| Los Banos Internment Camp. Retrieved from http://www.lougopal.com/manila/?p=2844 |
Baguio, Davao, Bilibid, Santo Tomas and Los Baños were the established internment camps which housed western civilians, mostly Americans, residing in the Philippines as the Japanese Occupation began. In May 1943 to 1945 there were more than 2000 internees and POW or prisoners of war in the previously known University of the Philippines Agricultural School. The internees were only given with a twelve-feet by 4 feet space which is relatively larger area than what was provided in the camp in Santo Tomas (Gopal, 2015 retrieved from Sams, "Forbidden Family"). Long barracks were long in size with a dividing hall in the center part. The barracks would contain one hundred individuals and stalls were made from uneven planks that served as the flooring.
According to the History channel documentary which
tackled on the liberation of Los Banos, the state of living of the internees were good at first. They were provided with enough supply of food and other necessities, yet as the war had enhanced, slowly the quality and quantity of the food that was served to them drastically decreased. They were left starving and incidents of people dying from having no food increased as the war worsened. Sadaaki Konshi as the major of the Japanese troops, the second in command in the Los Banos camp was very brutal to the internees, not giving them the sufficient amount of food that they need, storing and keeping the supply of food from the internees in a secret area. The western internees were powerless to the japanese military, and they resorted to sneaking out dangerously out from the camp to get food from the locality. Men were shot dead as they enter through the barbed wire with food in their hands.
The American internees were still filled with hope that MacArthur would be back to release them from the japanese hold but it took three years of slow movement in the military move of the Americans to strategically take Manila first before liberating the southern area of Luzon where Los Banos is, which was deeply under the Japanese forces.
The U.S. Army was advancing towards Manila and General MacArthur had been concerned on the POWs and the internees in the camps that were under hands of the Japanese. The 11th Airborne Division was set to do this task yet they had to liberate Leyte first for a grueling number of months in the mountains of the island. According to McGowan (n.d.), the 11th also provided support in Mindoro to attack Nasugbu Bay and gain control.
From Major Vanderpool became the connection between General MacArthur to the guerilla network in the area of Luzon that had a scope comprising Batangas, Cavite and Laguna provinces (Krevido, 2013). The Guerilla was headed by alias Terry Magtangol or Army Cadet Eleuterio Adevoso. The members were former cadets of the Philippine Military Academy (McGowan n.d.). The guerilla movement served an essential role in the liberation of the camp alongside the Huklahap.
A division was formed to perform the mission on a Friday, February 21, 1945 and with this, their were exchange of intelligence plans from the Guerilla men to the Americans. They formulated a multi-pronged attack on the camp. There would be an air raid through parachutes, a platoon would cross the bay using amphibian vehicles to make direct contact with the guerillas and brief them to what the system would play out as the attack would progress. Another team would attack overland coming from Manila to surround the camp, and another would be placed to the highway areas to block japanese reinforcements (McGowan, n.d.).
The planes were over the camp and the designated teams were attacking at their standpoints while the Japanese men were conducting their morning exercises (without any firearms), they were caught by surprise by the attack. Two out of the five sentry positions were manned so the attack went off as expected. A number of guards have seen the attacks and some fled to the mountains to flee, some were killed and some had turned themselves in. Sakaadi Konishi escaped immediately for there was a slim chance to defend the camp from the massive number of Filipino and American forces that surrounded the area. The internees were brought back to Manila and testimonies from these internees would describe the moment as a sure surprise when hope was about nowhere to be found.
The American internees were still filled with hope that MacArthur would be back to release them from the japanese hold but it took three years of slow movement in the military move of the Americans to strategically take Manila first before liberating the southern area of Luzon where Los Banos is, which was deeply under the Japanese forces.
The U.S. Army was advancing towards Manila and General MacArthur had been concerned on the POWs and the internees in the camps that were under hands of the Japanese. The 11th Airborne Division was set to do this task yet they had to liberate Leyte first for a grueling number of months in the mountains of the island. According to McGowan (n.d.), the 11th also provided support in Mindoro to attack Nasugbu Bay and gain control.
From Major Vanderpool became the connection between General MacArthur to the guerilla network in the area of Luzon that had a scope comprising Batangas, Cavite and Laguna provinces (Krevido, 2013). The Guerilla was headed by alias Terry Magtangol or Army Cadet Eleuterio Adevoso. The members were former cadets of the Philippine Military Academy (McGowan n.d.). The guerilla movement served an essential role in the liberation of the camp alongside the Huklahap.
