Oryoku Maru

[Karl Welteke]

The grounding of the Oryoku Maru and more history of the area.

Previously I have said in this forum: 2017-10-14 note from K.W.W.: I cannot identify the exact spot in this picture, this could be at many places. The ship was hugging the coastline.

I studied it a little closer and I learned that Chad Hill, Mark Kelso and the Army Lt. Chester K. Britt Research Team have nailed down the location and I agree with them. But I add these pictures and graphics to add more to history of this area.



Zo802. A cropped section of the 1:50000 San Antonio, Zambales map, Sheet No. 7072 IV. It shows all the relevant landmarks.



Zo803. A Google earth image of the entrance to Subic Bay with the relevant landmarks drawn in.



Zo804. A combination of 3 images put together by the Army Lt. Chester K. Britt Research Team. The team said this about these 3 images:

Top one is a photo provided by Tim Hampton, Air Group Eleven archivist showing the beached Oryoku Maru near Sueste point. Bottom photo was an earlier estimate of a possible line that the men firing from battery Jewel on Fort Wint may have taken firing at the barge approaching Sueste lighthouse noted in the attached report. Middle photo shows where the shot from December 1941 would have coincidentally intersected where the Oryoku Maru was beached in December 1945.

The above paragraph is connected to their research, writing a book about Army Lt. Chester K. Britt.

Their research lists two actions connected to the Sueste Point Light House area. One has a Japanese plane shot down and crashing into the water around the lighthouse and another has a barge being sunk around the lighthouse. We have looked everywhere on wreck maps of Subic Bay and can't locate any marker that matches either wreck. You might want to pass this on to your dive friends to see if they can locate either wreck. Would be a great find.



Zo805. A close-up Google Earth image of the area between Sueste Point and Shark Point, where the Oryoku Maru was aground for some time. I marked the picture with the relevant information.



Zo806. Here is a copy of the two actions connected to the Sueste Point Light House area. These paragraphs are copied from the Fort Wint action report, covering the time from 8th Dec to the 25th Dec 1941. The report was submitted by the Fort Wint Commanding Officer Col. CAC Napoleon Boudreau. I will post the whole report to Fort Wint and Olongapo forum pages, one of these days.



Zo807. Here is the signature of the Fort Wint Commanding Officer Col. CAC Napoleon Boudreau. The last paragraph of his report lists all the large caliber weapons he had under his command. I see (4) four 155mm artillery pieces were at the rifle range on the way to Subic. That is now the suburb Barrio Barretto, where I live now. I did not know that, that is news to me!



Zo808. The Army Lt. Chester K. Britt Research Team reports this: Also, report mentions a 3" gun at Battery Jewel. Attached is a photo of a 3" gun taken in 1941 which was labeled by Grace Britt, we assume some time after she was evacuated on 5/5/1941. Could be a gun that shot at that barge. We are guessing by coincidence that gun in the photo is aimed right about at Sueste Point. Again, you're welcome to use that photo. Pretty good shooting with a 3" gun to hit what I assume was a relatively small barge, that's roughly 4.4 miles from Battery Jewel to the light house area.

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U.S. Marine Coastal Defense in the Philippines

The Hell Hill Battery

The U.S. Marines installed Coastal Defense Artillery before the Army arrived and established the Coastal Defense Fort Wint on Grande Island. We established a forum page on the subject; this is not a comprehensive study of the subject. It is only, telling a story of a picture and pictures. These pictures came from the Earl Hancock "Pete" Ellis Picture Collection in the U.S.M.C. Archives, this is the URL of the form page:

corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2243/coastal-defense-philippines

Here are two pictures that relate to this area, specifically to Macmany Point, near Sueste Point.



Ze739. There were more than 2 guns on “Hell Hill” in Subic Bay. Zoomed in we can see at least one other gun. Notice the tent and it seems wooden barrels are used to fortify a position, perhaps a magazine or bunker.




Ze742. GENERAL HOLLAND M. SMITH, U.S.M.C. From a painting by Commander Albert K. Murray, U.S.N.R. and this URL: Autobiography of General Holland "Howling Mad" Smith. Here is the URL:

www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/Coral&Brass/index.html#index

Even GENERAL HOLLAND M. SMITH, U.S.M.C got in the shits as a young officer. As a young officer he got in trouble with his Commanding Officer in Cavite and got condemned to the battery on Hell’s Hill. Here, at Macmany Point, he had his first experience of violent death in service.

[Karl Welteke]

More information about the Oryoku Maru

From: John Duresky, who is a member of the Army Lt. Chester K. Britt Research Team. We have this forum page URL about the Army Lt. Chester K. Britt book project:

corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2275/army-chester-britt-ship-oryoku

John wrote me this on the 13th July 2020:

Karl, check this out this URL:

y294ma.livedoor.blog/archives/17965797.html

I've become friends with this blogger in Japan, Mr. Yasuhiro Fukushima. He was 7 when his father died of Malaria at a hospital on Kyushu in 1943 after being evacuated from Rabaul, he was a sergeant in the IJA who never saw combat. He has been very helpful. Don't know if I told you, but I speak pretty good Japanese after living there for 5 years and going there numerous times on business, and I have traveled all over the country.

