From Hunter to Prey: The Japanese Account of The Liberation of Negros

Island.
Earl Jude Paul L. Cleope

Abstract

Seventy-two years ago, the Japanese Occupation of Negros Island during

World War II ended with the surrender of the Japanese forces on September 22,
1945 in Nasig-id, Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental. This paper aims to present the
version of the Japanese soldiers who were assigned to Negros Island. Two
personal accounts that were recently translated to English offer narratives of how
the Japanese forces coped with the combined efforts of the resistance movement
and the joint Filipino and American Army Forces to liberate the island from
Japanese control. 1st Lieutenant Komei Fujitomi of the 174 th Independent Infantry
Battalion and Corporal Kyuji Yamada of the 31st Educational Flying Corps of the
Japanese Imperial Navy who were assigned in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, and
were part of the Japanese forces who made their last stand deep in the jungles
of the Cuernos de Negros Mountains, wrote these accounts. In the popular
narratives of the liberation of the Philippines, the stories of those who were
defeated are seldom heard. Moreover, the documents about the interrogation of
the Japanese soldiers during the trial for war crimes will also be used to
corroborate the war story of the Japanese soldiers.

It is hoped that this project will contribute to an enlightened understanding

of the war. It is about time to know the version of the “enemy” notably when they
became the prey of the people they used to hunt.

INTRODUCTION

The Japanese occupation of the Philippines commenced when the

Japanese army took the capital of Manila on January 2, 1942, and established
the following day a military administration that was entrusted to the Japanese
Fourteenth Army known as the Watari Group. In the span of three years and
eight months, the Japanese occupation would result in more than a million
Filipino casualties. Of the 625,800 Japanese troops sent to the Philippines, 498,
600 or 80% never returned to their homeland.1

Negros island was one of the last islands to be occupied. The Japanese
landed and occupied Bacolod on May 21, 1942, and later another contingent
occupied Dumaguete on May 26, 1942.2 Since the inhabitants had earlier
evacuated, Bacolod and Dumaguete were practically deserted. However, few
curious onlookers stood to watch. Some of those who stayed were looters who
intended to ransack abandoned houses and stores. Then the Japanese
proceeded by choosing their barracks from among the deserted houses, living
quarters and buildings. Immediately, they tried to convince the Filipino officials
 2

that they came as friends. They adopted the policy of attraction by showing their
kindness, generosity, and friendliness. As soon as they had settled, the
Japanese embarked on a massive information campaign stressing friendship and
cooperation between Japan and the Philippines.
The Japanese later traveled to the different towns to restore the municipal
governments. They called back the town officials to continue in their posts and to
cooperate under Japanese control and supervision. At times patrols were
dispatched to the neighboring areas of the towns. So that people would return to
their homes, the Japanese also announced that houses left vacant would be
destroyed. Hence, many people responded and returned to their homes. Aside
from their propaganda efforts, another regular activity of the Japanese was to
recover guns and to confiscate radio sets. Eventually, in the first three months of
their occupation, the Japanese had established headquarters in many towns of
Negros, using the public central school buildings in each town as their
headquarters. Seemingly the Japanese policy of friendship and attraction and
course threat was working well. Moreover, the return of municipal and provincial
officials to their posts influenced an increasing number of people to flock back to
their former and more comfortable homes in the coastal towns. Furthermore,
those who returned were treated well, and were allowed to buy goods from
stores, and share in the food rations.
However, still, there were people who did not return, preferring to stay in the
mountains in the name of freedom and other various reasons. 3 With them were
the ex-USAFFE soldiers who earlier had refused to surrender and were just
waiting for an opportune time to attack. Eventually, however, those who decided
to return to the lowlands found sufficient reasons to evacuate to the hills again.
Owing to the size and the archipelagic nature of the Philippines, the
Japanese forces were garrisoned only in vital strategic points and centers of the
country. This means that at the outset of the Japanese Occupation, Negros
Island was even one of those that was to be occupied last, serving as the supply
base for the other forces in the archipelago. More importantly, the Japanese
were more interested and hence more concentrated along the island's northern
and western coasts due to the economic importance of these places. This
concentration is also borne out in military reports pointing out the more significant
presence of Japanese forces in Negros Occidental than in Oriental. Of the 7,500
Japanese troops assigned on the island in 1943, only a mere quarter of it was
tasked to man the whole southern sector. Subsequently, before the landing of
McArthur in October of 1944, the over-all Japanese strength was placed at 9,969
where 1,678 of them was assigned in South Negros including Siquijor Island.4
With the return of General Mc Arthur, the cooperation of the civilians in the
efforts of the resistance movement rejuvenated the guerrillas to begin offensive
operations against the Japanese in the latter half of 1944. Purposely, the
operations were aimed at cutting off the food supplies of the Japanese who were
now mostly dependent upon the harvests in the "Bandit Zone. 5 With a better
organizational set-up, the backing of the civil government, and the arrival of arms
and ammunitions from the submarines, the trend was slowly reversed since the
 3

