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Post by victor on Aug 19, 2016 8:40:47 GMT 8
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Post by cbuehler on Aug 22, 2016 23:57:02 GMT 8
A very interesting incident, and I see that the present bridge dates from 1946. I must say that I find the account of this in the book somewhat incredulous. The bridge appears to be roughly 100 yards long and we can assume that the original was as well from the account. Vance is mentioned as sitting in the back seat if the vet truck ( what kind of truck was this? All the US trucks at the time did not have back seats ) and observed the Japanese massing on the opposite bank with binoculars. Binoculars at a distance 100 yards or less and at night? Why the Japanese tanks and infantry ( there is no mention of how many tanks, surely that must have been observed as they seem to have estimated the infantry accompanied as several hundred ) halted at the entrance is a bit strange, but could be because of the possibility that they thought the bridge was rigged for demolition. Why did they not lay down fire on the 26th at the other end of the bridge, roughly only 100 yards away? Then they allowed a truck to drive onto the bridge to within 50 years or so. The driver would have had to get out, open the hood and then shoot the engine. Then let the others in the back of the truck "calmly" poor gasoline and light it afire. Only then start to open fire as they started to walk away forcing them to crawl the final 50 yards. Miraculously none were hit by machine gun fire at such a short distance, either from infantry on the banks or from the tanks? Several Japanese officers were observed gesticulating, but how they determined they were officers at that distance at night is unknown. If all of this is literally true, those Japanese are guilty of one of the stupidest failures in history, or they were all out of gas and ammunition and the infantry just did not care to run after them on the bridge, which was a wide boarded one, and even though a burning truck was on it, could likely have been circumvented by running by the side of it. While I have no doubt that something similar must have occurred to what has been described in the account, I am left wondering.
CB
PS, by the way Victor, thanks much for these photos of the area. Do you know if there are any other accounts of this incident other than the book quoted?
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Post by victor on Aug 26, 2016 9:42:38 GMT 8
I agree... there are some inconsistencies. That was from the book Twilight Riders by Peter F. Stevens. A new book about the 26th recently came out in June but I believe the author had started work on it as early as the late 80's or early 90's when more of the veterans were alive. "The Doomed Horse Soldiers of Bataan". It has quite a few more ground level visuals and first-hand account type of descriptions. Here's an excerpt from that book on the same incident but they have different details. (google books hid one page) < missing page >
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Post by cbuehler on Aug 31, 2016 0:04:01 GMT 8
This second account is substantially different from the first. It certainly seems much to be closer to reality than that described in the Twilight Riders.
CB
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Post by victor on Sept 1, 2016 21:27:08 GMT 8
Just another one of the countless little bridges in the Philippines that people don't pay attention to that had it's moment in time.
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