The painting of the sailors on the beach on December 14 could very well be the beach in your photos. Angle is even right in the painting comparing the angle of the ship in the photos to the beach in front of the bow. Note the anchor chain in the painting of the Oryoku Maru. Also, in background I'm assuming is the destroyer MOMO also under attack. Drawing of the deck gun in action is at Olongapo on the 15th. Bottom painting shows it assisting in the rescue of another ship, the Fuji Maru earlier in the war.

This website says about December 14th

www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/winter/hell-ships-1.html
"....The POWs endured seventeen such attacks before sunset. Only Oryoku Maru remained afloat. All other craft were sunk or departed....."

Do you know if any wreck has ever been identified with the attack around Sueste Point that might be from the battle that day? I'm certain the MOMO and sub chaser #60 escaped, so this would be some smaller ship.

Thanks,
John

Here is just one sample image, a painting, from the Japanese blogger! There are more, however the text is in Japanese.



Zo829. This picture came from the Japanese Blog of Mr. Yasuhiro Fukushima. This shows a Japanese boat from the Oryoku Maru on the beach, under Sueste Point, at the entrance to Subic Bay on the 14th of Dec. 1944. Look at the full text from John Duresky and for the Blog URL above.

Now here are just a few short paragraphs (about the Oryoku Maru) from the NARA webpage about: “American POWs on Japanese Ships Take a Voyage into Hell, Part 1”.

During a lull in Allied air attacks, the Japanese ordered American medical officers at Bilibid Prison to examine and prepare a list of all prisoners who could depart with the last of the POW transports. On the morning of December 12, the roll was read. That evening the departees bade farewell to friends and packed what little remained of their belongings. They were awakened at 4 a.m. the following morning, fed a bit of breakfast, and then all 1,619 POWs marched to Manila's Pier 7. Awaiting them was the Oryoku Maru, its name dimly visible through battleship-gray paint. No Red Cross or other markings were apparent to distinguish her from any other combat craft. The ship bristled with antiaircraft guns.

Oryoku Maru's cargo included the "4th Medium Mortar Battalion, consisting of 23 officers and 535 non-commissioned officers and troops, 1350 cases of unit baggage, 12 artillery pieces, 2430 cases of ammunition . . . 14 cases of gasoline, four trucks," and many more reinforcements and supplies. An intercept of December 13 announced, "Oryoku Maru is part of convoy with 2054 troops aboard." The ship was to be loaded and ready to sail with the MATA-37 convoy on December 14. On that date, the Brazil Maru and Enoura Maru prepared to sail from Takao to Manila.

Huddled together, seeking emotional refuge from the "terrific explosions and concussions," according to Jacobs, the prisoners "were shaken about like a dog shakes a rat." They "were covered with rust chips and bomb dust." Between raids, they tended the wounded with what scanty supplies were left. Some tried to eat the now dirty rice but found they had lost their appetites. From the depths of this inferno came the voice of Father Duffy praying, "Forgive them. They know not what they do."

Above the holds, gun crews stood and died at their guns. Their blood trickled over the deck and into the holds. New crews replaced the fallen, just as the next flight dived and strafed the decks. The spray of bullets was quickly succeeded by the detonations of bombs that "bounced" the ship about "like a cork in a tub." In futile defiance, the Japanese gun crew officer shook his spear at the onrushing planes.

[Karl Welteke]

Oryoku Maru - the notorious Japanese POW Hellship video




Oryoku Maru - the notorious Japanese POW Hellship, this video is presented by the Pacific War Stories. This is a video, made very recently, available on YouTube, click here:





This is the Pacific War Stories description of this video, the story of this Hellship:

THIS is the story of 49 days of savagery and tragedy unequaled in the annals of the war in the Pacific. The story begins in Manila. December 13, 1944.

It is the story of a torturous journey on prison ships from Manila to Japanese, during which men died from Japanese bullets, American bombs, suffocation, disease, starvation, and murder.

Some went insane.

It is the story of a man-made hell from which only 300 Americans emerged alive from the more than 1,600 that started this cruise of death.

Those who did make it to Japan were subject to further abuses and neglect as well as another hellish trip at sea, this time to Korea, where, at the end of the war, U.S. authorities could find only 128 of Oryoku Maru’s POW survivors, a mere eight percent of the total number of POWs on board when the ship had departed the Philippines en route to Japan in December 1944.

Japanese treatment of Allied POWs was deadly in and of itself, Allied sinkings of hell ships notwithstanding. Even in a case like that of Oryoku Maru, with so many survivors, a prisoner’s chances of making it to the end of the war were slim.
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Here are 6 screen shots.




Zf142. This is the Hellships Memorial in Subic Bay, located only a few hundred feet from the wreckage site of the Oryoku Maru. Picture, courtesy of Pacific War Stories video, this is the opening image of the video. The speaker, shown in this picture is LCDR Gerald Anderson, who was the principle person who created this Hellships Memorial!