Japanese were now confined to their barracks and barricades. Before long, the
Japanese abandoned their far-flung garrisons and concentrated their efforts on
preparing robust defense installations in important centers.

The succeeding pages are the Japanese version of the liberation of Negros:6

Dumaguete Front

A few weeks after the Mac Arthur landing in Leyte, enemy bomber planes
like B24 and P38 started to fly over in formation flight. Early in November 1944,
Japanese Navy 4th fighter planes coming from Halmahera Island of Indonesian
territory reached Dumaguete with a mission to attack American B24 bomber
planes that fly over Dumaguete. Immediately on the next day, these planes
encountered 7of the B24 bombers and shot down 2 and drove away the others.
This was the first time that the Japanese forces stationed in Dumaguete
witnessed a “dog fight.” All the soldiers at duty applauded with joy and cheered
“Banzai.”

However, the celebration was short-lived since a retaliatory attack

followed. Another group of B24 planes bombarded Dumaguete airbase
supported with Lockheed planes and North American twin-boom plane (sic),
dropping parachute bombs. There were many innocent civilians who tried to pick
up the parachute bombs to collect the parachute cloth only to be killed by its
blast.

On November 10, 1944, guerilla attacks were becoming more rampant

and active. However, as the Christmas holiday approached, the guerrilla activity
all halted suddenly. The inactivity of guerrillas made the civilians and local
villagers happy because the Many innocent civilians tried were always stealing
fruits and harvest from their garden. At the end of the year, all villagers were
feeling at peace and relaxed. The Japanese soldiers were able to visit their
Filipino friends who invited them for dinner. After the dinner, they were given
foodstuff, and the Barangay Captain "whispered into my ear that he will relay any
news on the guerilla information secretly. "

As was expected, the attacks became active again after the New Year,
and most of the residents and villagers who were living near the Japanese
encampments disappeared. Due to the increasing attacks of the enemy, the 174th
Battalion Commander Col. Satoshi Oiye declared the perimeter within 4 km. of
Dumaguete as "No man's land." It was intended to distinguish civilians and
guerillas and anyone who intruded to the "No man's land" was subject to be shot.
This order was made to help the local residents to vacate from the area and
evacuate to safer places. This declaration made it also easy for the Japanese
defensive and offensive activities.
 4

One day, they made a patrol 3 km away from their guard position and
discovered a very green growing garden. The plant leaves looked fresh and
tasty. So they harvested the leaves and brought them back to request the kitchen
to boil and serve at dinner. Everyone missed the green leave food, and
eventually, they ate. However, everyone vomited out of its odd taste. Then a
Private Mihashi walked into the dining place and shouted to them in a shocking
tone: “What are you doing with tobacco leaves?” Everyone was surprised and
went into a big laughter. Eventually the tobacco leaves were dried well and
served for its intended purpose.

The purpose of venturing outside the camp was to look for food. In early
January, the counterattacks of enemy forces intensified with their newly recruited
soldiers. The guerrillas' front line was just situated in 1,500 meters ahead of their
defense and, thus, they could identify their campfire through the distance. In their
observation, the guerrillas did not even keep their silence even though they were
aware of the Japanese presence nearby. This was because of their confidence
that Japanese forces would not take offensive move anymore. It seemed that the
guerillas already anticipated that whenever they attack the Japanese, they would
just drive the guerrillas about one kilometer back and then returned to their
original positions. This was done because of the danger of being cut off if they
attempted to pursue the guerrillas further. Though the Japanese forces were
aware that the unit near their camp was not an official military establishment but
was just an independent guerilla force without backing supports, yet they were
afraid that the longer the encounter continues they would have a problem with
their food supply because the guerillas sat on their food supply depot territory.

