75: Los Baños

Raid on Los Baños

The Raid on Los Baños (Filipino: Pagsalakay ng Los Baños) in the Philippines, early Friday morning on 23 February 1945, was executed by a combined U.S. Army Airborne and Filipino guerrilla task force, resulting in the liberation of 2,147 Allied civilian and military internees from an agricultural school campus turned Japanese internment camp. The 250 Japanese in the garrison were killed. It has been celebrated as one of the most successful rescue operations in modern military history. It was the second precisely-executed raid by combined U.S.-Filipino forces within a month, following on the heels of the Raid at Cabanatuan at Luzon on 30 January, in which 522 Allied military POWs had been rescued. The air/sea/land raid was the subject of a 2015 nonfiction book, Rescue at Los Baños: The Most Daring Prison Camp Raid of World War II, by New York Times bestselling author Bruce Henderson.

Background: Since the landings of the U.S. Sixth Army at Lingayen Gulf and the U.S. Eighth Army at Nasugbu, Batangas on 9 January 1945 and 31 January 1945 respectively, to retake Luzon, the Imperial Japanese Army was being repeatedly pushed back and was increasingly becoming desperate. Soon news was filtering down to Allied commanders that the Japanese were killing innocent civilians and prisoners of war while falling back. General Douglas MacArthur was deeply alarmed about the plight of thousands of prisoners who had been interned in various camps on Luzon, since the early days of the Pacific War. There was concern that, with deliverance so near, they might be killed. Earlier, some daring raids were carried out to rescue POWs, including one at Cabanatuan and at the University of Santo Tomas Internment Camp and Bilibid Prison at the height of the Battle for Manila.

Los Baños Internment Camp: In Los Baños, Laguna, at the UP College of Agriculture and UP College of Forestry, now the University of the Philippines Los Baños, which was located on a 60-acre (240,000 m2) site, was the POW and civilian concentration camp, wedged between the foothills of Mount Makiling and the northern shore of Los Baños facing Laguna de Bay. The camp was being constructed next to Baker Hall, by the first group of 800 men who arrived in May 1943. In Dec. 1943, an additional 200 inmates arrived from the University of Santo Tomas Internment Camp, followed by 500 in April 1944, and 150 in Dec.   Surrounded by barbed wire fences in clusters of hatched huts were Americans, British, Australians, Dutch, Norwegians, Poles, Italians, and Canadians. Aside from eleven navy nurses under the command of Chief Nurse Laura M. Cobb and a few servicemen, almost all of the inmates were civilian businessmen, teachers, bankers, and missionaries caught by the Japanese during the course of the war and incarcerated in various POW camps in the country.  While incarcerated, the POWs had formed an Executive Committee to deal with the guards for self-governing purposes and to obtain whatever marginal freedom or concessions they could obtain from the Japanese prison authorities. Nonetheless, the internees were made to get by on dwindling rations, limited clothing, poor housing and non-existent sanitation, and endure the sadistic tendencies of the camp guards. By early 1945, the conditions in the camp turned hellish, with enforced limited rations and mounting abuse, courtesy of the camp's second-in-command, Warrant Officer Sadaaki Konishi.

Guerrilla Connection: The various Filipino guerrilla groups operating in the vicinity of Los Baños played a key role that led to the successful liberation of the camp. Earlier, in the partisan war against the Japanese, a combined guerrilla command was formed to bring some order to the effort by the defunct USAFFE command, which was in charge of unconventional forces in the Philippines, and renamed as the General Guerrilla Command (GGC) of Luzon under Maj. Day D. Vanderpool of the U.S. Army.  Under the GGC, the Hunters ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) guerrillas, made up originally of former cadets of the Philippine Military Academy along with some former ROTC and college students under the command of Col. Frank Quesada were one of the most active groups. Other formations include President Quezon's Own Guerrillas (PQOG) under Col. Fil Avanceña, Red Lion's Unit, the Filipino-Chinese 48th Squadron and the Villegas group of the Hukbalahaps were tasked by the GGC to coordinate operations related to Los Baños.  Among the members of Hunters-ROTC guerillas who participated in the raid was the future Filipino film star Mario Montenegro, then only sixteen years old. 

