook to microfilm certain records of the Naval Ministry as well as a large body of material concerning Japanese naval operations. No provision was made to microfilm the large quantity of Japanese unit operational records or the records of the Army Ministry--in fact, no complete list of the Army operational records exists. The CIA and G-2, General Staff, U.S. Army, translated or microfilmed some small groups of records, but this work, together with that of Yale University and the Naval History Division, probably represents less than a quarter of the total bulk of
the collection. The entire collection was returned to Japan in the fall of 1958.
Considering the forty-odd years United States military forces had spent in the Philippines before America's entry into World War II, the state of mapping of the islands was nothing short of lamentable. As a result, the only reasonably accurate tactical maps available before the war covered only the Manila Bay area and portions of the Central Plains of Luzon.
The basic tactical map with which forces of the Southwest Pacific entered upon the reconquest of Luzon was the 1:50,000 scale Army Map Service Series S712, published in 1944. This map was based mainly upon a 1:250,000 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey series produced in 1933; upon very restricted coverage of Luzon at scale 1:31,680, published by the Engineer, Philippine Department, in 1939; and upon a topographical map at scale 1:63,360 of extremely limited coverage and based upon military surveys of the period 1911-14.**
The AMS S712 series left much to be desired. Hopelessly out of date even before it was published, it contained many glaring inaccuracies even for the Central Plains-Manila Bay area. The coverage was virtually nil for large portions of Luzon's mountainous regions. The series included no panels at all for some mountain areas, while on other panels only a road or two showed--the rest of the panel would be blank.
Recognizing the need for better maps even before the Luzon Campaign began, GHQ SWPA had instituted a program of aerial photography of Luzon (and the central and southern islands as well) late in 1944. The remapping program for Luzon continued as the troops moved out of the Central Plains into the mountains, until some panels of the 1:50,000 coverage had gone through as many as five editions before the war ended. Most of the map revision work was accomplished under the direction of the Engineer, Sixth Army, and the maps were produced by the 671st Engineer Topographic Battalion, attached to Sixth Army headquarters. Other panels were revised by the 650th Engineer Topographic Battalion, GHQ, SWPA. Based as they were upon aerial photography with little or no ground control, even these later editions did not approach the optimum in accuracy and coverage. In many areas of Luzon the troops fought to the end of the war supplementing their map coverage with aerial photography, usually at scale 1:10,000, and with sketches produced in the field.
After World War II a co-operative effort of the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army led toward the production of another 1:50,000 series, compiled by photogrammetric (multiplex) methods with close ground control. With the series number S711, this map started coming out in 1956, but publication is not complete at this writing. The map was prepared by the 29th Engineer Battalion (Base Topographic) under the direction of the Engineer, U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE)/Eighth Army. Comparison of this new coverage with that of the wartime AMS S712 series and its revisions brings home vividly the handicaps under which the troops on Luzon operated in 1945.
For the central islands and Mindanao no coverage existed that approached even the AMS S712 series for Luzon in accuracy and coverage. As a result, the production of tactical maps for these islands was undertaken in the theater in 1944 and 1945, mainly upon the basis of aerial photography, with scant ground control, and upon incomplete prewar U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey maps. Map production for Mindanao was primarily an Australian effort and was accomplished principally by Nos. 2/1 and 6 Australian Army Topographic Survey Companies and the LHQ Cartographic Company, Australian Survey Corps. The U.S. Army's 648th Engineer Topographic Battalion, GHQ SWPA, had a hand in some of the compilation, and certain revisions of the first-published 1:50,000 panels were made in the field by the 67th Engineer Topographic Company, X Corps.
U.S. Army Air Forces and U.S. Navy aerial photography, together with prewar U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey maps, scale 1:200,000, provided most of the information for 1:50,000 tactical maps troops employed in the central islands. The Base Map Plant, U.S. Army, GHQ SWPA, prepared most of this coverage, which was not completed during the war and which left much to be desired by way of accuracy.
