Eisenhower in the Pacific: Part 1 The Shoestring Warriors of Luzon

[galveston bay]

authors note: The Philippine Scouts did expand to this force historically so this is not a significant departure. The major departure is the smaller force of Philippine Army troops but one that can be more thoroughly trained and more easily equipped.

Basically the Constabulary expands to a bit over twice its original size in peacetime but in wartime the force is about a half the size of the OTL Philippine Army of 1941. A more gradual expansion means that it will be only 45% of planned strength when war does come, but it will be a force where everyone has a personal weapon and has sufficient training to be effective light infantry which does not have to learn on the job like the historical Filipino's had to and also far less likely to collapse when it first meets the enemy. Plus the construction troops will be very useful indeed.

MacArthur did cite the Philippine Insurrection as an example of how effective the Filipinos could be as soldiers. He did not think that all the way through and prepare a partisan war strategy in advance, but it did turn out he was right about the effectiveness of Filipino partisans.

Unsuitable for constabulary work are those conscripts who have language barriers or are politically questionable but that is less important to the Americans than it will be eventually to the Filipino government dominated by Tagalog speakers.


As mentioned earlier, both Eisenhower and Ord were far more air minded than MacArthur

 

[galveston bay]

still have more ground work before we get to the actual war. Coming soon how events begin to pressure the Americans to send reinforcements to the Philippines and what those will be

 

[sloreck]

Didn't the Filipinos begin having pilots and some fighters (P-26) sooner than 1939?

 

[galveston bay]

Didn't the Filipinos begin having pilots and some fighters (P-26) sooner than 1939?

training started in 1938 historically and will in this timeline too... the Coast Guard will be a bit sooner than historical

They got the P26s when the USAAF in Luzon got P35s in late 1940, while getting the B10s and B18s when the USAAF got B17s in 1941

 

[marathag]

It will have 24 armed motor launches (or PT boats when or if they become available),

http://www.uscrashboats.org/cpage.php?pt=10

63-foot Aircraft Rescue Boat

Founded in 1939, the Miami Shipbuilding Corporation, formerly known as Fogel Boat Yard and received the first US Navy contract for the construction of small, fast and lightly armed "Crash Boats" in its first year of existence. Most of the information in this section comes indirectly from Jean E. Buhler, Chief Technical Officer of Miami Shipbuilding Corporation. His family owned Miami Shipbuilding.



In 1940 Miami Shipbuilding Corporation (MSC) learned that the Union of South Africa was interested in purchasing rescue boats that the builder would guarantee to make 42 knots. The most powerful engine on the market was the 1250 horsepower Packard M-2500-W8, but the U.S. Navy had restricted their use to the PT-Boats. The 630 hp Hall-Scott “Defender” engine was attractive but the production was sold out to the British for the next year. The third most powerful engine was the Kermath 500 hp “Sea Raider” and it was available.



Miami Shipbuilding decided to use four Sea Raiders to get 2000 hp and then rework the Stevens tank data to determine the largest boat that could be built to get 43 knots. The result was the 63-foot Aircraft Rescue Boat. With all its variants, it was the most popular crash boat, with 740 built, including 2 that the Australians built.



Launching the first US crash boat later in the same year, MSC started the ball rolling on what would eventually result in one of the most storied ship designs of the Second World War, the PT boat. Though Miami Shipbuilding only produced two prototype PTs before further contracts were passed to more experienced builders, the yard received a large contract for building crash boats for lend/lease to Russia, and ended up producing 50 of the type by the end of 1943. Further orders followed from Allied Navies, and by the end of the war Miami Shipbuilding had sent over 200 crash boats down its ways for the Russian, British, Australian Dutch and South African armed forces, a large part of the 329 boats MSC built during the war.
...
AVR 63s - The designation AVR was used for "Auxiliary [or Aircraft, depending on the source], Vessel, Rescue”
AVRs were designed by Dair N. Long shortly before World War II. AVRs, compared to the more well-known PT boats, were relatively lightly armed with four fifty caliber machine guns in two tubs. Their role was expanded, beyond the design intent to move in quickly and retrieve downed airmen in the Pacific, Atlantic and Mediterranean waters. Their primary defense system was speed and maneuverability.
However, in the navy some AVRs were assigned the role as a sub chaser and patrol boat. In this role, AVRs beefed up their offensive systems to include depth charge racks aft. In addition, a 20mm Oerlikon cannon was mounted on the aft deck. Moreover, many crews in the South Pacific Theater mounted an additional 50 caliber machine gun on the bow. The latter bow gun provided additional firepower and more weight on the foredeck to assist the vessel in getting on plane sooner.