Plan: Long before the arrival of the U.S. liberation forces, the guerrillas conducted intelligence operations that gathered precise inside information about the POWs in Los Baños and their guards. Many prisoners were long-time friends of partisan families before the war. With Lt. Col. Gustavo Inglés designated as overall guerrilla coordinator with the 11th Airborne Division, information was shared with Maj. Gen. Swing's Command Staff, including Col. Henry Muller (G-2), and Col. Douglas Quandt (G-3), as well as other top planners, who fine-tuned the final strategy.  On 12 February, Freddy Zervoulakos, a 19-year-old Greek-Filipino, slipped out of the camp and made contact with the guerrillas. He was sent back into the camp with the promise that the internees would be rescued. But the internee committee decided that it would be best for the prisoners to do nothing. A week later, another escapee from the camp, a civilian engineer named Pete Miles, gave further valuable information to the 11th A/B Division planners, including the daily routine in the camp, details of troop positions and the exact location of the internees. This proved a great asset to the planners and enabled them to finalize the four-phase plan that was timed to coincide with the guards' exercise period, which was conducted by the Japanese troops without clothing, equipment, or weapons, thereby minimizing the risk of harm to the internees during the rescue. Meanwhile, two lieutenants made a reconnaissance of the drop zone with the guerrillas and the two internees. 

The Joint U.S. Army-Guerrilla Assault Plan was as follows:  Phase 1 would begin when the 11th Airborne's Provisional Reconnaissance Platoon, under the command of 1Lt. George Skau, together with some twenty Filipino guerrilla guides, would travel behind enemy lines by bancas (local fishing boats) across Laguna Lake two nights before the raid, where they would wait.  Four assault teams under Sgts. Martin Squires, Terry Santos (4th class graduate of the Alamo Scouts Training Center), Cliff Town and Robert Angus would assault the camp gate from different angles. At 07:00 on 23 February they were charged with marking the Drop Zones, Landing Zones and for the neutralizing of the camp gate guards, simultaneous with an attack from the remaining directions by the guerrillas' 45th Hunter Regiment under Lt. Col. Inglés, who will also surround the entire camp perimeter prior to the signalled hour. In Phase 2, B Company, 1st Battalion, 511PIR led by Lieutenant John Ringler, with the support of Lieutenant Walter Hettinger's Machine Gun Platoon, would parachute into a small drop zone next to the camp, rendezvous with a Hukbalahap guerrilla unit, neutralize the remaining camp guards and secure the internees. In Phase 3, the remainder of 1st Battalion would board 54 LVT(4) tracked amphibious assault vehicles of the 672nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion commanded by Lt. Col. Joseph W. Gibbs at 04:00 and slip into Laguna de Bay and head for Mayondon Point, near San Antonio, some two miles (3 km) from the camp.[ A Recon Platoon squad under Sgt. Leonard Hahn would mark and guide them to their landing point. Here they would travel overland and make their way to the camp, scheduling to arrive shortly after 07:00. They would then carry the internees back to Mayondon Point and make good their escape to Mamatid village. Phase 4 involved the 188th Glider Infantry Regiment (minus its 2nd Battalion) and Company C of the 637th Tank Destroyer Battalion together with elements of the 472nd and 675th Field Artillery Battalions, under Colonel Robert H. Soule. The force would move down Highway 1 to act as a diversionary force and to engage the Japanese 8th Division, if necessary, so as to protect the flank.

Raid: Under cover of darkness on 21 February 1945, Lt. Skau and his 31-man platoon left the north shore of Laguna de Bay and headed across the lake in three bancas. Lt. Skau and six men led the way while the separate assault team of 23 men followed soon after. Avoiding Japanese patrol craft on the lake, they landed near Nanhaya and met with local guerrillas and some camp escapees at the local schoolhouse.  Included in the group were Freddy Zervoulakos and Benjamin Edwards, another young escapee, who sketched the layout of the camp on the schoolhouse blackboard. Lt. Skau decided to split his group into six teams, assigning a number of guerrillas to each team.  Edwards and Zervoulakos each accompanied one team. On the night of 22 February, they journeyed through the jungle and rice paddies to their starting points.   At 04:00 on 23 February 1945 the 1st Battalion 511PIR (less B Company) boarded fifty-four amphibious tractors (Amtracs), slipped into Laguna de Bay, and headed for Mayondon Point. They also managed to reach their destination without alerting any Japanese defenders and headed off for the remaining 2 miles (3.2 km) overland journey to the camp, aiming to arrive just after 07:00.  Meanwhile, Lt. Ringler's B Company, 511th PIR together with the Light Machine Gun Platoon, had spent the moonless night of 22 February waiting at Nichols Field where, in the early dawn, they donned their parachutes, put on their equipment, and loaded onto nine C-47s of the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron, under the command of Major Don Anderson, for the short flight. Flying unopposed by Japanese aircraft or antiaircraft fire, they soon arrived at their destination, which was clearly marked with green smoke by the Reconnaissance Platoon.  The Recon Platoon teams led by Lt. Skau, and Sgts. Angus, Call and Town took out the guard posts on the north and west side of the camp. The Hunters ROTC guerrillas chased after and killed the Japanese guards.  At 07:00, coming in at the planned 500 feet (150 m) jump altitude and in three "V"s of three aircraft, Lt. Ringler's paratroopers dropped from their aircraft.[1]:48 B Company charged the camp 15–20 minutes after the attack was launched, entering through openings cut by the scouts. The firefight was short and intense, and with the Japanese defeated, the internees freed.  The fifty four Amtracs of the 672nd Amphibious Battalion came ashore in nine columns of six vehicles after green smoke grenades were popped on San Antonio beach, by Sgt. Hahn and Marking's guerrillas, at 0658. Led by Burgess, the amtracs reached the camp, knocking out a pillbox and crashed through the camp gate.