The Japanese labored under even worse handicaps than did the American forces. The Japanese made no systematic attempt to map the islands during the occupation and for the most part depended upon prewar American coverage. American forces captured few good Japanese maps for any region in the Philippines, and indications are that the Japanese restricted their mapping activities mainly to production of rough, unsatisfactory sketch maps of specific, limited localities.
The story of terrain information available to the combat forces in the Philippines would not be complete without mention of the work of the Allied Geographic Section, SWPA, a subordinate agency of G-2 GHQ SWPA. Directed by an Australian, Col. W. V. Jardine- Blake, AIF, the ACS SWPA was organized late in the summer of 1942 and immediately set to work to produce and disseminate a series of Terrain Studies, Terrain Handbooks, and Special Reports, all invaluable for both planning and tactical purposes. AGS SWPA assembled its information from prewar sources, aerial photography, and interrogations of ex-residents, travelers, missionaries, and government officials who had intimate knowledge of the Japanese-occupied areas. Its publications contained such vital information as road and trail description, data on towns and cities, water sources, sketch maps of various localities, transportation facilities, airfields, flora and fauna, and prewar pictures. Placed in the hands of both planners and tactical units, the AGS SWPA publications proved of inestimable value as guidebooks to the areas involved.
sparingly during the preparation of this volume and, postwar in nature, were confined to a few specific points. Dr. Stanley L. Falk, research assistant on much of the volume, conducted interviews with Brig. Gen. John A. Elmore, who had been the chief of staff of the XI Corps, and with Lt. Col. David J. Wilson, formerly the S-3 of the 152d Infantry, 38th Infantry Division. The author interviewed Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid (Ret.), formerly the commander of the Allied Naval Forces, SWPA, and the U.S. Seventh Fleet, and Col. Wendell W. Fertig, a guerrilla leader on Mindanao, in a joint interview with some of his guerrilla subordinates. Copies of the interview notes (the Fertig Interviews are on tape) are on file in the OCMH.
In addition to the forgoing more or less formal interviews, the author had opportunity to talk informally to additional officers who visited the OCMH during the course of the preparation of the volume. These included General Elmore; General Walter Krueger, Commanding General, Sixth Army, during the Luzon Campaign; Maj. Gen. Richard J. Marshall, who was deputy chief of staff, GHQ SWPA; and Brig. Gen. Hanford MacNider, formerly commanding general, 158th RCT. No notes were made during these discussions, which proved valuable mainly for background information.
As in the case of interviews, the author conducted a certain amount of correspondence for the purpose of seeking information on a few specific points. Principal correspondents were: Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Chamberlin, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, GHQ SWPA; Lt. Gen. Charles P. Hall, Commanding General, XI Corps; Col. Frank J. Sackton, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, 33d Infantry Division; Col. Harry A. Skerry, USA (Ret.), formerly Chief Engineer, North Luzon Forces and I Philippine Corps, 1942; Colonel Fertig; Lt. Col. Don R. Pepke, Commanding Officer, 2d Battalion, 63d Infantry, 6th Infantry Division; and Maj. Gen. Clovis E. Byers, Chief of Staff, Eighth Army.
Before publication of Triumph in the Philippines seventy-five U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force officers (or former officers now civilians) who participated in the events described or who otherwise had some intimate knowledge of either planning or operations, read and commented upon all or parts of the manuscript. These officers often supplied valuable additional information, especially upon the reasoning behind command decisions; they offered suggestions on coverage; and in some cases, taking issue with statements in the text, they stimulated revisions. Few officers who reviewed any part of the manuscript had an ax to grind; rather, the vast majority brought to their task a refreshingly objective and helpful point of view. The reviewing group included army, corps, and division commanders, former members of the Operations Division, General Staff, U.S. Army, or the Joint Chiefs of Staff and subordinate committees, fleet commanders, task force commanders, and staff officers from various headquarters. A list of the officers commenting, together with their remarks, is on file in the OCMH with the drafts and notes for the volume.
