INVESTIGATING HISTORY:
BATTLE FOR THE CAPTURE OF CLARK FIELD AND THE AMERICAN FLAG RAISING – 太平洋戦争中のクラーク飛行場とアメリカ国旗
THE JAPANESE DEFENSE OF CLARK FIELD – クラーク・フィールドの日本の守備。
Clark Field and Fort Stotsenburg were abandoned in late December 1945, with the landing of the Japanese forces to the north, and the series of Japanese advance along the USAFFE Defense Lines from Pangasinan to Bamban, Tarlac. With the fall of the Bamban Line on January 1, 1945, Clark Field and Fort Stotsenburg fell to the Japanese forces.
After more than 3 years of Japanese Occupation, Clark Field and Fort Stotsenburg were cleared out of enemy resistance with the withdrawal of Eguchi Detachment after defending the area starting January 25, 1945 with tank support from Iwashita Independent Tank Company, Yanagimoto Shitai, led by Captain Iwashita with his eight Type 97 (Improved) medium tanks as well as with the Sumi Independent Self-Propelled Gun Company under Captain Fumuo Sumi armed with two Type 4 Ho Ro 150mm SP howitzers. Six tanks of the Iwashita were deployed near Sapang Bato, while the Type 4s of Captain Sumi were mobilized near Margot Airfield (Clark Runway No. 4).
Also, with the Eguchi Detachment under Major Eguchi of the 10th Air Sector, 4th Air Army were numerous
airfield companies and battalions converted into infantry forces; the main units were the 31st, 150th, 151st Airfield Battalion and the 8th and 52nd Airfield Company.
THE BATTLE OF CLARK FIELD – クラークフィールドの戦い。
The Battle for the Capture of Clark Field was led by 129th and 145th Infantry Regiment, 37th Division US Army with M-4 Sherman tanks from 754th Battalion in general support with the infantry along with the 40th Division Recon Troops (during the initial drive). After capturing Culayo where the former Camp Del Pilar was located, infantry units supported by 754th tanks were on a dash to capture Fort Stotsenburg and clear the several runways from enemy positions. However, the Eguchi Detachment with numerous automatic weapons and medium tanks (Type 97) was dug-in confronting the 37th Division drive.
TANK BATTLE AT SAPANG BATO – サパンバト村での戦車戦。
A tank battle ensued with Type 97 medium tanks of the Yanagimoto Shitai’s Iwashita Independent Tank Company in the vicinity of the barrio of Sapang Bato, which were destroyed by the M4A2 Sherman tanks of the 754th Tank Battalion, while the remainder of the Eguchi moved north west to the new line near Bamban River. The tank engagements at Sapang Bato between the 754th Tank Bn, the 637th Tank Destroyer Bn with its M18 Hellcat 76mm Gun Motor Carriage, and the Japanese Yanagimoto Shitai’s Iwashita Tank Company and the Sumi Independent SP Gun Company originally from the 2nd Tank Division became one of the tank engagements in Luzon in 1945.
With the collapsed of the Eguchi’s line, Clark and Fort Stotsenburg were captured. The remaining Eguchi Detachment and Yanagimoto Shitai moved to a new position on the hills overlooking Fort Stotsenburg, the Americans called Top of the World (present Clark Hilton) where the Kembu Group Headquarters was previously located.
THE FLAG RAISING AT THE STOTSENBURG PARADE GROUND – クラーク飛行場にアメリカ国旗が掲げられた
With the departure of the Japanese Eguchi and Yanagimoto Shitai at Clark proper, General Oscar Griswold, commanding the XIV Corps, along with General Walter Krueger, in command of the Sixth Army, went to Clark Field and led the flag raising at the original flagpole of the ruined Fort Stotsenburg in front the Parade Ground on January 30, 1945. However, the Yanagimoto and the Eguchi Shitai holed on the high ground to the southwest, overlooking Clark and the Parade Ground, and fighting on a war of attrition. Mortars and automatic cannon fires emanating from the positions of the Yanagimoto and the Eguchi fell at Clark and near the Parade Ground, where the flag raising ceremony was being carried on by the officers and men of the 37th Division, XIV Corps and Sixth Army. After the last American flag was lowered on the naked flagpole of the Parade Ground on December 24, 1945, the Old Glory was finally flying over the Stotsenburg-Clark Field area. But it was not the end of the fighting, but the beginning of the brutal fights on the high ground and rugged terrain of Bamban Hills. General Douglas MacArthur visited Clark-Stotsenburg area on February 1, 1945, along with his staff, riding on his jeep command car with the emblem of the 5-star general and witnessing the final clearing operations at Clark and the artillery duel on nearby Bamban Hills.
CAPTAIN ALFRED BRUCE AND STOTSENBURG’s NAKED FLAGPOLE, DECEMBER 1941 – アメリカ兵ブルース大尉
Clark Field-Stotsenburg area was the territory of the Aeta Negritos; the Mag-Antsi tribe on the Bamban Hills and Zambales Mountain ranges, where during the Japanese Occupation, USAFFE guerrilla forces were operating around the vicinity of the air center. Captain Henry Clay Conner of the Squadron 155 held the southwest sector of the Stotsenburg, on the Porac and Angeles Mountains (Sapang Bato), while Captain Alfred D. Bruce, commanding the Bruce Guerrillas of the southwest Tarlac area, held the northwest area of Stotsenburg with the Bamban Battalion and Squadron 30 Aeta Negrito Mountain Patrol sectors overlooking the vast aerodrome.
