THE DESTRUCTION OF BAMBAN TOWN – JANUARY 18, 1945 1945年1月18日のバンバン爆撃。

80th Anniversary of Bamban Liberation in WWII: 1945 – 2025
THE DESTRUCTION OF BAMBAN TOWN – JANUARY 18, 1945 1945年1月18日、バンバンの町が破壊された。

This early morning 6.30 a.m., more than 760 students, tour guides and teachers were visiting our Bamban WWII Museum. It was a cold yet sunny morning under the blue skies of January. The large numbers of visitors were on Educational Tour about WWII in Bamban area. It was also timely that we share on today’s history of the tragedy of the destruction of Bamban town in 1945.

Old timers from Bamban, especially the veterans of WWII will not forget the day the town was burned to the ground. The late Avelino V. Miranda (Company A, Bamban Battalion, Bruce Guerrilla, South Tarlac Military District USAFFE LGF), during interview in 2012, recalled the devastation as such you could see the whole town stretching from barrio Anupul to the town center in san Nicolas devoid of any structure, brought about by the aerial bombings in January 1945.

What happened on that fateful day of January 18, 1945? Why Bamban was selected to be a target of total devastation? I was able to obtain several WWII images of the devastation brought about by the bombings of the town center. In one of my collections, a photo of the actual bombing on the said date taken at around 10,000 feet over the former Bamban airfield in baranggay Pacalcal (Virgen delos Remedios) by one of the aircrews aboard the bomber. In pursuit of historical research, I conducted interviews of the surviving veterans of Bruce guerrillas of Bamban, including the late Avelino “Apung Pokpok” Miranda who was a living witness then and as a member of the local USAFFE guerrilla operating in the town. I was also able to get the complete documentation of the bombing from the unit, the 494th Bomb Group (Heavy) from the us national archives in Maryland. From these sources, I was able to piece together, the story and history of the Bamban town during WWII as one of the most devasted place in the Philippines brought by the aerial bombardments on suspected Japanese targets in Luzon, in time with the impending arrival of the U.S. 6th Army forces at Clark Field area in January 1945.

MOBILIZATION OF JAPANESE FORCES IN BAMBAN – 1945年1月18日のバンバン爆撃。
As a member of Bruce guerrilla, Private Avelino Miranda was tasked to observe the Japanese military movements in the town. Starting on the early January and up to the 15th of January, the major mobilization of Japanese forces took place in Bamban as he reported to the Bruce Guerrilla Malasa Headquarters with thousands of Japanese soldiers coming into the Bamban area. With the destruction of the Japanese Army and Navy Air Force capability at Clark Air Center in the last quarter of 1944, 14th Area Army under General Yamashita decided to established 3 major forces in Luzon, the one being at the Clark-Bamban Area called the Ran Force – Kembu Group. General Tsukada (1st Raiding Group) came from Japan and was tasked to command the Army and Navy forces at Clark-Bamban area in mid-January 1945. Bamban and the hills immediate of the town center became the sector of the Takayama Detachment (2nd Mobile Infantry Regiment), under Colonel Koshin Takayama.

CONSOLIDATED B-24Js HEAVY BOMBERS FROM KELLY’s KOBRA – アメリカのB-24航空機爆撃機。
Macarthur’s invasion forces had landed in Lingayen on January 9, 1945 and was rapidly proceeding into the central plains of Luzon. At the same time, the US Sixth Army was closing in but received reports of the main concentration of Japanese troops at Bamban. The matter was decided upon by MacArthur’s HQ and directed the 7th Air Force, with its 494th Bomb Group (V Bomber Command) was assigned to conduct air strikes at Bamban town. The unit was operating deep in the South Pacific base of Angaur, with the 864th, 865th, 866th and 867th Bomb Squadrons.

MISSION: TO DESTROY BAMBAN – JANUARY 18, 1945 – 軍事任務：バンバンの町を破壊する。
On the morning of January 18, 25 Consolidated B-24J Liberators and 1 B24-L from 494th Bomb Group took off from Angaur Field, an island in the Palau to conduct the given order; “Mission – Destroy Bamban”. Bamban Airfield, located east of the town, was a major component of the Clark Air Center, where numerous Japanese Army and Navy fighters and bombers were based since October 1944. In addition, there were several batteries of Japanese anti-aircraft guns, particularly the Army’s Type 88 75-millimeter and the Type 10 dual-purpose naval guns scattered around the airfield. By 11:00 hours, the B-24 heavy bombers on diamond formation approach the town from the west and dropped a total of 99 1000-lb general purpose bombs; hitting the town center, north area and train cars targets. The church was spared as well as the Bamban Sugar Central. Huge dark smokes engulfed the town obliterating all houses north and north-east of the town. The public market was destroyed as the many houses, most of them dating back to the Spanish-era, were burned to the ground. Parts of the Gabaldon Elementary School buildings were also destroyed as the result of the massive bombings. At the time of the air strikes by the 494th Bomb Group (Heavy) over Bamban, there were no air interceptions carried on by Japanese aircraft from nearby Bamban Airfield, and the anti-aircraft batteries located east of the town were not able to hamper the air strike on that day. Air capability was already destroyed by that time and the Japanese 4th Air Army units and the Imperial Japanese Navy’s 5th and 6th Base Air Force (1st and 2nd Air Fleet) already moved out of Bamban and Clark Air Center. It can be deduced that the bombing on January 18 in Bamban was one of the most concentrated bombings carried on a small town with the 26 B-24 heavy bombers.

