War Stories II (9 page)

Japanese attacks continued for the next several days. On 9 December, Nichols Field was attacked again with the same intensity that had rained down on Clark Field the day before. And more attacks followed for the next three days.

American airpower was soon reduced to nil. Four days after hostilities commenced, only six P-35 fighter planes were still operational, and though the mechanics managed to get a few of the obsolete P-26s running, they were no match for the Zekes and Zeros—even though the Japanese had to conserve fuel to make the long flight from Formosa to southern Luzon.

From more than a hundred P-40s that had been functioning a week earlier, the Americans now had fewer than two dozen. Only a handful of bombers were still able to fly, and half of those were limited to low altitudes.

On 12 December, more than one hundred Japanese aircraft raided Manila and the surrounding military bases. On 13 December, they attacked with almost 200 planes. The next day, General MacArthur ordered the remnants of the Asiatic Fleet to depart for safer waters and the remaining long-range B-17s to fly south to Australia. Two days after they were gone, the Japanese aircraft carrier
Ryujo
moved into close range to finish the work that the long-range aircraft had started from Formosa. By then, MacArthur's Far East Air Force was useless. And with no fleet or air cover for protection, the 15,000 green American draftees and Reservists and
80,000 poorly trained and equipped Filipino soldiers digging in on southern Luzon could do little but wait for General Homma's 43,000 battle-hardened 14th Army to arrive. They didn't have long to wait.

General Homma's troops began their three-pronged attack on Luzon by first seizing the tiny island of Bataan—north of the main island—on 8 December. While MacArthur's air force was being pounded by air raids, the Japanese marched ashore and overwhelmed the garrison guarding the airfield. Homma now had a refueling stop for his bombers returning to Formosa from their raids to the south.

Japanese landings on the north and west coasts of Luzon followed on 10 December, and a regimental-sized force was deployed from the Palau Islands to secure the port of Legaspi on 12 December, effectively isolating the U.S.-Filipino army in central Luzon. For the next ten days, the Japanese consolidated their supply lines and mercilessly suppressed any opposition they received from the civilian population.

 

General Homma commanded the Japanese army occupying the Philippines.