On January 20, 1945, Corporal Shibata and Kyuji Yamada went patrolling,
and as they went out of their guard spot, a gun was shot by a guerilla sniper on a
Mango tree in the midst of coconut plantation that targeted Corporal Shibata.
Then a bunch of gunshots followed. Yamada crawled to reach Corporal Shibata
who was suffering from mass bleeding from his artery on his thigh. Col. Yamada
was aware of the danger of his life needing immediate medical treatment, so he
carried him and fled to the bamboo bush. Bullets followed them, and one bullet
slightly grazed on the ear of Yamada that he "could feel its heat." Then
immediately, reinforcement came to save them from danger. Medic treated
Corporal Shibata but time was too late as he died on the spot. Corporal Shibata
was a partner of Yamada since they arrived in the Philippines. In full fury, they
went into the enemy's territory to avenge for him, but all guerillas were gone by
then.

They used carbine automatic rifle as their primary weapon, but they also
used double magazine rifles. The double magazine rifle killed Corporal Shibata.
The Japanese learned that the US submarines supplied the entire Guerillas' guns
and ammunitions. Even heavy-duty machineguns, launcher guns, and trench
cannons were among the US weapons provided to them. On the contrary,
Japanese forces were only equipped with 38 th infantry rifles, cavalry rifles, and
 5

11th light machineguns, and some weapons were taken from enemy forces such
as carbine automatic rifle. They did not have enough guns to supply to each
soldier that some of them had to be on the battlefield with bare hands. In fact,
one company that was on duty at Dumaguete area was not equipped with any
gun nor weapon yet but they were stationed to defend and fight against the
attacking forces. So it was their own idea to supplement with handmade mine,
portable bomb, and Zero fighter 20mm machinegun. In their view, "perhaps our
platoon was better equipped than the Oiye Infantry Battalion.”

By February 1945, off the shore of Dumaguete, at 5 kilometers, a high-

speed boat appeared and started bombarding the city of Dumaguete from early
morning for an hour. This warship bombardment indicated a severe and
dangerous situation to all the Japanese squads in the area. Since the landing of
the US forces in Leyte, Japanese forces have been under uncontrollable defeats
that all the forces in Leyte retreated and scattered to surrounding islands with a
firm resolution of revitalizing the formation force of a resistance fight with the US
forces. A 9-member group of survivors from Leyte headed by Lt. Idei drifted to
the shores of Dumaguete, some of them were unable to stand and walk due to
excessive exhaustion. Soon, Colonel Watanabe of 35 th Maneuver Staff and his
followers arrived in Dumaguete and took up a position at “Kaminko Yama (Divine
Mt)" at 1,704 feet plateau of Mt. Ginsayawan which is northwest of Dumaguete,
to establish a resistance force against the US forces. Dumaguete forces were
moved to the western highest mountain of 1,904 plateau at Mt. Talinis for a
position. At this stage of the war, Japanese forces were in a critical condition,
and this kind of transferring defensive position was thought of as the best way of
resistance.

In March 1945, the war situation worsened. Colonel Oiye ordered Lt.
Harada, Sgt. Kazunari Kuramitsu and Corporal Yamada to conduct enemy
movement scouting at Mt. Ginsayawan for permanent self-support resistance,
change position preparation, and terrain scouting. They found out that the
mountain people have sufficient livestock and that food supply was quite
abundant. However, its location was vulnerable to enemy attacks which was
understood as an unsuitable place for holding a military position. On top of that
water sourcing was difficult, and they felt sorry with the presence of a well-built
elementary school since they disturbed its serenity.

An order on “Permanent Self-support Resistance” was proclaimed and the

change positioning to Mt. Talinis and the Cuernos de Negros Mountains had
been decided. Selected soldiers from each platoon were gathered to organize
“special Attack Force,” with a wide range of authority on the security control of
the Dumaguete area, thus, possessing a power to move with free transfiguration
attacks. Groups of four or five were placed at intervals of about 300 meters
along the narrow ridges. Whenever the action became too severe, the front
groups would retreat to the rear and had the next group hold off the enemy as
 6

long as possible. This plan of action was carried out because of the small force
and the danger of any concentration of forces being wiped out by artillery fire. At
night, infiltration squads of about three men were sent out to penetrate the
American lines.