Valuable comments on terrain, road conditions, and the status of bridges throughout Luzon were obtained from Mr. James J. Halsema of the U.S. Information
Service, a prewar and postwar resident of the Philippines and a civilian internee of the Japanese on Luzon during World War II. Mr. Clarke Kawakami, formerly with the Historical Division of G-2 GHQ FEC, supplied additional information on Japanese plans for the defense of the Philippines. Both sets of comments are in OCMH files.
A usable and useful outline, high-level treatment of both Allied and Japanese planning and operations is contained in the so-called MacArthur History. This two-volume work, entitled Southwest Pacific Area Series, was prepared in Japan after the war under the direction and editorship of Maj. Gen. Charles A. Willoughby, MacArthur's Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2. Ostensibly the after action report of GHQ SWPA and successor commands, the final version of this work is printed on glossy paper and is replete with color reproductions of maps, photographs, and paintings. The volumes were printed in Japan by the Dai Nippon Printing Company, Tokyo, but have never been published. A bound copy of the entire work, together with footlockers full of supporting documents upon which it is based, is in the custody of the World War II Records Division, NARS.
Volume I bears the title The Campaigns of MacArthur in the Pacific and covers the war in the Southwest Pacific Area from the opening of the Japanese offensive through the surrender of Japan. Volume I, Supplement, has the self-explanatory title MacArthur in Japan, The Occupation: Military Phase. Volume II is entitled Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, and summarizes the Japanese side of the story. Volume I, excluding the supplement, is largely based upon an earlier historical series entitled Studies in the History of the Southwest Pacific Area, originally produced in the G-3 Historical Division of GHQ SWPA and GHQ U.S. Army Forces, Pacific (AFPAC), by the present author, Lt. Robert A. Gardner, Jr., Lt. Thomas P. Govan, and the late Lt. Jeter A. Isely, USNR. Their work, and other materials assembled by the G-3 Historical Division, was taken over by the newly formed G-2 Historical Division in Tokyo late in 1946. Volume II of the MacArthur History was prepared by a small group of Japanese officers whose principal sources were the Japanese Studies in World War II, the Statements of Japanese Officials on World War II, and other Japanese materials described above under Japanese Sources.
Volume I, not entirely objective, is most valuable for setting forth the MacArthur and GHQ SWPA points of view on various problems and for providing a summary history of the Southwest Pacific Area. Volume II brings together in a single, coherent narrative Japanese information from a multitude of sources. It contains some data on Japanese operations not easily found elsewhere, but neither volume contains any startling revelations or important new information.
A second important unpublished source is a series entitled Operational Monographs, produced by the 10th I&H after the war and covering the Eighth Army's operations in the Philippines. The series consists of detailed narratives based for the most part on unit records
and occasionally containing additional material secured from interviews and special reports of various types. All treat the operations in a considerably more complete fashion than the Eighth Army's official after action reports for the same undertakings. The monographs useful for Triumph in the Philippines are: The Luzon Mop-Up Operation, The Cebu-Bohol-Negros Oriental Operation, The Panay-Negros Occidental Operation, The Zamboanga-Sulu Archipelago Operation, and the Mindanao Operation.
Invaluable information upon the workings of the various intelligence agencies in the Southwest Pacific Area is to be obtained from a group of studies entitled The Intelligence Series, G-2 USAFFE-SWPA-AFPAC-FEC-SCAP, prepared in Japan after the war by G-2 GHQ FEC. General Willoughby, MacArthur's G-2, closely supervised the preparation of the manuscripts and undertook a thorough editing task before their final reproduction; the volumes contain some ax grinding. There are some gaps in the coverage, mainly because of security problems, and it furthermore appears that the series is chary about giving credit to guerrilla sources of information in the Philippines. The separate volumes are:
Introduction A Brief History of the G-2 Section, GHQ, SWPA, and Affiliated Units I The Guerrilla Resistance Movement in the Philippines II Intelligence Activities in the Philippines During the Japanese Occupation III Operations of the Military Intelligence Section, GHQ SWPA IV Operations of the Allied Intelligence Bureau, GHQ SWPA V Operations of the Allied Translator and Interpreter Service, GHQ SWPA VI Operations of the Allied Geographic Section, GHQ SWPA VII Operations of the Technical Intelligence Unit in the SWPA VIII Operations of the Counter Intelligence Corps in the SWPA IX Operations of the Civil Intelligence Section, SCAP
Some of the volumes touch upon the activities of intelligence agencies not listed in the titles, and several have illustrative documentary appendixes. The volume on the guerrilla movement in the Philippines contains mainly reprints of materials distributed by G-2 GHQ SWPA in late 1944 and early 1945 and covers only the development and organization of the major guerrilla units up until the time American troops landed on each of the islands.