THE AFTERMATH AND THE ARRIVAL OF THE 40^th DIVISION, U.S. ARMY – アメリカ陸軍第40師団がバンバンに到着。
The thousands of Japanese soldiers mobilized prior January 18 on order of the Japanese Kembu Group for the occupation of the various designated military basements in Bamban and Bamban hills was completed prior the aerial bombing. On the account of Japanese records, there were no enemy casualties caused by the bombing on January 18 but the storage and ammo dumps were hit. Japanese forces, the Takayama Detachment, with strength of 2,800 men (other source indicated at 3,600) were already on their mountain protective installations west and southwest of the town on tunnel fortifications. Civilian casualty was few since the Bamban Battalion men informed the local populace of the impending aerial bombardments, as well as Japanese military announcements for the American intention as early as October 1944 for the evacuation of civilians. Another air strike was carried out on January 21 on Japanese targets and military installations in Bamban by the both the Consolidated B-24Js 22nd and 494th Bomb Group (Heavy) as a prelude to the entry of 40th and 37th Divisions (U.S. Sixth Army) in the town, destroying gun emplacements and troop concentrations around Bamban. The 494th Bomb Group (Heavy) Consolidated B-24s from Angaur Airfield in the Palau Islands had been active in air operations on Japanese targets and airfields since December 1944, hitting Mabalacat and Clark Airfields and later the Bamban.

With the air strike , bamban became one of the most devastated towns in the Philippines during WWII, where Spanish-era houses destroyed. Only a couple of these heritage houses are now remaining such as the 124-year old Don Pedro Sibal II and the Tizon-Singian ancestral homes.

The strategic location of Bamban was an important military basement and defense, as the town was an important railroad and transport center, with the Bamban Hills and the Paruao River as natural defenses. It was also these considerations in military that the Bamban became a target of destructive combat operations in war, from Philippine-American War to WWII.

Rhonie Dela Cruz
Bamban WWII Museum
Bamban Historical S

SOURCES:
-January 18, 1945: Mission – Destroy Bamban Town.
494th BOMB GROUP, V BOMBER COMMAND
US National Archives

-“Strike Plan for the 18 January 1945” dated January 17, 1945, Manuscript, Headquarters of V Bomber Command, Office of the Intel Officers; Mission Plan – Mission No. 18-A Target Bamban.
US National Archives

-Various diaries of Japanese personnel and officers from point of origin to Bamban Asahi area, Advance Allied Translation and Interpreter Section, Southwest Pacific Area, ADVATIS Bulletin No. 280, Nos. 26/160/EAL/CD, 26/160/EAL, February 15, 1945.

-Diary of Japanese assigned at Bamban Asahi area, Advance Allied Translation and Interpreter Section, Southwest Pacific Area, ADVATIS Bulletin No. 280, Nos. 26/160/EAL, February 15, 1945. Also, see WF Craven and JL Crate, The US Army Air Forces in WWII: The Pacific – From Matter horn to Nagasaki June 1944 to August 1945, Pp 419-420.

INTERVIEW:
Pablo Santos, Jr. and Alberto Miranda; Interview on the Burning of Bamban Town, Bamban Museum, November 12, 2012.

IMAGES/PHTOGRAPHS
LEFT TO RIGHT:
(1) AERIAL VIEW OF THE DEVASTATED TOWN OF BAMBAN.
40th Div. Photo, February 1945.
US National Archives NARA, BHS Collection
(2) CONSOLIDATED B-24J LIBERATOR
The bomber was from 867 Bomb Squadron (H), 494th Bomb Group piloted by Captain JR Grant which took part in the air strike at Bamban on January 18, 1945.
(3) Private Avelino Miranda, Bamban Battalion, Bruce Guerilla, South Tarlac Military District.
Photo taken at Bamban Museum, circa 2012.
(4) ANOTHER VIEW OF THE DEVASTATED TOWN OF BAMBAN, circa February 1945.
US Army Photo.
(5) FACSIMILIE OF THE MISSION ORDER FOR 864th BS (H), 494th Bomb Group for January 18, 1945 for Bamban.
(6) ANGAUR AIRFIELD, with B-24 Bombers. Angaur became the base of 494th while conducting air strikes in Bamban, Clark and other targets from November 1944 to January 1945.
Photo from at www.scridb.com.
(7) THE BURNING OF BAMBAN TOWN, JANAURY 18, 1945
Actual photograph taken by the 494th Bomb Group (Heavy) B-24 during the air strike over Bamban on January 18, 1945, showing the town poblacion under heavy smoke due to the bombings. Bamban WWII Museum Collection. U.S. National Archives NARA photo.