Wendell Fertig and His Guerrilla Forces in the Philippines

Wendell Fertig and His Guerrilla Forces in the Philippines

Author: Kent Holmes

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-04-02

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 1476621187

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Creating a guerrilla movement to fight the Japanese occupation of the Philippines (1942-1945) presented Colonel Wendell Fertig with some formidable challenges. Unlike the other islands in the archipelago, Mindanao had a large Moslem (Moro) population. Using Moro and American leadership he brought the Moro people into the movement. Fertig lacked good communication with MacArthur's headquarters in Australia. With ingenuity and talented technical personnel he solved this problem, and increased the logistical support for the guerrillas by submarine from Australia. As the force expanded, Fertig was fortunate to recruit leadership from 187 Americans--military and civilian--who had not surrendered to the Japanese. The resulting force, with its intelligence from coastal watch stations, added six guerrilla divisions to U.S. military strength for the 1945 liberation of Mindanao, a contribution unique in the history of unconventional warfare.


They Fought Alone

They Fought Alone

Author: John Keats

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2015-11-06

Total Pages: 753

ISBN-13: 1786257726

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The time: 1942. The place: The Japanese-occupied island of Mindanao in the Philippines. The Story: A stirring true account of a man who refused to be defeated. When the American forces in the Philippines surrendered in May, 1942, a mining engineer named Wendell Fertig chose to take his chances in the jungle. What happened to him during nearly three years far behind enemy lines is the amazing story that John Keats tells in They Fought Alone. For Fertig, with the aid of a handful of Americans who also refused to surrender, led thousands of Filipinos in a seemingly hopeless war against the Japanese. They made bullets from curtain rods; telegraph wire from iron fence. They fought off sickness, despair and rebellion within their own forces. Their homemade communications were MacArthur’s eyes and ears in the Philippines. When the Americans finally returned to Mindanao, they found Fertig virtually in control of one of the world’s largest islands, commanding an army of 35,000 men, and at the head of a civil government with its own post office, law courts, currency, factories, and hospitals. John Keats, who also served in the Philippines, has captured all the pain, brutality, and courage of this incredible drama, in which many memorable men and women play their parts. But They Fought Alone is essentially the story of one man—a testament to the ingenuity and sheer guts of an authentic American hero. “This remarkable story of guerrilla fighting in the Philippines during WWII...it is absorbing reading. . . . More remarkable still, though it contains death, torture, and desolation, it bubbles with humor.” —S. L. A. Marshall, The NY Times Book Review “A true and admirably researched account of an American hero who refused to accept defeat. His courage was incredible and his resourcefulness equally so. . . . I have read scores of books in this genre and Keats’ is one of the best.” —Chicago Tribune


Lapham's Raiders

Lapham's Raiders

Author: Robert Lapham

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2014-04-23

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 0813145694

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

On December 8, 1941, the day after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the Philippine Islands, catching American forces unprepared and forcing their eventual surrender. Among the American soldiers who managed to avoid capture was twenty-five-year-old Lieutenant Robert Lapham, who was to play a major role in the resistance to the brutal Japanese occupation. After emerging from the jungles of Bataan and in the face of daunting odds, Lapham built from scratch and commanded a devastating guerrilla force behind enemy lines. His Luzon Guerrilla Armed Forces (LGAF) evolved into an army of thirteen thousand men that eventually controlled the entire northern half of Luzon's great Central Plain, an area of several thousand square miles. This personal account of the Luzon guerrilla operations is woven into the larger context of the war. Lapham and Norling shed light on the clandestine activities of the LGAF and other guerrilla operations, assess the damages of war to the Filipino people, and discuss the United States' postwar treatment of the newly independent Philippine nation. They also offer a fuller understanding of Japan's wartime failures in the Philippines, the Pacific, and elsewhere in Asia, and of America's postwar failure to fully realize opportunities there.


Shadow Commander

Shadow Commander

Author: Mike Guardia

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2015-11-24

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 1504025040

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The true story of the US Army legend who organized “Blackburn’s Headhunters” against Japan in WWII and went on to initiate Special Forces operations in Vietnam. The fires on Bataan burned on the evening of April 9, 1942—illuminating the white flags of surrender against the dark sky. Outnumbered and outgunned, remnants of the American-Philippine army surrendered to the forces of the Rising Sun. Yet US Army Captain Donald D. Blackburn refused to lay down his arms. With future Special Forces legend Russell Volckmann, Blackburn escaped to the jungles of North Luzon, where they raised a private army of 22,000 men against the Japanese. His organization of native tribes into guerrilla fighters would lead to the destruction of the enemy’s naval base at Aparri. But Blackburn’s amazing accomplishments would not end with the victory in the Pacific. He would go on to play a key role in initiating Army Special Forces operations in Southeast Asia, spearheading Operation White Star in Laos as commander of the 77th Special Forces Group and eventually taking command of the highly classified Studies and Observations Group (SOG), charged with performing secret missions now that main-force Communist incursions were on the rise. In the wake of the CIA’s disastrous Leaping Lena program, in 1964, Blackburn revitalized the Special Operations campaign in South Vietnam. Sending reconnaissance teams into Cambodia and North Vietnam, he discovered the clandestine networks and supply nodes of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Taking the information directly to General Westmoreland, Blackburn was authorized to conduct full-scale operations against the NVA and Viet Cong in Laos and Cambodia. In combats large and small, the Communists realized they had met a master of insurgent tactics—and he was on the US side. Following his return to the US, Blackburn was the architect of the infamous Son Tay Prison Raid, officially termed Operation Ivory Coast, the largest prisoner-of-war rescue mission—and, indeed, the largest Army Special Forces operation—of the Vietnam War. During a period when US troops in Southeast Asia faced guerrilla armies on every side, America had a superb covert commander of its own. This book follows Blackburn through both his youthful days of desperate combat and his time as a commander, imparting his lessons to the new ranks of Army Special Forces.