Two manuscripts provide extremely
valuable and interesting material on the Corregidor Island operation. The first, anonymously written, is entitled Combat Over Corregidor, 16 February 1945, Carried Out by the 503d Parachute Combat Team. A photostat copy is available in OCMH files. A personalized account, this narrative was apparently written by one of the 503d's medical officers. It is overemotional but is nevertheless valuable for personal reactions to the action and it paints a graphic picture of some of the most striking horrors of the affray. The second Corregidor manuscript, reproduced at Headquarters, United States Army Forces in the Far East, bears the title USAFFE Board Report No. 308, 16 May 45, Corregidor Island Operation, 503d Parachute RCT, 16 Feb-8 Mar 45. Similar to an after action report, but containing some analytical material, this manuscript comprises a sober, factual, and detailed narrative account, accompanied by maps, overlays, and photographs.
While not all the published works listed below have been cited in Triumph in the Philippines, they all furnish, at the very least, important background information bearing upon the planning and execution of the operations described. The listings are not an all-inclusive bibliography of the campaigns in the Philippines, nor are they intended as such.
Appleman, Roy E., James M. Burns, Russell A. Gugeler, and John Stevens. Okinawa: The Last Battle. UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. Washington, 1948.
Boggs, Maj. Charles W., Jr., USMC. Marine Aviation in the Philippines. Washington: Historical Division, Hq U.S. Marine Corps, 1951. A good monograph on the subject but unfortunately light on the details of air support operations.
Cannon, M. Hamlin. Leyte: The Return to the Philippines. UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. Washington, 1954.
Craven, Wesley Frank, and James Lea Cate, eds. The Pacific: MATTERHORN to Nagasaki, June 1944 to August 1945. Vol. V, "The Army Air Forces in World War II." Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953. A volume in the Air Forces' official history of World War II, this work provides valuable information on air planning and operations. Insofar as the Philippines are concerned, the volume seldom comes to grips with the problems of air support tactics and doctrine.
Crowl, Philip A., and Edmund G. Love. Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls. UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. Washington, 1955.
Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee, The. Japanese Naval and Merchant Shipping Losses During World War II By All Causes. Washington: Navy Department, 1947. A detailed listing based upon official Allied and Japanese records. Information obtained since publication discloses some errors in the listings.
Miller, John, jr. CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul. UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. Washington, 1959.
Milner, Samuel. Victory in Papua.
UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. Washington, 1957.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas: 1944-1945. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1959. This is Volume XIII of Morison's semiofficial, monumental series "History of United States Naval Operations in World War II." In the preface to the volume, Morison gracefully acknowledges his indebtedness to Triumph in the Philippines, a manuscript copy of which was available to him. At the time Admiral Morison used the manuscript, it appeared that Triumph would be published long before The Liberation, but in the end the reverse proved true. The publication of The Liberation before Triumph permits the present author to return Admiral Morison's compliment and acknowledge an indebtedness to The Liberation. For the purposes of Triumph in the Philippines, Admiral Morison's volume was primarily valuable for additional information on kamikaze attacks and their results.
Morton, Louis. The Fall of the Philippines. UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. Washington, 1953.
