188th Infantry Regiment (United States) - The Philippines - Raid at Los Banos

Raid At Los Banos

Since the beginning of the Philippines campaign, it was a priority of General MacArthur that both civilians and soldiers held in Japanese camps be rescued as soon as possible. He feared retribution on them, as the Japanese suffered defeats. The Los Banos Camp held more than 2,000 civilians of all ages, and nationalities who were captured during the Japanese invasion. The rescue would involve sending the 11th, 40 miles (64 km) behind Japanese lines. Also, a 90 minute march away from the camp were 9,000 battle hardened soldiers of the Japanese 19th Division, known as the "Tiger Division".

In order to have a plan, Sgt. John Fulton of the 511th Signal Co. volunteered to join Filipino guerrillas in the area. For a few weeks he lived with them and transmitted information back to the 11th. He had also made contact with some young men who were sneaking out at night from the camp to search for food. In this way a rescue plan was designed to overtake the guards by surprise. Its success was dependent on knowing the camp routine, especially that of the guards.

The plan would involve the 672nd Amphibious Tractor Battalion, the 1st of the 511th and the 188th under Colonel Soule. Co. B of the 511th would lead a parachute attack on the camp. C. Co. of the 511th would jump and eliminate a small Japanese force nearby and set up a roadblock near the town of Los Banos. A Co. of the 511th would jump and also set up another roadblock to intercept the enemy. All the men were greatly outnumbered should this attack and rescue go wrong.

Again under the command of General Joe Swing, the attack began on 23 February 1945 at 7:00 a.m. The time was chosen because advance information had placed the guards at that time away from their guns, doing calisthenics. The 511th easily overtook them. Several hours later the entire population had been moved and transported amphibiously across a large body of water to a safe area While the attack on the camp was occurring, the 188th had attacked Japanese positioned near the camp at the San Juan River. By midmorning they had cleared the area of the enemy and marched towards Los Banos to provide more fighting power for the rescue. When Colonel Soule saw the Amtracs filled with the internees on Laguna de Bay moving to a safe location, Mamated, he gave new orders. He ordered a bridgehead near the San Juan River, and blocked the road from Santo Tomas, where the Tiger Marines were positioned. The 188th placed themselves directly in their path to Los Banos, should they be alerted. Fortunately, this did not occur. It would have been a death sentence for every man. The 188th was credited with the success of the raid and the protection of the 511th and others transporting the internees.

Besides Los Banos the 1st of the 188th, was ordered to clear the southern sector of Luzon of any enemy. They attacked in an area known as Ternate and the Pico de Loro Hills on the southern shore of Manila Bay. This action took one month. The Japanese were again using a cave defense system. The artillery and mortars couldn't hit their targets because of the terrain, and razor sharp thickets hid the caves. It required man-to-man combat. After this sector was captured by the 188th, they found 40 Japanese suicide Q boats used to ram American ships. The 1st lost 40 men and 103 wounded in action in one month. In April they were again engaged in another attack.

The entire division committed 105 days of combat from the landing at Nasugbu to the end of the Southern Luzon campaign with a battle at Malepungo. The last operation was Operation Aparri on 23 June 1945. 7 gliders were used, to drop troops, for the first time in the Pacific Theater. This was the end of the Luzon Campaign. The next destination would be the invasion of Japan. The 11th was poised to be among the first to lead the invasion. To that end the 11th was retrained, reorganized and sent on R&R to Australia. The 188th and the 674th became parachute units 20 July 1945 (glider regiments had been increased to 3 battalions).

Then the decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan changed the course of history. It was estimated that the U.S. would lose approximately one million men in an invasion, because of fanatical resistance by the population as well as the homeland troops. After 2 Atomic bombs were dropped, Japan was forced to an unconditional surrender.