Behind Japanese Lines

Behind Japanese Lines

Author: Ray C. Hunt

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Published: 2014-04-23

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 081314602X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This WWII combat memoir offers a rare firsthand account of the Allied guerilla forces fighting the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. In the Spring of 1942, US and Philippine forces lost the Battle of Bataan, leaving control of the Bataan Peninsula and the island of Corregidor to the Japanese. After the devastating loss, the Allied forces stationed across the Philippine Archipelago were supposed to surrender. Yet many of them refused, escaping into the mountains and jungles to form guerilla units. In Behind Japanese Lines one of those brave soldiers, Ray Hunt, recounts his experiences as part of the Allied resistance against the Japanese occupation. After escaping the Bataan Death March, Ray organized a troop of guerillas who went on to make noteworthy contributions to the Filipino-American reconquest of the Philippines. Ray’s story sheds important light on US-Filipino relations during World War II, as well as the realities of fighting both the Imperial Japanese Army and the Hukbalahap communist guerillas. "Stands out for the vividness of its detail, its effort to sort fact from legend, and its tribute to the heroism of the resistance movement, which was almost entirely Filipino.” —Choice


Stranded in the Philippines

Stranded in the Philippines

Author: Scott A. Mills

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2009-07-01

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1612515215

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Stranded in the Philippines is based on the memoirs of Professor Henry Roy Bell and his wife Edna. After graduation from Emporia College in Kansas, they had gone to the Philippines in 1921 to teach at Silliman, a missionary school founded by Presbyterians in 1901. The Bell family was stranded in the Philippines after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This is their story from then until they were evacuated by a submarine on February 6, 1944. When the Japanese occupied their island of Negros, Prof. Bell first took his family into the hills to avoid Japanese soldiers on the coast. But in time, some of Bell’s recent students climbed to the Bell family’s retreat and persuaded Bell to support them in their harassment of Japanese soldiers—but only in food. Yet in time, the young men acquired enough arms on their own to clash with the nearby enemy garrison. They inflicted heavy losses and fatally wounded the garrison commander. By steps, he became fully involved with the resistance. He became a major in the island-wide guerrilla force which he helped organize an intelligence network for MacArthur’s headquarters. Despite the organizing success, the Bell’s were facing certain capture. With the help from the now well-organized guerrilla forces, the family crossed the island for evacuation by the huge cargo submarine Narwhal when it delivered arms and ammunition for the guerrillas the night of the rendezvous.


Wendell Fertig and His Guerrilla Forces in the Philippines

Wendell Fertig and His Guerrilla Forces in the Philippines

Author: Kent Holmes

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-04-20

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 0786498250

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Creating a guerrilla movement to fight the Japanese occupation of the Philippines (1942-1945) presented Colonel Wendell Fertig with some formidable challenges. Unlike the other islands in the archipelago, Mindanao had a large Moslem (Moro) population. Using Moro and American leadership he brought the Moro people into the movement. Fertig lacked good communication with MacArthur's headquarters in Australia. With ingenuity and talented technical personnel he solved this problem, and increased the logistical support for the guerrillas by submarine from Australia. As the force expanded, Fertig was fortunate to recruit leadership from 187 Americans--military and civilian--who had not surrendered to the Japanese. The resulting force, with its intelligence from coastal watch stations, added six guerrilla divisions to U.S. military strength for the 1945 liberation of Mindanao, a contribution unique in the history of unconventional warfare.


