INVESTIGATING HISTORY:
THE JAPANESE WWII TUNNELS OF BAMBAN HILLS – PANAISAN
Field Recon on the Japanese Takayama Detachment War Tunnels
バンバン山の日本の戦争トンネル – 日本軍高山支隊のトンネル
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日本陸軍高山支隊：星野・岡本大隊
In the 1970s and 1980s, as a growing up kid, we used to check the numerous Japanese war tunnels located on the slopes of the Bamban Hills overlooking the diversion road in Bamban: Bantiti, Lafe, Rotary and Panaisan. The area during WWII was part of the Okamoto and Hoshino Battalion of the Takayama Butai; the northernmost anchor of the Japanese Kembu Composite Division that was the gate to Clark Field.
The presence of the Japanese outpost line of resistance on Bamban Hills along these hill-masses meant to hold the American forces coming down into Clark and Manila from the north.
1945年高山隊星野大隊によるバンバン山の防衛
General MacArthur Headquarters sent the 6th Army, with its 37th Division occupying east of Clark, and the 40th Division, on the western sector, to face the Japanese Kembu Group composite division utilizing the tunnel defense system. Local Filipino guerrillas were also utilized in the campaign on the fighting on the tunnels of the Bamban. The fighting along these hill-masses of the Bamban became known as the Battle of Bamban Hills in 1945, one of the toughest fights in Luzon and in the Philippines in WWII Liberation era.
バンバン山の日本軍トンネルの状況
バンバン山の日本軍トンネルの状況
Now, only few of the war tunnels remain, due to soil erosion, weather, and human activity. Checking these war tunnels in the past two decades had revealed a critical situation: most of the tunnels are actually closed in the passage of time, with the lack of preservation programs made available by the Government and by the individual owners.
残りのトンネルの調査と地図作成
In one of our field recon on these tunnels in Bamban Hills, in the area near Mainang, an almost sealed war tunnels had been surveyed and mapped. These are the scenes of the Investigating History of the Japanese War Tunnels of Bamban Hills.
The size of the tunnels are similar to the photograph taken with the 40th Division soldiers in February 1945 in Bamban Hills.
And with this rainy and typhoon season, more of the remaining tunnels will be inundated with rainwaters.