A division was formed to perform the mission on a Friday, February 21, 1945 and with this, their were exchange of intelligence plans from the Guerilla men to the Americans. They formulated a multi-pronged attack on the camp. There would be an air raid through parachutes, a platoon would cross the bay using amphibian vehicles to make direct contact with the guerillas and brief them to what the system would play out as the attack would progress. Another team would attack overland coming from Manila to surround the camp, and another would be placed to the highway areas to block japanese reinforcements (McGowan, n.d.).
| The Attack. Retrieved from -http://www.history.army.mil/html/artphoto/pripos/amsoldier5.html |
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| Retrieved from https://www.soc.mil/ARSOF_History/articles/v9n1_vanderpool_page_1.html |
The guerilla movement did not have anything to do with the whole process of saving another race but they had helped the American army to have the sufficient information on the Japanese positions, best advantage points and other necessary intel on the Japanese-ruled camp. The familiarity of the guerilla with the physical characteristics was the main role of that they played in the cooperation forces that was established between the Americans (Macapinlac, 2013). The Guerilla men were the ones who drafted the plan and had given it to the 11th airdborne which was also passed to Lt. Col. Gustavo Ingles to outline the operation and get sufficient men for the operation. There were Filipinos who sided with the Japanese also, and they were called the Makapili, and was the major enemy of the guerilla (ROTC or Terry's Hunters).
As I find and check for references, most are accounts from the western perspective, books, sites and other testaments focusing the liberation of the detainees, the difficult state of living of the internees due to the meticulous planning it involved, the partnerships that made the attack possible and the slim chance that the American forces had to reclaim the other American civilians. They never tackled on the aftermath of the heroic and systematic act that resulted into the murder of the townspeople of Los Banos.
According to Macapinlac (2013), two days after the liberation of the camp, the Japanese troops came down from Mt. Makiling and rashly slaughtered men, women and children as they suspect everyone to be part of the guerilla movement. The town Mayor at that time had stated that the town was filled with depression despite the success of the liberation. The way that they were slaughtered were the main issue of the townspeople, just by using the bayonet, no one was spared in this killing spree activity that the Japanese had done to the people. Accounts of survivors in Macapinlac's study indicate the inhumanity of the Japanese. Also, infrastructures, books and manuscripts within the campus were badly damaged as the Japanese destroyed them.
The gruesome aftermath of the successful feat of the American-Filipino operation was never emphasized in the documentary. The long journey of the American 11th Airborne division was greatly highlighted and the suffering of those in the camp was also emphasized. This makes me believe that after all that happened, media and the capability of humans to eliminate the other truths can cause a great lacking information needed to see the whole picture. This fact makes me grateful that people like Macapinlac, a Filipino, conducted a series of studies on what had occured in Los Banos during the Japanese Occupation to provide a new perspective on the wider scope of the truth.
As I find and check for references, most are accounts from the western perspective, books, sites and other testaments focusing the liberation of the detainees, the difficult state of living of the internees due to the meticulous planning it involved, the partnerships that made the attack possible and the slim chance that the American forces had to reclaim the other American civilians. They never tackled on the aftermath of the heroic and systematic act that resulted into the murder of the townspeople of Los Banos.
According to Macapinlac (2013), two days after the liberation of the camp, the Japanese troops came down from Mt. Makiling and rashly slaughtered men, women and children as they suspect everyone to be part of the guerilla movement. The town Mayor at that time had stated that the town was filled with depression despite the success of the liberation. The way that they were slaughtered were the main issue of the townspeople, just by using the bayonet, no one was spared in this killing spree activity that the Japanese had done to the people. Accounts of survivors in Macapinlac's study indicate the inhumanity of the Japanese. Also, infrastructures, books and manuscripts within the campus were badly damaged as the Japanese destroyed them.
The gruesome aftermath of the successful feat of the American-Filipino operation was never emphasized in the documentary. The long journey of the American 11th Airborne division was greatly highlighted and the suffering of those in the camp was also emphasized. This makes me believe that after all that happened, media and the capability of humans to eliminate the other truths can cause a great lacking information needed to see the whole picture. This fact makes me grateful that people like Macapinlac, a Filipino, conducted a series of studies on what had occured in Los Banos during the Japanese Occupation to provide a new perspective on the wider scope of the truth.
References:
McGowan (n.d.). World War II: Liberating Los Banos Internment Camp. Retrieved from https://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-liberating-los-banos-internment-camp.htm
Krivido, M. E. (2013). Major Jay D. Vanderpool: Advisor to the Philippine Guerillas. Veritas Vol. 9 No. 1. Retrieved from https://www.soc.mil/ARSOF_History/articles/v9n1_vanderpool_page_1.html
MAcapinlac, M. M. (2013). The Historical Geography of Los Banos During the Japanese Occupation. The Journal of History Vol LIX.