Office of the Chief Engineer, General Headquarters, Army Forces, Pacific. Airfield and Base Development. Vol. VI, "Engineers of the Southwest Pacific, 1941-1945." Washington: OCE GHQ AFPAC, 1951. Ostensibly the report of the Chief Engineer, GHQ SWPA and GHQ AFPAC, the volumes of this series were prepared under the general editorship of Lt. Col. George A. Meidling, CE. They represent an immense and painstaking research effort and provide a valuable, well-documented source of information. Other titles in the series are: Engineers in Theater Operations; Organizations, Troops, and Training; Engineer Intelligence; Amphibian Engineer Operations; Combat Engineer Operations; Engineer Supply; and Critique.
Public Information Division, Department of the Army. The Medal of Honor of the United States Army. Washington, 1948. A listing of individuals and citations.
Romanus, Charles F., and Riley Sunderland. Time Runs Out in the CBI. UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. Washington, 1959.
Smith, Robert Ross. The Approach to the Philippines. UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. Washington, 1953.
United States Strategic Bombing Survey. Summary Report (Pacific War). Washington, 1946. A brief account emphasizing the role of air power.
--------. Military Analysis Division. Air Campaigns of the Pacific War. Washington, 1947.
--------. Military Analysis Division. Employment of Forces Under the Southwest Pacific Command. Washington, 1947. A brief account that is actually a paraphrase of the monograph series "Studies in the History of the Southwest Pacific Area," described above (see Manuscript Sources) in the discussion of the MacArthur History.
--------. (Pacific), Naval Analysis Division. Interrogations of Japanese Officials. 2 Vols. Washington, 1946. Valuable interrogations of Japanese cabinet members and military commanders. Some of the interrogations must be used cautiously, for the Japanese occasionally tended to respond in accordance with the questioner's rank and branch of service.
Colonel Yay. [Pseudonym of Yay Panililio]. The Crucible. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1950. A personal history containing information on the development of the Marking Guerrilla unit. Weak on postinvasion guerrilla operations.
Eichelberger, Lt. Gen. Robert L., and Milton Mackaye. Our Jungle Road to Tokyo. New York: The Viking Press, 1950. This volume provides some interesting sidelights on General Eichelberger's experiences. Neither scholarly nor always objective, it contains many minor inaccuracies concerning both operations and planning.
Gunther, John. The Riddle of MacArthur. New York: Harper & Bros., 1951. This and other biographical treatments of MacArthur listed subsequently leave no doubt that an objective, accurate, scholarly, and reasonably complete biography of this controversial figure is yet to be produced.
Halsey, Fleet Admiral William F., USN, and Lt. Comdr. J. Bryan III, USNR. Admiral Halsey's Story. New York: Whittlesey House, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1947. A well-written and interesting account providing, inter alia, a record of Halsey's opposition to the Formosa operation.
Harkins, Philip. Blackburn's Headhunters. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1955. The story of Lt. Col. Donald D. Blackburn and the 11th Infantry, USAFIP(NL). Used in conjunction with Volckmann's book (below), this volume contains valuable information on the USAFIP(NL).
Heavey, Brig. Gen. William F. Down Ramp! The Story of the Army Amphibian Engineers. Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1947. A good summary account.
Hunt, Frazier. The Untold Story of Douglas MacArthur. New York: The Devin-Adair Co., 1954.
Kenney, George C. General Kenney Reports: A Personal History of the Pacific War. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1949. Presenting General Kenney's point of view, this volume contains some inaccuracies but includes much information concerning personal relationships that is not to be found in official records.
Krueger, General Walter. From Down Under to Nippon: The Story of Sixth Army in World War II. Washington: Combat Forces Press, 1953. A most disappointing volume since it is little more than a paraphrase of the Sixth Army's wartime after action reports.
Leahy, Fleet Admiral William D. I Was There. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1950. Good on strategic planning, although it gives the impression that Admiral Leahy has left out much that he knows a great deal about.
Lee, Clark, and Richard Henschel. Douglas MacArthur. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1952.
Reel, A. Frank. The Case of General Yamashita. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949. A case study that takes issue with the procedures and findings of the Yamashita trial tribunal. This volume is a "must" for anyone interested in the war in the Philippines.