Evacuation:  Mindful of the need for speed, Lt. Ringler's men rounded up the internees as rapidly as they could. Some prisoners refused to leave, so Lt. Hettlinger's men burned the camp's remaining huts, to encourage the internees to the Amtracs. At first, the disabled, along with the women and children, were loaded onto the waiting vehicles, while the more able internees formed a walking column and headed for the beach and freedom.  In the distance, across the lake, intense fire was heard. That sound was from the Soule Task Force. Early that morning, the diversionary force of the 188th Glider Infantry Regiment and Company C of the 637th Tank Destroyer Battalion, together with elements of the 472nd and 675th Field Artillery Battalions under Soule, rolled out into Highway 1 and attacked across the San Juan River. They ran into Japanese opposition near the Lechería Hills where casualties were taken, but by mid-morning they had cleared the area and were marching towards Los Baños and cutting off the road between the Japanese 8th Tiger Division and Los Baños. From an elevated position, Soule could see, in the distance, the Amtracs on the beach heading back to Mamatid, so he ordered his force to conduct a defensive withdrawal and to re-establish its bridgehead across the San Juan River.  Finally, after two trips, the last of the amtracs departed at 1500 for Mamatid. The internees included a three-day-old baby girl Lois Kathleen McCoy. Frank Buckles, who would become the last surviving American veteran of World War I, was also among the prisoners; he had been captured as a civilian in Manila.

Aftermath: Two of Sgt. Santos's Recon Platoon members and four Filipino guerrillas were wounded. Two 188th Glider Infantry Regiment soldiers, John T. Doiron and Vernal Ray McMurtrey, were killed at the Lecheria Hills engagement. The hand-to-hand skirmish was not without casualties. A handful of guards were able to muster a makeshift defense, killing two young Hunter guerrillas, Pfc. Atanacio Castillo and Pfc. Anselmo Soler. Their bodies were recovered and buried beside the College chapel.  A few days after the rescue, the Japanese in full force, led by the escaped Sadaaki Konishi, returned to Los Baños. Upon seeing that there were no POWs in sight, the Japanese turned their wrath on the remaining civilians in town who had failed to heed the warning from the guerrillas to leave. With the help of pro-Japanese MAKAPILI, the Japanese massacred some 1,500 men, women and children, and burned their homes, as well as those in the adjacent towns suspected of collaborating with the liberators. Konishi was tried for his war crimes after the war and hanged.

Historical Commemoration: The 11th Airborne Division rightfully takes tremendous pride in the liberation of the Los Baños Internment Camp. The regional chapters of the Division Association celebrate that brilliant raid and rescue with a Los Baños Commemoration Dinner on or about 23 February every year. That superb exploit is not forgotten in the town of Los Baños itself. The Hunters-ROTC Filipino guerrillas and other partisan units, who supported the 11th Airborne Division also commemorate the freeing of the prison camp. 

Los Baños Liberation Memorial Scholarship Foundation: To help keep the memory and meaning of the Los Baños rescue alive, a small group of civilian ex-prisoners of war established The Los Baños Liberation Memorial Scholarship Foundation, Inc., a non-profit, tax-exempt California corporation, organized and operated exclusively for educational purposes within the meaning of U.S. Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). Through tax-deductible contributions, the Foundation is creating a permanent endowment fund. The purpose of the Foundation is to grant scholarship awards to students of Filipino citizenship enrolled at The Rural High School of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, to encourage and enable them to complete the Rural High School program. At the present time (2010) twelve students from low-income families are receiving scholarships in the amount of $250 each per year, enabling them to pay required fees and stay in school until graduation if they perform well. As part of their curriculum, these scholars do historical research or creative arts on the subject of Los Banos during World War II, including the heroic actions of the 11th Airborne Division and the Hunters ROTC Guerrillas and the murder of many of the citizens of Los Banos at the hands of the vengeful Japanese troops and the Makapili collaborators. 

U.S. Congress Joint Resolution 18: On 16 February 2005, House Joint Resolution 18, sponsored by U.S. Representative Trent Franks was passed by the House. This resolution commemorated the heroic raid that liberated prisoners held in the Los Baños prison camp in World War II. The resolution also reaffirmed the nation's commitment to a full accounting of prisoners of war and those missing in action.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Los_Baños