Now if the PI Coast Guard gets the order in ahead of of the British orders, they could get these with the more reliable and powerful Hall Scott V12s

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

I fear all this will end as "too little, too late"...

 

[Oldbill]

Well done! It's always a pleasure to read a well thought out and researched TL.

 

[RyderWest]

I wonder how would the IJA feel when it gets a face full of 12 gauge buckshot in the jungles of the Philipines.

And the rifle rounds of Krags.

 

[viperjock]

The Marine Corps had some experience training and fighting with constabulary forces during the Banana Wars in Central America. In fact in May 1939 Chesty Puller was commander of the Marine Detachment aboard the USS Augusta flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. Perhaps the Fleet commander can arrange to have Puller give some lectures in Manila?

 

[galveston bay]

The last years of peacetime 1937 -1938
General Parsons takes command (at his brevet four star rank in the US and Philippine Army) and with the help of Eisenhower and Ord, as well as High Commissioner McNutt help Quezon get a new Defense Act passed. This act changes conscription to a 1 year active duty period and 4 years of active reserve, followed by another 4 years of inactive reserve. Those in the inactive reserve are assigned to the newly created (on paper) Philippine Militia, which will provide internal security troops to assist in guarding population centers and installations. For now it remains entirely a paper force but it is hoped by the time 1943 comes arms and organization can be provided. Those who volunteer for service will have 4 years active duty followed by 4 years of active reserve, or may reenlist. The draft call for 1938 forward is modified to take into account the Eisenhower Plan.

In January 1938, the engineer brigades are put to work building training camps, a new air base for the Philippine Army Air Force, as well as an entire brigade put to work improving roads in Bataan. Parsons also makes Eisenhower his Department Chief of Staff when Holbrook retires, while making Ord chief of staff for his other function as commander of the Philippine Army. Eisenhower begins breaking the US Army out of its comfortable colonial life style and a number of officers and senior enlisted men who are lazy or drunks find themselves heading home or forced to shape up.

Frustrated by the unwillingness of the US Army to part with Springfields at all, or Enfields at a reasonable price, Colonel Ord persuades Parsons to allow him to pursue other options. As the Constabulary military police and engineers, as well as the Coast Guard and Air Force are second line combat forces, they can get by with civilian rifles, trench guns and what submachineguns can be found. An order for 25,000 weapons is placed with Winchester (12,000 Winchester Model 1897 trench guns, 12,000 Model 70 Winchester bolt action rifles with 22 inch barrels chambered for the 30 06 Springfield round, and 1,000 Thompson submachineguns). This along with the 45,000 Enfields already on order, should allow by the time delivery is completed in 1941 for the Philippine military to have sufficient small arms for its troops.

In 1938 and 1939, Parsons also sends a small number of American and Filipino junior officers to China to act as observers with the Chinese Nationalist Army as well as a handful that are sent to observe with the Japanese Army (through private arrangements made by Quezon on his visit there in 1938).

To assist with communications, Parsons also orders the establishment of schools with the teaching of English to all Filipino officers and enlisted men who reach corporal are required to take literacy classes. There are shortages in available teachers, but efforts are made to improve on this. Reserve officers who have training as teachers find themselves doing their civilian job in the Army.
By the end of 1939 the Eisenhower Plan is well underway and is having far more success than the initial 1937 year. The Philippine Army Air Force has been started as has the Philippines Coast Guard with the help of the US Navy and US Army, and many of the peace time attitudes of the US Army in the Philippines are finally being shaken off.