Sherwood, Robert E. Roosevelt and Hopkins, An Intimate History. Rev. ed. New York: Harper &: Bros., 1950.
Stimson, Henry L., and McGeorge Bundy. On Active Service in Peace and War. New York: Harper &: Bros., 1948.
Comparatively weak on the Pacific war.
Templeman, Harold. The Return to Corregidor. New York: Strand Press, 1945. A short, personalized account by the American Red Cross Field Director with the 503d Parachute RCT.
Valtin, Jan. Children of Yesterday. New York: The Readers' Press, 1946. Contains, inter alia, a fictionalized account of the Lubang Islands operation.
Volckmann, Col. Russell W. We Remained: Three Years Behind the Enemy Lines in the Philippines. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1954. While providing some invaluable information, this volume by the commander of the USAFIP(NL) is disappointing in that it fails to come to grips with problems of organization, personnel, civilian loyalty, and other facets of the guerrilla movement. A definitive history of any guerrilla movement in the Philippines is yet to be written.
Whitney, Maj. Gen. Courtney. MacArthur: His Rendezvous With History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956. Hero worship, by one of MacArthur's staff officers.
Willoughby, Maj. Gen. Charles A., and John Chamberlin, MacArthur: 1941-1951. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1954. An attempt to produce a simultaneous apologia for both MacArthur and Willoughby.
After the war many units published their own accounts, most of them prepared by and for the World War II veterans. Many verge on being public relations blurbs, others are quite well done and reflect sound scholarship and extensive research. Almost all contain interesting sidelights on personalities and on small unit operations that do not appear in official records. The following works were consulted during the preparation of Triumph in the Philippines.
Anonymous. 40th Infantry Division. Baton Rouge: Army & Navy Publishing Co., 1947.
Anonymous. History of the Second Engineer Special Brigade, United States Army, World War II. Harrisburg: The Telegraph Press, 1946.
Anonymous. History of the 31st Infantry Division in Training and Combat, 1940-1945. Baton Rouge: The Army & Navy Publishing Co., 1946.
Anonymous. Surf and Sand: The Saga of the 533d Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment and 1461st Engineer Maintenance Company, 1942-1945. Andover: The Andover Press, Ltd., 1947.
Cronin, Capt, Francis D. Under the Southern Cross: The Saga of The Americal Division. Washington: Combat Forces Press, 1951. A good, detailed volume based on extensive research.
Flanagan, Maj. Edward M., Jr. The Angels: A History of the 11th Airborne Division, 1943-1946. Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1947. As a result of the loss of the division's records in Japan, this volume is an invaluable source.
Frankel, Stanley A. The 37th Division in World War II. Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1948. An excellent piece of work that reflects extensive research.
Karolevitz, Capt. Robert R., ed. The 25th Division and World War 2. Baton Rouge: Army & Navy Publishing Co., 1946.
Lancaster, Roy. The Story of the Bushmasters. Detroit: Lancaster Publications.
A brief but informative account of 158th RCT operations.
McCartney, 1st Lt. William F. The Jungleers: A History of the 41st Infantry Division. Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1948. Fair.
6th Infantry Division, Public Relations Section. The 6th Infantry Division in World War II, 1939-1945. Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1947. One of the better unit histories.
33d Division Historical Committee, The. The Golden Cross: A History of the 33d Infantry Division in World War II. Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1948. A well-done volume that is much better than the division's after action report for Luzon.
Wright, Maj, Bertram C. The 1st Cavalry Division in World War II. Tokyo: Toppan Printing Co., Ltd., 1947. Excellent.
Zimmer, Col. Joseph E. The History of the 43d Infantry Division, 1941-1945. Baton Rouge: Army & Navy Publishing Co.
*. The term After Action Report, as used in this note, refers to the narrative portions of reports of Army units, in accordance with regulations, submitted following the operations described in the volume. The title After Action Report was not employed with consistency, and various units used variations such as Report, Operations Report, Action Report, and Report After Action. Most naval units employed the term Action Report or Report on Participation.
**. See Morton, Fall of the Philippines, pages 597-99, for additional information on these prewar maps.