Cushingês Coup

Cushingês Coup

Author: Dirk Jan Barreveld

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2015-07-19

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1612003079

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This work reveals one of the most important intelligence triumphs of World War II. It was no less than the capture of Japanês –Plan Z”ãthe Empireês fully detailed strategy for prosecuting the last stages of the Pacific War. Itês a story of happenstance, mayhem, and intrigue, and resulted directly in the spectacular U.S. victory in the Philippine Sea and MacArthurês early return to Manila, doubtless shortening WWII by months. One night in April 1944, Admiral Koga (successor to Yamamoto), commander-in-chief of Japanese forces in the Pacific, took off in a seaplane to establish new headquarters. For security reasons he had his chief-of-staff, Rear Admiral Fukudome, fly in a separate seaplane. But both aircraft ran into a tremendous typhoon and were knocked out of the skies. Kogaês plane crashed with the loss of all hands. Fukudomeês crashlanded into the sea off Cebu, the Philippines, and both the admiral and the precious Japanese war plans floated ashore. Lt. Col. James M. Cushing was an American mining engineer who happened to be in Cebu when war broke out in the Pacific. He soon took charge of the local guerrillas and became a legendary leader. But his most spectacular exploit came when he captured Admiral Fukudome and the –Plan Z” that was in his tow. The result was a ferocious cat-and-mouse game between Cushingês guerrillas and the Japanese occupation forces. While Cushing desperately sent out messages to MacArthur to say what he had found, the Japanese scoured the entire countryside, killing hundreds of civilians in a full-scale attempt to retrieve their loss. Cushing finally traded the admiral in return for a cessation of civilian deathsãbut he still secretly retained the Japanese war plans. Naturally both Tokyo and Washington tried to cover up what was happening at the timeãneither wanted the other to know what theyêd lost, or what theyêd found. However, in this book we finally learn of the huge intelligence coup by Lt. Col. Cushing that helped to shorten the entire war.


Total Resistance

Total Resistance

Author: Hans von Dach

Publisher:

Published: 2024-08

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781925907575

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Total Resistance: The Swiss Army Guide to Guerrilla Warfare and Underground Operations Originally published in 1965, the Panther Publications English translation of Swiss Army Major Hans von Dach's classic Der totale Widerstand brings one of the most influential guerrilla manuals back into print in its original format, right down to the distinctive red covers of the Panther Publications first printing. Universally known as being more complete than the later Paladin Press editions which have been widely reproduced, this edition is the best translation available. Total Resistance is a comprehensive guide to guerrilla warfare, designed to empower civilians to resist occupation by a foreign power through sabotage, assassination, and the organization of underground movements. This translation preserves the detailed tactics and strategies that made the original a vital resource during the Cold War. With chapters covering everything from creating sabotage cells and conducting ambushes to psychological warfare and intelligence gathering, Total Resistance remains a cornerstone in the study of unconventional warfare. Over the decades, von Dach's manual has been both revered and controversial, influencing resistance movements across the globe. Its use by various insurgent groups during the 1960s and 1970s, as well as its relevance in modern conflict zones, underscores the enduring importance of this text. This edition is perfect for historians, military enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the principles of asymmetric warfare. Whether you're studying the Cold War era, exploring military strategy, or looking for insights into modern resistance movements, Total Resistance offers a wealth of knowledge on the power of civilian-based defense. Rediscover this seminal work that continues to shape the doctrine of guerrilla warfare and underground operations around the world.


War and Resistance in the Philippines, 1942-1944

War and Resistance in the Philippines, 1942-1944

Author: James K Morningstar

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2021-04-15

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1682476294

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

War and Resistance in the Philippines, 1942-1944 repairs the fragmentary and incomplete history of events in the Philippine Islands between the surrender of Allied forces in May 1942 and MacArthur's return in October 1944. No book has comprehensively examined the Filipino resistance during this crucial period. Here, James Kelly Morningstar provides for the first time a comprehensive history of the protracted fighting by 260,000 guerrillas in 277 units across the archipelago. Beginning with the Japanese occupation, the collapse of the United States Forces, Far East (USAFFE), and the simultaneous rise of the complex, diverse Philippine guerrilla movements, Morningstar exposes the inadequacy of MacArthur's conventional plans while revealing his inchoate preparation for guerrilla resistance. Morningstar then recounts in detail the impromptu resistance led by refugee American and Filipino soldiers, local politicians, and social revolutionaries left to battle the Japanese--and each other--with emphasis on how Japanese, American, and Filipino actions influenced and proscribed each other. From a distance, MacArthur contacted select guerrillas and organized agents to deliver supplies and radios to them by submarine. In this way he empowered some to gain power as part of a united framework under his leadership. This not only kept alive the resistance that denied the Japanese exploitation of the Philippines while setting the conditions for MacArthur's return, it also ensured that no one guerrilla leader could challenge America's supremacy. MacArthur's selective support to guerrilla groups that encouraged continued Filipino dependence on the United States would prove fatal for the incipient Maoist social revolution on Luzon. Even so, the Filipinos' shared sacrifice in their act of resistance fueled a national consciousness that created a sense of deserved nationhood. War and Resistance in the Philippines, 1942-1944 concludes with a brief discussion of legacies of the guerrilla resistance. MacArthur's return reestablished the power of American and Filipino political elites. Guerrillas and other citizens who had experienced exceptional hardship now had to fight for recognition. However, the war had resulted in a more united Philippine national identity along with new political institutions to repair the divisions between the formerly exiled government, the collaborationists, and the members of resistance. These momentous years of struggle in the Philippines changed the tide of history and challenge our understanding of war and resistance.