1941, Thursday 20 November;
The big liner, President Coolidge, completing her voyage from San Francisco, gave a final blast to signal she was secured hard against the jetty, allowing the tug to stop pushing. As soon as the whistle stopped, as if on signal, the Filipino band struck up ‘Dixie’, the bars rising to welcome all on board to Manila, Capital of the Philippines. Within minutes gangways were being swung in place and before the hour was out, passengers began disembarking. Further along the quayside, another berth had been cleared and preparation had begun to accept the big passenger and cargo ship USAT Hugh L Scott, another ship taken into service by the War Department. Meanwhile, the escorting heavy cruiser, the USS Louisville had anchored out in Manila Bay.
Their arrival was a further demonstration of a change of attitude in Washington to the defence of the Philippines. Prior to MacArthur’s recall to duty, there had been an agreed stance between the Army and the Navy, that the Philippines couldn't be held, and their loss to Japan, accepted, should war happen. This had been borne out by the ABC talks with Britain in early 41, where a policy of Germany First was agreed, the British left to defend their Far Eastern possessions alone, depending on American political pressure to keep Japan in check.
But with the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the threat of any German operations to capture islands in the Atlantic dissipated, as their strategic focus was now fully on the east. This convinced Roosevelt that with the Atlantic safe, bar the U-boat menace, and Japan now free to turn south, he needed to take a stronger stance in the Pacific. MacArthur’s lobbying that the Philippines wasn’t a lost cause, and could be held, played to receptive ears. And by positioning a large force of the B-17 Heavy Bombers in Luzon, a greater deterrence would be applied on any Japanese advance southwards. So, with the Navy’s voice going unheeded, Washington and the Army embraced the idea.
Now General George C Marshall, Army Chief of Staff, was doing all he could, where possible, to provide the weapons, munitions, personnel and equipment that MacArthur requested. And MacArthur was asking for a lot, 125,000 steel helmets, which could be quickly sent, as was the 500,000 C rations, and 1,000,000 gallons of gasoline in 55-gallon drums. But the 84,500 Garrand M1 rifles, due to lend lease, production schedules and US Army expansion, were not available, the Philippine Army having to make do with the Enfield and Springfield 1903 rifles. Neither would he get the hundreds of .30 and .50 calibre machine guns, the 81mm mortars, 37mm and 75mm guns, and over 8,000 vehicles he requested any time soon.
But undeterred, MacArthur pushed to take obsolete weapons as substitutes, some pack howitzers coming from the Canal Zone, along with 48 ex-British 75mm guns and over 100 .30 machine guns from the Hawaiian garrison, as well as a mix of 37mm and 75mm guns of WW1 vintage from Army stocks, a sure indication of how important the War Department viewed his needs. Furthermore, existing US artillery units in the Philippines were planned on being upgraded to 105mm howitzers, their 75mm guns would also be handed to the Philippine artillery. Turning to coastal defence, the plan to send 24 155mm guns, without any fire control to be used for the fixed coastal batteries was expanded to include another 22 155mm guns, 30 searchlights, and some railway guns, four 12-inch and four 8-inch, all of which was approved.
And MacArthur didn’t stop there, requesting more US units to help strengthen his Philippine Army, the numbers of officers and men totalling nearly 20,000. They quickly sent 425 reserve US Army officers to assist in the mobalisation and training of that army, while also agreeing to the establishment of four major tactical commands, each big enough to act as a corps HQ, along with some army and corps support troops. But the eye-catching part was US combat troops, another US infantry regiment, providing the Philippine Division with two US and a single Philippine Scout, Infantry Regiments, the other Scout Regiment being disbanded, its men backfilling vacancies in other units, improving their quality. Two extra US Field Artillery battalions were being sent for the Division, while a complete independent Field Artillery Brigade, and a Tank Group were included.
However, this surge in reinforcement of men and equipment overloaded the US transport system, and despite more ships being allocated to the Manila route, a backlog had quickly built up. With a US Navy escort of a heavy cruiser, the reinforcement convoys had begun, in September the 194th Tank Battalion with 54 M3 light tanks, the 17th Ordnance Company, and the 200th Artillery Regiment, an AA unit, all National Guard units, had arrived. The 200th, with additional men and guns, was split, forming a second AA unit, the 515th. And now a second tank battalion, the 192nd, had arrived, and later in the month, with the arrival of Brig Gen James Weaver, the two tank battalions and the ordnance company would form the 1st Provisional tank group.
Following the Carolina Manoeuvres in the summer, a series of big US Army exercises, the 34th Infantry Regiment, recognised as the best infantry unit in those exercises, had been allocated to the Philippine Division, the troops to ship out on the 7th December. And more shipping was being allocated, allowing an increase in reinforcement, and by the end of December, they would deliver one light and one heavy bombardment group, a pursuit group, one reconnaissance squadron, the 34th infantry, a brigade of field artillery, two battalions of light artillery, together with ground and air service units. Indeed, the personnel of the light bombardment group, the 27th, with its three squadrons had just arrived, along with two pursuit squadrons, the 21st and 34th, their planes were scheduled later. Preceding them, the new commander of the US Army Air Force, Maj Gen Lewis Brereton, had arrived two weeks ago, things were beginning to move fast.
Or is it that we drive on the right side which is the left side?