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The Evacuation December 1941
The Evacuation December 9 – 22, 1941
General Eisenhower, in addition to being commander of the Luzon Force, remains General Krueger's Chief of Staff until Krueger is severally wounded on December 8. However Eisenhower had empowered several engineer and transport officers, both Filipino and American, to act as his assistants and these men, particularly Colonel Lewis Beebe, were invaluable when war came.
By December 11, there are several groups of people that Eisenhower decides will be leaving as soon as possible. There are over 40 merchant ships in Manila Bay when the war begins, and several of the fastest are immediately chartered by the Commonwealth Coast Guard, while several others are chartered by the Filipino Army on the orders of General Ord. Valuable cargoes are found on some, including 57 Bren Gun Carriers that were en route to Hong Kong for the Canadians there, and considerable fuel oil and gasoline. The POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants) is offloaded onto barges and sent to Bataan which allows POL storage depots near Lingayen to remain where they are needed for the expected invasion while still building up a reserve for Bataan. Literally thousands of tons of food are sent to Bataan from these ships, as well as a large amount of quinine which is found on a Dutch freighter which had been en route to the United States.
Due to prewar planning, Corregidor already has sufficient stores for 6 months at full rations for 20,000 men, while stock piles for 150,000 people for 90 days have already been assembled at Bataan. The windfall from the merchant ships adds nearly double that stockpile all on its own, while additional stores begin moving from elsewhere in Luzon, particularly from corporate warehouses in northern Manila, which will double that figure yet again.
On December 10, the first ships are ordered out and they steam south independently. The more valuable ships, such as the tankers, fast cargo ships (fast being a ship capable of cruising at 10 knots or better) and the US Navy support ships such as the destroyer tender Black Hawk, submarine tenders Holland and Otus, and seaplane tender Langley as well as the four light transports of the Philippine Coast Guard are sent to Subic Bay, escorted by 8 destroyers and 2 minesweepers, plus the gunboats Asheville and Tulsa (now in Philippine Coast Guard service).
Here they begin loading several groups of people. The first group are 4,000 civilians from the United States and other Allied countries, as well as Filipino dependents of US servicemen and government employees. The Far East Air Force sends the bulk of the Filipino's in the Philippine Army Air Force as well as most of the ground personnel except for those needed to support the remaining squadrons of the 23rd and 24th Fighter Groups and the 27th Bomb Group. This amounts to 6,000 American and Filipino personnel. Some of these will be sent on to Del Monte, but the remainder will go to Darwin. The Filipinos to obtain new aircraft to form fighter and bomber squadrons to fight on, and the Americans for reassignment or to provide the personnel needed for operations out of Darwin where already much of the 19th Bomb Group has arrived and more B17s and P40s are already en route.
The next loaded aboard is the entire 4th Marine Regiment (1,100 men), which Admiral Rockwell and General Eisenhower initially plan to send to defend Cebu but whose destination is changed to Darwin after the results of the Battle of Albay Gulf become clear. Admiral Rockwell plans to establish a rear area support base to provide support for the Philippines there and he wants the Marine Regiment available to defend it, or to send forward to Java to defend bases there should it appear necessary. Also loaded aboard are nearly 3,000 men from the US Navy and Philippine Coast Guard or civilian shipyard employees working for either. These are the survivors from Cavite, as well as the entire staff of Sangley Point Naval Air Station and the hospital located there, as well the entire staff of Olongapo Naval Base (Subic Bay) except for the 1st Separate Battalion, USMC, which is sent to Mariveles (along with its radar and anti-aircraft guns) and 500 volunteers to man the submarine tender Canopus, rescue ship Pigeon, seaplane tender Huron, and provide experienced cadre for the 3 China gunboats and 2 minesweepers that will remain behind as part of the 16th Naval District along with 6 US Navy PT boats, and the various remaining craft and motor torpedo boats that remain of the Philippine Coast Guard.
Among the final people loaded aboard are most of the US Navy and US Army nurses (aside for 15 volunteers from the Army who stay) as well as sufficient personnel from the Philippine Army and Commonwealth government to establish evacuation hospitals at Cebu and Del Monte. Equipment and supplies to get them into service will be brought by air and fast transport from Darwin. The final group are nearly 2,000 wounded, both Filipino and American, who are not expected to be fit for duty within 30 days but who are viewed as not likely to die within that period either.
The Japanese fail to attack these ships on December 10th through the 12th , focusing their airpower on the continued destruction of airfields that they are aware of in Luzon as well providing support to their landings at Aparri, Vigan and Legaspi. On December 13th however, the Japanese hit Subic Bay and destroy the floating drydock Dewey as well as nearly the entire base as no one aside from a few final salvage crews remain and they cannot put out the fires that result.
Aside from 5 merchant ships that were sunk during the bombing of Manila on December 9th, in all over 200,000 tons of Allied shipping escape the Philippines successfully. Indeed the gallant sacrifice at Albay Gulf buys them more time to escape as it delays the Japanese invasion of Davao which would surely have resulted in some of these ships being spotted and sunk by Japanese aircraft while in the proximity of that operation.
By December 12th the evacuation gains the support of the Boise, which becomes command ship for the convoy of 21 merchant, transport and support ships and 13 escorts. By December 22 this convoy has reached Darwin where most of the military personnel are unloaded, while the ships carrying civilians are sent on to Brisbane along with most of the wounded.