Draft:Battle of Naga

Battle of Naga
Part of the 1944–1945 Philippine Campaign and the Pacific Theater of World War II
An aerial view of pre-war Naga taken in April 7, 1935.
Date 9 — 12 April 1945 Location Naga, Philippines 13°37′N 123°11′E Result Allied victory Naga liberated
Belligerents
Commonwealth of the Philippines United States	Japan Republic of the Philippines (Second Republic)
Commanders and leaders
Elias Angeles Juan Q. Miranda Leon Aureus Ennis Whitehead	Shizuo Yokoyama Kenishi Sumi
Units involved
Tangcong Vaca Guerilla Unit	41st Army Shimbu Detachment

The Battle of Naga (Filipino: Labanan ng Naga; Japanese: 名が の 戦い, romanized: Naga no Tatakai; Central Bikol: Laban kan Naga; 9 April—12 April 1945) was a major battle of the Philippine campaign of 1944–45 in Southern Luzon within Central Bicol, during the Second World War. It was mostly fought by guerilla forces of the Philippines against Japanese troops stationed in Naga, the capital city of Camarines Sur in 1945.

The three-day liberation was a collective effort of the chiefly Bicolano guerilla forces, such as the Tangcong Vaca Guerilla Unit formed by Elias Madrid and led by Major Juan Q. Miranda and Leon Aureus, the local Philippine Constabulary, and strategic bombing from the 5th Air Force to clean the Japanese resistance out of the Isarog district and eventually out of the Bicol Peninsula in Southern Luzon. It also recuperated the spearhead of the 5th Cavalry Regiment with the 158th Regimental Combat Team from Albay, where first contact was met in the nearby town of Pili.

On May 1, 1945, once the 5th Cavalry from Manila had entered Naga, the Tangcong Vaca Guerilla Unit had already swept urban Naga clear of Japanese resistance a month prior.

Background

Japanese pre-war presence

In 1936, Camarines Sur had reportedly registered a substantial number of Japanese residents, particularly shopkeepers in Naga. Among the prominent Japanese establishments present in Naga before 1941 were the Filipino Bazaar and the K Mori refreshment parlor, formerly renowed for their monggo con hielo.

Initial reaction to imminent invasion

On December 7th of 1941, the intriguing news of Pearl Harbour and the retaliatory declaration of war generated civil unrest, inciting protracted widespread panic buying among Naga's residents, lasting as far as the initial Japanese occupation of Naga.

Naguenos firmly believed that a Japanese invasion would be decisively repelled through the joint forces of the Philippine Army, Philippine Constabulary and the United States Army Forces in the Far East within the span of two months. This collective anticipation was attested by the anecdotal panic daily buying of short-term stocking of household provisions among Naga's residents. Accounts reported further escalations leading to violent plundering, particularly perpetrated against the prosecuted Japanese, and even Chinese, owned businesses on the platform of sheer retribution. Fomented fears of a permanent Japanese occupation exacerbated the daily looting, frequenting plunders of hardware material, namely crude oil, petroleum, and gasoline.

On December 12nd of 1941, the Japanese nationals were promptly detained in Naga's Provincial Jail on the account of espionage as they all had unanimously donned high ranking Imperial Japanese Army officer uniforms in light of the IJN's 16th Division 'Kimura Detachment's landing in Legazpi. Among the detainees was Kubota, a palay agent of the Greek businessman named Ciriaco Chunaco; Suga, the owner of the Naga Bazaar; others simply remembered as Kitahara; Berto Nishiyama; among others. Their primal military objective was to conduct key ground intelligence for the present Japanese advance of the Kimura Detachment that had just landed in Legazpi, set forth for Camarines Sur, notably in the city of Naga.

As news became increasingly bleaker, parents wired their children studying in Manila to pack for home and to join them in the organized evacuation into the nearby municipalities of Canaman, Magarao, Calabanga and Milaor lest the Kempetai restrict inter-regional emigration. The provincial and local officials of Camarines Sur also had an overtly anti-Japanese stance and, seething the prospect of governing under the Japanese, sought refuge elsewhere to eventually instate a provisional governance. Gov. Ramon Imperial famously went into hiding, refusing to welcome the Japanese advance into Camarines Sur and the capital of Naga.

The small constabulary detachment in Naga under a major was in a state of confusion as he had not received clear instructions except a brief coded telegram saying:

"Do not send any more messages in plain language. Send everything in code."

In spite of the Japanese advance into Quezon, 250 volunteering Bicolano trainees and reservists were mobilized in nearby Pili to join the contingent bound in the defense of Lucena. Students of various schools in Camarines Sur were alerted of the imminent Japanese occupation, and school administrators nervously assembled all records for safekeeping and padlocked the rooms of the school for an indefinite vacation.

This account of a young student in the Pili Agricultural School (now CBSUA) condensed the trepidated hesitancy of Camarines Sur in the imminence of invasion:

"I was still at the Camarines Sur Agricultural School, having my clearance. Students and faculty members of the said school were at a loss as to what was the best thing to do, what attitude to take and what way to turn to for help. The teachers ordered the students to go home to their respective place of residence. I abandoned my request for clearance and prepared to go home, passing over the rice field at the foot of mount Isarog to the barrio of Mabatobato, Pili, Camarines Sur, walking with a distance of almost 12 kilometers from the Agricultural School to the said barrio of Mabatobato. Reaching Mabatobato, now the Municipality of Ocampo, Camarines Sur, a PUJ vehicle driven by Augusto Moran of Goa, Camarines Sur, bound for Naga with several passengers, I signalled to stop and informed him not to proceed to Naga, because the Japanese Army were advancing to Camarines Sur, and the Philippine Army were utilizing all vehicles entering Naga bound for Camarines Norte where they prepared foxholes along the hilly road for their ambush of the advancing Japanese soldiers bound for Manila. Turning back the vehicle for Goa, Camarines Sur, I took advantage to get in the vehicle in order to reach Goa immediately. The three reconnaissance Japanese Air Force planes, flown high above the province of Camarines Sur from 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m."

The account of a Spanish national's daughter, Maria Dolores Tapia del Rio, then an interna at Colegio de Sta. Isabel On December