A view of Mt. Talinis from the Japanese Shrine7

The war situation turned acutely disadvantageous for Japanese forces.

Enemy allied forces advance with resistance operation at a daily intensified pace
all over the Philippines. The Japanese were in urgency to construct mountain
positions, and they conducted ambush attacks by ascending to the guerillas in
Mt. Ginsayawan in the nights. As guerillas retreated from the positions, the
Japanese did not leave any squad in Dumaguete but proceeded to the mountain
ranges of Mt. Talinis. While doing this movement, families of Japanese citizens,
non-military nationals, local citizens including the Governor of Negros Oriental
and government dignitaries and their families accompanied the Japanese retreat
to the mountains. They constructed defensive position and a housing facility for
these people in the mountain ranges of Mt. Talinis and its ridges opposite Ocoy
River.

The area was the source of water for Ocoy River, and the supply was
abundant of clean, clear water. Surroundings were full of gardens left by the
mountain people. The position was at high altitude and far that US warship
bombardment could not reach which was eventually too far that even the sea of
Dumaguete was not in their vicinity. The elevation at 800 meters above sea level
 7

made temperature fall even up to 13 degrees centigrade that required warmth

with fire heat at night hours. However, they refrained from making fire since the
smoke might endanger them to indicate their position by the enemy. In the
jungle, they had to harvest firewood, but without tools, so they collected small
branch sticks which caused much smoke making their eyes full of tears. So they
had to come down to the city and procured saw and ax, but the merchants did
not accept Japanese military bills, so they had to barter with quinine.

Cuernos de Negros Mountain, a 3D view from Google Earth8

Liberation of Dumaguete

By April 1945, they already felt the acute changes of status of their force in
the war, but calm days continued. Nevertheless, they no longer saw supporting
air forces of Japan flying above them. So, they tried to dig and make more
foxholes and trenches around their camp. Then on the 26 th of April at 7:00 AM,
they went to a location to view the city of Dumaguete and were shockingly
astounded. The allied forces had started landing onto the shores of Dumaguete.
The US 8th Army under the command of Lieutenant General Michael Burger
dispatched 164th regiment to disembark on Negros but managed to refrain from
indiscriminate firing in the urban areas of Dumaguete. Japanese forces left at
Dumaguete fought with the landing forces and changed their positions toward the
mountains.

On the morning of April 26 th, an American fleet consisting of approximately

40 ships were sighted, the battalion commander, ordered the withdrawal of the
units in Dumaguete to positions in the foothills of Cuerros de Negros following
the defense plan. The Air unit (about 100 men), under the command of 2 nd
Lieutenant Togashi, began its withdrawal around 0900. At 1000, the Yoshinaga
Unit (100 men), under the command of 1st Lieutenant Koitaro Yoshinaga, and the
Airfield Construction Unit (30 men) began to withdraw. The unit commanders left
several suicide squads in Dumaguete.
 8

The Americans landed approximately 8 kilometers north of Dumaguete at

1100. Before the landing, a cruiser and a destroyer had bombarded Dumaguete
for one hour. After bombardment, American naval planes bombed and strafed
units as they withdrew. In addition to the aerial attacks, the guerrillas harassed
the Japanese troops which did not get to the inland positions until the following
night having passed through Candauay and Palimpinon on the way.

Since three of their companies had been detached to other units in Bohol
and Palawan, they were compelled to use the Airfield Construction, the Air
Training, the Military Police, and the Infirmary Units, and castaway naval
personnel in combat. With their ammunition supplies had been cut off, they had
only about 230 rounds per men at the time of the invasion. The addition of these
poorly trained replacements, therefore, did not appreciably increase the fighting
force.