However Eisenhower, who has been in the Philippines since 1935 and whose wife has had serious health problems, is ready to go home. In December 1939 he returns to the US to take command of a brigade of the Third Infantry Division in Fort Lewis, Washington and with it gains permanent rank as a Brigadier General US Army. By early 1941 he is Chief of Staff of the US Third Army, working for Walter Krueger and would distinguish himself in the Louisiana Maneuvers that same year. That performance leads Marshall to decide that Krueger and Eisenhower are the men to send to Philippines in September 1941 when General Parsons is finally retired due to health reasons.

Training the Philippine Army 1939

 

[galveston bay]

authors note
Eisenhower gets promoted early

I decided that commonality of ammunition was more important than the 'cool factor" and availability of the Krag (which uses a 30-40 round). Dealing with one arms company allowed the Commonwealth government to get a major price break (which also means the Winchester Company will be more ready for US expansion when it starts)

Technically speaking shotguns are not supposed to be used in combat under the Geneva Convention (the Germans made complaints during World War I) but for second line troops they are generally considered acceptable. Not that the Japanese care about that anyway

There were only a handful observers sent to the observe the 2nd Sino-Japanese War. This seems like a major oversight. There were reports from American Marines stationed at Shanghai, for that matter there were reports by American pilots who served with the Chinese Air Force. Parsons knows who the likely enemy is, and is not convinced he is an expert on Asia (which MacArthur believed and proclaimed himself to be). Sending some bright young officers to see what is happening seems in character.

The US Army in peacetime Philippines was lazy. Eisenhower if he had the authority would have shaken things up. He lacked that authority in OTL. The price of that lazy peacetime thinking was additional casualties when the war started, as well as patterns of behavior that a part of the reason the strafing of Clark Field was so disastrously effective.

The Winchester Model 1897 Trench gun is a 12 gauge shotgun which has a bayonet lug. It is a bad ass weapon. Most of the Thompson's will end up in the hands of senior NCOs and junior officers.

The US Army did not want to send first class weapons to the Philippines as it was convinced that they would simply be lost when the the Japanese conquered it. The Army would not even give the Philippine Army a price break for the vast number of World War I era Enfields it had on hand. Then of course in 1940 they mostly ended up being sent to Britain anyway for free.

The big weakness is the serious lack of support weapons and artillery for the Philippine Army. The newly raised units have no artillery and only a few machine guns. The engineers lack heavy earth moving equipment. While better trained than in OTL, at this point it is not much better in terms of capabilities than the Nationalist Chinese. (who are fighting very well but losing all through 1937-39)

 

[galveston bay]

The Far East Air Force 1937 – 1939

US Army Air Corps
The Army has only 28 P26 fighters, 17 B10 bombers, 10 0-46 observation aircraft, 5 0-19 observation aircraft, and 3 Steerman trainers organized into the 4th Composite Group. To fly these aircraft, of which only half are operational due to parts shortages, are 26 pilots (of 58 authorized). Only Clark Field is actually a functional air base, although there are 12 additional fields in the islands which serve mainly as emergency landing strips.

The Philippines are dumping ground for aircraft determined to be in excess of needs for Hawaii and Panama, and for that matter an assignment there is not considered a route to promotion in the Air Corps.

Clark Air Field 1938

The Birth of the Philippine Air Force
To avoid interfering with flight operations at Clark (such as they are), Eisenhower has the Philippine Army 6th Construction engineer brigade construct a hard packed dirt airstrip and apron as well as hangers and other buildings for this new home for air training for the soon to be created Philippine Air Force at Lipa, Batangas (modern day Fernando air base). Eisenhower decides that that the initial location is too unpleasant and too close to Batangas City, and he also has a road built from the small port at Batangas city to the new base. This revised selection also gets the future air force away from mosquitoes. The base gets a new name when an aviation cadet Porfiro Zablan is killed in a training accident.