One notable guerrilla officers and commanders, Captain Alfred D. Bruce, with about 5,000 Aeta Negrito warriors and local guerrilla fighters, was present during the flag raising at the Stotsenburg. The event was an emotional ceremony, being at the site where on eve of Christmas of 1941 (December 24, 1941), he was tasked to lower the American flag at the Parade Ground in front of the present Clark Development Corporation main office. As enlisted personnel of the 12th Military Police at Stotsenburg, it was a bitter sight for him to be part of that tragic historical moment of lowering the Old Glory at the old fort, where it signaled an upcoming defeat. After leading the USAFFE guerrillas of Tarlac, and coming back into the lowlands with the arrival of the 40th Division in Bamban on January 23, 1945, he reported back into the headquarters of the XIV Corps in the town of Concepcion, Tarlac. With the liberating forces at Clark, Captain Bruce was back home at the old fort, witnessing the raising of the American flag on the same flagpole where he lowered down the Stars and Stripes upon ordered by his superiors.
THE BEGINNING OF THE BRUTAL FIGHTS ON THE JAPANESE TUNNEL DEFENSES – 日本軍のトンネルでの戦い
A more determined stand by the Eguchi and Yanagimoto forces of the Kembu Group awaits the 37th Division even with the capture of Clark and Stotsenburg proper, as the Japanese military carefully planned and anticipated the American advance with the use of tunnel warfare. The two main units of the Kembu Group composite division would be positioned at the edge of the Fort Stotsenburg on Top of the World, on what is now the Clark Hilton, for a determined stand against the 185th Infantry, 40th Division on a flanking movement of attack. It was not the end of the Japanese forces at Clark Field, but just the beginning of the fiercest battles on the series of hills and mountains west of Clark, where the Kembu Group forces were holed and determined to fight till the end on the tunnel defense system.
Nevertheless, the event of January 30, 1945 flag raising in front of the Parade Ground was a morale boosting activity to avenge the fall of Clark-Stotsenburg in January 1, 1942. And perhaps, very few would know of this history in WWII of the Capture and Liberation of Clark Field on January 30, 1945.
By Rhonie Dela Cruz
Bamban Historical Society
Bamban WWII Museum
Center for Japanese Pacific War Studies
SOURCES:
(1) US Sixth Army. Report of the Luzon campaign, 9 January 1945 – 30 June 1945, Volume I.
(2) Battle of Luzon: 754th Tank Battalion, 9 Jan – 30 Jun 45.
(3) Records of the Kembu Group Fighting Chronicles. (Printed material). from Institute for National Defense Studies, Tokyo, Japan. Bamban Historical Society Collection. Bamban Museum.
(4) Clayton, Doris. The Years of MacArthur 1941-1945.
(5) Newspaper Clippings – City Man Who Lowered the Flag, Cheers It Again. Captain Alfred Bruce Collections. Bamban WWII Museum.
(6) After Action Report 637th Tank Destroyer Bn Luzon Campaign, 22 November 1944 to 30 June 1945.
(7) Battle of Clark Field, Luzon (1945), https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/349585-battle-of-clark-field-luzon-1945/, Accessed January 31, 2023.
PHOTOS:
(1) General Walter Krueger, commanding the U.S. 6th Army, with the commanding general of the 37th Division leading the flag raising at the Flagpole in front of the Parade Ground of the Fort Stotsenburg. The ruins of the headquarters can be seen at the background of the image.
Photo from the XIV Corps, 6th Army US Army, 1945, Bamban WWII Museum Collection.
(2) Portrait of General Krueger, commander of the U.S. 6th Army; by Wikipedia.
(3) General Krueger, along with other American officers during the flag raising ceremony at the Parade Ground, Fort Stotsenburg, January 30, 1945.
Photo from the U.S. National Archives NARA, courtesy of Doug Montanino, Bamban WWII Museum Collection.
(4) General Krueger, along with other American officers during the flag raising ceremony at the Parade Ground, Fort Stotsenburg, January 30, 1945.
Photo from the U.S. National Archives NARA, courtesy of Doug Montanino, Bamban WWII Museum Collection.
(5) Captain Alfred D. Bruce, commanding the Bruce Guerillas, South Tarlac Military District LGF, along with American officers at the grounds of the Fort Stotsenburg during the flag raising ceremony. Photo courtesy of Captain Alfred Bruce family, Bamban WWII Museum Collection.
(6) Newspaper clippings on Captain Bruce during the flag raising at Fort Stotsenburg, Bamban WWII Museum collection.
(7) Photograph of a M4 Sherman tank from the 754th Tank Bn at the entrance of Clark Field taken on around the end of January 1945.
Photo by Carl Mydans through WW War Pictures.
(8) Photograph of a M18 tank destroyer from the 637th Tank Bn at the Dau train station, penetrating the entrance of Clark Field at the former Camp Del Pilar, taken on around the end of January 1945. The 637th engaged the Japanese Iwashita Tank Company with Type 97 (improved) medium tanks in the vicinity of Sapang Bato.
Photo by Carl Mydans through WW War Pictures.
(9) Photograph of American soldiers on the summit of Top of the World (present Sun Valley Clark), where the 108th Infantry, 40th Division fought overlooking Fort Stotsenburg in late January 1945.
40th Division U.S. Army photo.
(10) Photograph of Imperial Japanese Navy officers, led by Captain Sata and Jiro Tanaka of the 763 Kokutai operating at Clark Fields with Mitsubishi G4M Betty bombers. Captain Sata would lead the 763 Kokutai air group personnel for the Japanese Naval Combat Sector behind Clark Field in 1945.
Bamban WWII Museum collection.