After capturing the Dumaguete Airfield, the Allied forces took Palinpinon
where they constructed gun positions from which to bombard the 1 st Company
and the Air Unit. The bombardment began on the morning of April 28 th, shortly
after the appearance of an American reconnaissance plane over their lines.
They were amazed at the accuracy of the American artillery and at the audacity
of the pilots of the reconnaissance planes who flew boldly over their positions at
low altitude. The first day's bombardment destroyed the Japanese first line
positions. After four more days of continued bombardment the Americans moved
forward and took the positions. The confident manner of this attack so infuriated
the 1st Company commander that he ordered the Masasaki Platoon to recapture
the positions in a night attack. This was done, but the attack was repulsed with
heavy losses. They later heard that the Americans had put up microphones in
front of their positions enabling them to discover the approach of their units. This
made it possible for them to destroy all their forces.

A special squad of Japanese soldiers was assigned to guide the forces

move into the mountain and to distribute them to their respective squads. They
were very cautious to the enemy's very low altitude flying 3 Cessna planes and
went down the mountain. They were able to meet with Captain Matsuo and the
remaining force in Dumaguete before the evening and his group of 100 soldiers
were all safe. They hid and took a meal at the foot of "Nasunog Hill" preventing
the damages by the bombing by Allied forces. They succeeded to guide along
the Captain Matsuo forces to assigned positions at past 12:00 midnight, passing
through an animal trail made by residents for Abaca hemp delivery. The 3
Cessna planes were still in their search for their positions, but due to terrain
restriction they were not able to find them; and even if they saw them, they were
out of range of their guns.

Subsequently, the combined American and Filipino army forces

proceeded towards attacking position on Mt. Ginsayawan using large bulldozers
 9

building an access road simultaneously. The Japanese could hear a noisy

roaring sound. At the position of the allied forces, they could not fire unto the
Japanese forces, but rampant bombardment continued from the forces stationed
at Valencia. The mountain position of Togashi Platoon was destroyed by more
than 10m wide area, leaving no original feature of their defensive establishment.
This was the retaliatory attack of the Allied forces because the Cessna planes
were shot down by the Togashi Platoon earlier.

On the 3rd of May, 1945, the Allied forces started transporting the
construction materials to the point ascending from the Ocoy River. They were
grouped in 30 to 40 people. So the Japanese forces waited for the timing of their
work completion to leave the area and hid in the jungle beneath their original
position with a Browning heavy duty machine gun. When, once the workers
started to sit around for a short rest before leaving, they attacked them with a
Browning machine gun. The targeted enemy workers fled into the Ocoy River
and hustled to escape and left 6 of the members dead.

The Japanese forces moved back to their position and realized that this
was just a prelude of a major encounter with their enemies. On a succeeding
day, they returned to the place where they fired Browning heavy machinegun to
the enemies and found out that the enemy took all the dead. Then they
dismantled the Browning heavy machinegun on the spot and dumped them by
scattering the pieces of parts. They had to abandon this machinegun as it was
inconvenient to use in the jungle and it also was not easy to transport around.

A day before the Japanese holiday of May 5 “Boy’s Festival,” Corporal

Seizaburo Watanabe was killed. He was attacked by the 4-men enemy soldiers
who came up the creek near their position and shot dead instantly by their 12-
running fire machinegun. Again on May 5, came another 6-men force appearing
from 3 directions along the creek and fired at them. They made a charge towards
them with shouting voice, which made them all run back and fled. When they
looked at their side, the Squad Commander, Hideo Yamada, was on the ground
with a shot to his chest, and said his last words in dying breath, “I leave all to you
now,” and left the command to Corporal Yamada which made him write “in a no
moment did his hand lost strength that I held firmly.” In this skirmish, they lost
Commander Hideo Yamada, Corporal Seiji Hasegawa, Private Kiyoji Kitamura
and Corporal Shichiro Furuhashi. They accepted the sad reality that higher
quality of weapons used by the enemies prevented them from fighting in the
same ground.

For these deceased comrades they had to decide on the handling of the
corpse, but Lt. Harada could not decide promptly, so they temporarily buried 2
corpses together in a dug hole, cleared their belongings on their bodies and fixed
their dressing and laid their bodies directing the head to north. As a mark of
identification, they placed three stones together. Their handling of their weapons
 10

was subject to further instruction, so they only buried their belongings into the fox
holes.

