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To remove this box, click it, point to outer gray hash marks until you see the Move icon, click to select, and press Delete key. Linking Communications: the Philippine Regional Section of the Allied Intelligence Bureau's Operations in the Occupied Islands,1942-1945 A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Caitlin T. Bentley December 2015 © 2015 Caitlin T. Bentley. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled Linking Communications: The Philippine Regional Section of the Allied Intelligence Bureau's Operations in the Occupied Islands,1942-1945 by CAITLIN T. BENTLEY has been approved for the Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences by Ingo Trauschweizer Associate Professor of History Robert Frank Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 Abstract BENTLEY CAITLIN T., M.A., December 2015, History Linking Communications: The Philippine Regional Section of the Allied Intelligence Bureau's Operations in the Occupied Islands,1942-1945 Director of Thesis: Ingo Trauschweizer The Philippines lay in the middle of Japanese shipping lanes to the Dutch East Indies, a region that provided them with the oil necessary to keep their navy at sea. Japanese possession of the Philippines ensured them not only access to such shipping lanes, but also unrestricted communication with Tokyo. Allied command GHQ SWPA began maneuvering to sever this linkage.1 As this thesis will argue, there was already an effective local guerilla intelligence network in existence before the war, having been maintained by the guerrilla groups that emerged, as Major Peter Thomas Sinclair, II argues, as a result of minimal Japanese planning in advance of the occupation and an attempt to rule through fear.2 The effectiveness of these existing channels and the guerrillas as operatives was illustrated by the speed with which information began to flow back to Australia once these networks were aligned under the Philippine Regional Section. The volume of material produced, of their own volition, while the guerillas unable to maintain reliable contact with GHQ in early 1942, as well as their maintenance 1M. Hamlin Cannon, War in the Pacific, Leyte: The Return to the Philippines. Center for Military History Publication (Washington, D.C. 1954), 2-4; Long, Gavin Merrick. Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Series 1- Army. Volume VII- The Final Campaigns, “Appendix 4: The Allied Intelligence Bureau,”1-6; 4; General Headquarters 2Major Peter Thomas Sinclair, II, Men of Destiny: The American and Filipino Guerrillas During the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, Master’s Thesis (Fort Leavenworth, KS: School of Advanced Military Studies, 2011), iv. 4 of the networks through the war is evidence enough that the intelligence shared between Filipino guerrilla districts and GHQ was a mutually beneficial endeavor. The PRS provided the communications apparatus to link these movements, but they themselves did not control or muster the forces necessary to operate it with the islands. It was the intelligence provided by the guerillas and the Coastwatch stations they supported that provided information crucial to an American reinvasion of the Philippine Archipelago.3 As Ronald H. Spector states, “The guerilla movement undermined Japan’s civil control, kept resistance morale high, and provided intelligence to the Allies.”4 Without the intelligence gathered by the resistance, American forces would have been operating without a precise understanding of enemy positions during battles like Leyte, making any attempt to retake the islands difficult, if not far too risky to be sold to the high command. Despite General MacArthur’s selective use of guerilla reports, often favoring the discoveries of signals intelligence5, at each crucial stage of operations Filipino guerilla reports alerted Allied forces outside the Philippines to minute changes in enemy positions in a way only local operatives were able. Whether or not MacArthur used the intelligence presented to him to its full capacity, the information disseminated through the ranks of GHQ SWPA transformed the collective mind of the Allied approach from a Headquarters 3USMC Major Larry S. Schmidt, American Involvement in the Filipino Resistance Movement on Mindanao During the Japanese Occupation 1942-1945 (Fort Leavenworth Kansas: Master’s Thesis presented to U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. 1982), 243. 4Ronald H. Spector, Eagle Against the Sun: the American War with Japan (New York: Random House Press, 1985), 467. 5Edward J. Drea, MacArthur's Ultra: Codebreaking and the War Against Japan, 1942-1945 (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1991), 157, 170-171. 5 questioning the loyalty of the Philippine populace to an operational taskforce in possession of Japanese plans, strategy, and positions. 6 Dedication To the Filipino and American service personnel who resisted Japanese Occupation: Your service to your country as guerrilla resistance leaders or as agents of the Allied Intelligence Bureau’s Philippine Regional Section continues to be one of the finest examples of allied intelligence operations. Thank you for your service; You are not forgotten… 7 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank the Ohio University’s History Department and the Contemporary History Institute, as without their support I never would have been able to complete this thesis. Secondly, to my advisor Dr. Ingo Trauschweizer whose numerous edits and recommendations have not only improved this thesis, but also challenged me to improve as a scholar, I cannot begin to thank you enough. To Dr. Brobst and Dr. Holcombe, thank you both endlessly for your suggestions on the project and your continued guidance as the project expands. To Dr. Peter Mansoor, thank you for your continued guidance and for recommending that I expand my study of the Philippines to focus on the Filipino Guerrillas in World War II. And lastly, to my mother, Sherry Bentley, and my partner, Fred Coventry, thank you both for sacrificing numerous vacations to join me in sifting through dusty archives and for being continuous supports throughout all my academic endeavors. 8 Table of Contents Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................ 3-5 Dedication ........................................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................... 7 List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction: AIB, Philippine Regional Section ...............................................................10 Chapter 1: Filipino Resitance and the Fight for Self Governance .................................... 30 Pre-Colonial Governance ................................................................................................ 32 Spanish Colonialism ....................................................................................................... 35 The Filipino Independence Struggle Continues .............................................................. 46 Japanese Diplomacy with the Philipine Commonwealth During the Interwar .............. .49 Prewar Intelligence Within the Philippines .................................................................... 51 Chapter 2: Resistance in the Northern Philippine Islands ................................................ 65 AIB's Three Phase Plan ......................................................................................... ..........65 AIBTraining ....................................................................................................................75 Central Luzon Commands ............................................................................................ ..84 Marking's Guerillas ......................................................................................................... 89 Southern Luzon Commands ............................................................................................ 92 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….96 Chapter 3: From Mindanao, Sulu, and Visayas, to Palawan: Resistance in the Southern Philippine Islands.....……………….................................................................................98 Problems and Solutions...................................................................................................98 Planet Party Establishes