[Milsurplus] Philippine Guerilla ops

[Carole White-Connor]

Fascinating topic, Hue.

The first sets were the military sets that were already in the PI. MacArthur
did not believe a guerilla movement was feasible and said he had lost contact
with the PI soon after Corregidor fell. Thus, he initially made no attempt to
organize a guerilla movement. (He had hoped that Allied forces in Mindanao
would melt into the hills as guerillas. When Wainwright surrendered Corregidor,
however, he was coerced to surrender all Allied forces in the PI, not just
those on Corregidor. Thus, the would-be guerillas in Mindanao were forced to
surrender).

The first guerillas in Luzon and elsewhere located military receivers and
transmitters, generators and old code books. They made the initial contact with
MacArthur's HQ in Australia. (Wendell Fertig, an Army officer, wrote a book on
his life as a guerilla. He explains the problems in making the initial contact
with Australia and the problems in getting MacArthur's HQ to believe he was who
he said he was. I  believe one of  W.E.B. Griffin's book is based on Fertig's
story).

When it was verified that these were legitimate guerillas, not Japanese
imposters, MacArthur eventually sent submarines to the PI to supply the
guerillas. Among the cargo was radio equipment. By the time MacArthur returned,
he had an extremely effective radio-intelligence network manned by guerillas
and coastwatchers.

Unfortunately, the intelligence was too good, at times. The Japanese shipped
many American POWs to Japan and Formosa. They shipped them in merchant ships
(called the Hell Ships) and did not mark these ships as carrying POWs. Navy
planes located these ships and bombed and strafed them, causing horrific loss
of life among the POWs.

Joe Connor