By June 1945, the Japanese forces organized themselves into attack

squads of 5 members that were assigned to carry out suicide missions and were
given five days of food ration. The squads were ordered to make penetrating
patrols and were instructed not to return to the base camp until their five days of
patrol. On many occasions, the Japanese squad would meet a platoon of Allied
forces made up of 30 persons with about eight local guides, so they ended up
retreating into the interior due to their inferior firepower and limited ammunition.
To compound the problem, constant bombardment from Allied planes took a
heavy toll among their comrades that they had to build more trenches and of to
protect owned from the bombings.

Sustained massive artillery bombardments, air attacks, and infantry

assaults compelled them to abandon all positions and to retreat. The dense
jungles slowed their movements, and aggressive attacks prevented the
preparation of suitable defenses in Cuerros de Negros, where they had
withdrawn. Consequently, they attempted to avoid contact with the Americans as
much as possible.

Their retreat was covered by the Air Unit augmented by occasional suicide
squads which attempted to slow down the pursuit. The acquisition of sufficient
food to prevent wholesale death by starvation was at this time their most
significant problem, and scouting parties scoured the hills in search of it. Their
difficulties were considerably alleviated after June 14 th when the attacks ceased.
The battalion commander had at first suspected a change in the assault tactics
but scouting parties sent out on the 16 th verified the American withdrawal. More
attention could now be given to an all-out search for food, and the condition of
the men began to improve.

By July of 1945, finding food sources in the mountains became the

paramount goal of the Japanese patrols. Fortunately, they found food in
abandoned farmlands, which used to be evacuation areas of civilians. In one
instant they found a large farm with five houses in it. All animals were left behind,
and they found that the area was dwelled by a Japanese national. In the house,
there were 12 large plates with made in Kyoto, Japan label and sets of utensils
like knife, fork and spoon. In a bigger hut, a ton of corn and maize were placed
on a large table. One day, while still looking for food, they found a large river with
prawns. They immediately caught them and enjoyed the saltiness of its body
shell since they had no taste of salt in a long while. They decided to make
baskets to trap the river prawns in the river setting boiled eggplant as bait. On the
succeeding day, they harvested about 100 and put them on bamboo sticks and
smoked them. As soon as they returned to their platoon, they presented it to Lt.
Harada who was too surprised and handed them to Captain Matsuo who then
showed it to Col. Oye. As a result, the squad was presented with a mess kit
 11

containing white salt. They longed to see this salt for more than a couple of
months. This enabled them to share proportionally the salt supply to the
members of the squad.

Subsequently, the Japanese troops were widely dispersed in the jungles

at the headwaters of the Guinauan and Bangcolotan Rivers, north of Najandig
and Nagsig-id, where they were engaged in raising potatoes and corn. The
jungle where they were hiding out was at 1,200-meter elevation, and they
encountered a great deal of rain that made things quite miserable for them.
Toward the end, the search for food and a route of withdrawal became much
more important than resisting the enemy. Their weapons had become rusty, and
they now had very little communication. It was on August 15, 1945, that the
Tomokiyo Squad of the 6th Air Communication Regiment picked the news from
Japan over the radio which informed them of Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam
Declaration. In the evening of the day, a report was made to Col. Oiye, but he did
not react to the information and made no order at that time. On August 17, Col.
Oiye gathered platoon commanders and officially informed them of the news that
the war was over. There were no announcements made to the regular soldiers,
but they were told to wait for further information from the 14 th Army Command. In
the latter part of the month, American planes dropped leaflets over the island. It
took them several days, however, to find these since they were dropped quite a
distance from their unit.

The Road to Surrender

Subsequently, 2nd Lieutenant Shibusawa of Yamaguchi Unit stationed in

Bacolod City Negros Occidental, commanded by Kawano Corps Commander,
arrived alone at the Mt. Talinis headquarter through Barrio Nasig-id in the
municipality of Zamboanguita. He has brought a message from the 14 th Army
Commander, the General Yusufumi Yamashita that officially ordered an end to
the war. Col. Oiye ordered some officers and noncommissioned officers to
Dumaguete to contact with the Allied Forces. Later, an order to go down the
mountain was issued to all platoons for them to destroy all weapons and
ammunition, and get ready for personal preparation.