The first recruits who will be mechanics eventually begin training at Santo Thomas University before moving to Clark Field for advanced training while officer candidates for technical and pilot training are trained at the newly started military academy at Baguio. The first aircraft do not arrive until January 1939 and newly trained Filipino air corps personnel, with assistance from the 4th Composite Group, begin assembling them at Zablan Field. The initial aircraft consist of 48 PT 17 Steerman biplane trainers (equipped with bomb racks for 200 pounds of bombs and one fixed forward machine gun and one flexible mount for the observer in its light attack mission). Only half of the aircraft are initially assembled, with the rest remaining in crates as a source of spares and parts. The next arrivals are 24 AT6 Texan advanced trainers, also equipped for combat with a forward and rear machine gun, as well able to carry 500 pounds of bombs. The final arrivals are 24 Beech 18 twin engine trainers which will also serve as liason and light transport aircraft. Although a significant number of these are lost in training accidents, it still provides the Philippine Army Air Force with 2 primary training squadrons, 1 advanced training squadron and 1 multi-engine training (and navigation training) squadron which can also serve as 3 light attack and 1 patrol squadron in wartime.

Beechcraft Model 18

By 1939 over 100 aviation cadets are in training at various levels of skill, and 10 American pilots from the 4th Composite Group (led by now Captain Jerry Lee). Also completing his training is Colonel Dwight Eisenhower.

 

[galveston bay]

Authors note:
The Texans and Twin Beech are not historical but with less money being spent on the ground forces more money is available for the other two branches of the Philippine Military.

Note that Clark Field in 1938 is mostly grass..... and how tightly clustered the buildings are.

This is a link to the Philippine Air Force Gazette which has some great pictures of the early years of its existence, including a picture of Eisenhower with the first group of flight cadets.

http://www.gov.ph/featured/history-philippine-air-force/

 

[Driftless]

To be honest, I had not heard of Gen. Parsons till this TL. He reads as a man ahead of his time on several levels. Had he been five years younger, he may well have distinguished himself in WW2.

Model 70 Winchester in 30-06 - solid choice, particularly considering the situation. Well engineered and durable.

 

[Driftless]

Authors note:
The Texans and Twin Beech are not historical but with less money being spent on the ground forces more money is available for the other two branches of the Philippine Military.

Note that Clark Field in 1938 is mostly grass..... and how tightly clustered the buildings are.

This is a link to the Philippine Air Force Gazette which has some great pictures of the early years of its existence, including a picture of Eisenhower with the first group of flight cadets.

http://www.gov.ph/featured/history-philippine-air-force/

About half way down the site listed above is a photo of a group of P-26 Peashooters, some airmen and up in the corner of the grainy photo, a lone twin engine plane that could be a Beech

 

[Airship_pirate1901]

One individual I humbly request is Wendell Fertig. He was a civil engineer and captain in the army reserve. He was promoted twice to Lieutenant colonel before the Philippines fell. Afterward lead a well organized guerrilla movement on Mindanao for three years afterward. I first became aware of him from reading the W.E.B. Griffin novel Behind the Lines a part of his marine corps series. I always wished more could be done with him.

 

[zert]

Just caught up and I am really appreciating the changes here. Better trained and armed troops will be very helpful when the War starts. The Philipinnes will still fall, but they can exact more punishment on the Japanese and give more credit to the Filipinnos that they fully deserve.

 

[galveston bay]

One individual I humbly request is Wendell Fertig. He was a civil engineer and captain in the army reserve. He was promoted twice to Lieutenant colonel before the Philippines fell. Afterward lead a well organized guerrilla movement on Mindanao for three years afterward. I first became aware of him from reading the W.E.B. Griffin novel Behind the Lines a part of his marine corps series. I always wished more could be done with him.

first, your name gives me visions of Don Carnage (from Tailspin)

Second,
read this one if you haven't already

http://www.thriftbooks.com/w/americ...n=0553138065&pcrid=70112859672&pkw=&pmt=&plc=

 

[galveston bay]

About half way down the site listed above is a photo of a group of P-26 Peashooters, some airmen and up in the corner of the grainy photo, a lone twin engine plane that could be a Beech

couldn't tell if that was a Cessna or a Beech from the picture and angle.. it could be either

however as the entire OTL command (US and Filipino) had only 28 assorted aircraft that weren't combat aircraft, the numbers of those have already changed

 

[viperjock]

Tommy guns and trench guns are just the right tools that a jungle based insurgency is going to need. The Japanese are in for a miserable occupation.