Zf143. The after hole was loaded first with senior Officers; it was a hell, watch the video. Picture, courtesy of Pacific War Stories video



Zf144. he Oryoku Maru under attack and sinking, POWs are swimming ashore. Picture, courtesy of Pacific War Stories video



Zf145. For 5 days about 1300 POWs were kept on this small tennis court, exposed to the hot sun, almost no water and a few table spoons of uncooked rice. Picture, courtesy of Pacific War Stories video



Zf146. The unrecognizable wreck of the Oryoku Maru, where she is resting near the Hellships Memorial in Subic Bay. Picture, courtesy of Pacific War Stories video.



Zf147. The tragic statistics of the Oryoku Maru - the notorious Japanese POW Hellship. Picture, courtesy of Pacific War Stories video.

[Karl Welteke]

Japanese after action report of attacks on Oryoku Maru.

New Book: Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival, by David L. Britt

One of the members of the research team, who wrote the above book, shared this information with the Corregidor.org Team.

28th Aug. 2021
Paul, John and Karl

One of you might want to add this Japanese after action report of attacks on Oryoku Maru your websites. (From Karl: only pages 38 to 42 have been reproduced here).

I found this in the JACAR archives in Japan. On page 38 to 42 is the Japanese after-action report of the attacks on the Oryoku Maru. Sketches show the Oryoku Maru being first led by the destroyer MOMO 1000 meters in front and trailed by the sub chaser CH-60 1000 meters astern. Other sketch shows it taking a hard right turn after it left Sueste Point and passed Grande Island. Some serious puffery going on about the number of planes shot down, but gives some interesting details about the action, number of Japanese civilians, and damage to the ship from the attacks, etc. I could tell what it was, but way beyond my limited Japanese language ability, so I sent it to Ms Taeko Sasamoto at the POW Research Network Japan who did the attached translation. At a minimum, it's probably the most detailed report of the attacks from the Japanese viewpoint on the ship, as opposed to reports by the POWs of what they were hearing from 40 feet below the main deck.

John

Went right on it and here are 9 images from the above contribution: pages 38 to 42, 2 sketches zoomed in and the 2-page translation from Ms Taeko Sasamoto at the POW Research Network Japan which was arranged by John Duresky.




Zf244. Page 38 of the Japanese after action report of attacks on Oryoku Maru provided by John Duresky of the new book author team: Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival, by David L. Britt



Zf245. Page 39 of the Japanese after action report of attacks on Oryoku Maru provided by John Duresky of the new book author team: Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival, by David L. Britt



Zf246. Page 40 of the Japanese after action report of attacks on Oryoku Maru provided by John Duresky of the new book author team: Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival, by David L. Britt



Zf247. Page 41 of the Japanese after action report of attacks on Oryoku Maru provided by John Duresky of the new book author team: Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival, by David L. Britt



Zf248. Page 41a (the first zoomed in sketch) of the Japanese after action report of attacks on Oryoku Maru provided by John Duresky of the new book author team: Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival, by David L. Britt.



Zf249. Page 41a (the second zoomed in sketch) of the Japanese after action report of attacks on Oryoku Maru provided by John Duresky of the new book author team: Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival, by David L. Britt.



Zf250. Page 42 of the Japanese after action report of attacks on Oryoku Maru provided by John Duresky of the new book author team: Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival, by David L. Britt



Zf251. -pg1 of 2. Translation by Ms Taeko Sasamoto at the POW Research Network Japan of the Detailed Engagement Report of the Oryoku Maru.



Zf252-pg2 of 2. Translation by Ms Taeko Sasamoto at the POW Research Network Japan of the Detailed Engagement Report of the Oryoku Maru.


Here are some related pages in this forum:

The Army Lt. Britt Story:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2275/army-chester-britt-ship-oryoku

Attacks on the Oryoku Maru:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2355/attacks-on-oryoku-maru

The Three Corpsman Brothers of the Canacao Naval Hospital:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2136/corpsman-brothers-canacao-bilibid-oryoku

The Oryoku Maru Gun in Olongapo:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/390/oryoku-maru-gun-subic-bay

[Lars-TLBP]

Hello - first of all thank you so much for this thread - excellent information.

I'm a little curious about this picture - I cannot figure out if you mean it shows the Oryoku Maru on the 14th December 1944 when it was first spotted? Or if it is Oryoku Maru at all?

As far as I can gather (from this forum) the Oryoku Maru was first spotted 5 miles south of Napo Point on 14th Dec 44 @ 09:00.

That this is Mariveles Bay is no question - but what are we looking at beyond that here?

Feb 6, 2014 9:03:35 GMT 8 dmether said:

Za298. Mariveles Bay,-Harbor and Town in WWII

Note from dmether:
14 Dec 44 the Oryoku Maru is spotted
David



2017-10-14 note from K.W.W.: This is clearly an aerial image of Mariveles Bay,-Harbor and Town in WWII. This picture is from David Metherell.