On September 5th, an American plane came overhead and dropped an

envelope containing the surrender orders from the 102 nd Division Commander
and a letter from the Division Chief of Staff. This not only assured them of the
surrender but also ordered them to dispatch an officer to receive instructions
about the details of turning themselves in. On the 12th, 2nd Lieutenant
Shibukawa, accompanied by an American officer and several American soldiers,
approached our outpost line and delivered another division order.

On September 22, they all went down to Barrio Nasig-id in the municipality
of Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental, as instructed by the US commander. They
came down out of the hills and surrendered to the American 503d Separate
 12

Parachute Regiment. At exactly 9:30 AM, the US Army arrived, and they were
put under their command. After that, they were transferred to a yard in front of a
coconut plantation in Zamboanguita where the US Army forces waited. With the
permission of the commander of US Army, Col. Oiye, performed the last ritual of
worshipping the Imperial Palace. Then the ceremony of voluntary renunciation
proceeded wherein Col. Oiye solemnly self-declared and performed “Rite of
Sword Abandonment.” All officers followed him and handed their swords, and the
US officers received them all also in a very solemn manner. Then
noncommissioned officers followed to give up swords. Finally, all rifles and
sabers were collected and loaded on three trucks.

After the event of surrendering all the weapons, 15 Japanese soldiers

were loaded onto each truck, with US guards armed with rifles, and brought them
at the makeshift war prisoner camp established at an elementary school in
Dumaguete City. There was only one time when a resident in the group threw
stones and was stopped by US guards making warning shots. Some Japanese
soldiers were scared as they anticipated more stoning might happen to them.
The Japanese soldiers detained in the makeshift war prisoner camp were
numbered 890 plus.9 All civilian Japanese were released after being interrogated,
but the Japanese soldiers were not aware of what happened to them afterward.

Col. Oiye is talking with Col. Wilson before the formal surrender.10
 13

Japanese Officials lined up for the surrender ceremony.11

Colonel Satoshi Oiye hands over his samurai sword to Col. F. Wilson, Commanding Officer of the
US 503rd Parachute Regiment US 8th Army on Sept. 22, 1945, at Guinso-an Bridge, Nasig-id,
Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental.12

Days as Prisoners

Under the command of the US Army, The Japanese were made to engage
in the restoration works of ruins of war in the city of Dumaguete. In the war
prisoner camp, they had a Japanese interpreter. One day, more than ten friendly
residents from the nearby of village of Dumaguete Airport carrying baskets of
 14

fruits visited Corporal Yamada. The interpreter explained the situation to the US
guards and asked the visiting local residents to just leave their fruit baskets and
go. They begged to the US guards that they want to ‘handshake’ with him before
going but were denied, so they had to leave the camp just looking at him with
sorrow. The interpreter reacted that he well understood the friendly relationship
of his with those residents.

After this event, Yamada was not allowed to work outside the camp
premises, but the interpreter kindly handed him a set of paper and pencil saying,
"You may just engage in personal matters." This kindness enabled him to write
down and keep all the record of his wartime days allowing him to write this record
book of the Negros War.

On October 17, he was moved from the Dumaguete war prisoner camp to
the Visayas District Integrated Prisoner Camp in Tacloban City of Leyte Island.
On the day of his departure, he was too astounded and felt happy to see a lot of
residents around the Dumaguete Airport who came to send him off at the pier.
On November 1, he was told to transfer to a special detention camp. From then,
everything was under this routine: stand up, sit down, lie down, etc. all
throughout the day. Even at toilet times, a guard was with him, and conversation
was banned. Worst of all, the food allotment was reduced to only 30%, so it only
deteriorated his energy and body strength. There was an even more painful daily
routine, which was the "Identification of Face." Once a prisoner was finger
pointed by the residents, then he will immediately be sent to Manila
Concentration Camp. These awful days continued for 3 months.

At the coming of New Year in Leyte, six residents from Dumaguete came
to see him. The US guard soldier was so surprised that he provided a resident
Japanese interpreter of Okinawa origin and allowed the meeting with his friends
from Dumaguete. He was too excited and so grateful that they came all the way
to Leyte that he cried with tears of happiness. Then at their departure, they
repeatedly said: "Please promise that when peaceful time returns, please come
back again to Dumaguete."

By February of 1946, he was relieved and released from the fear of

“Identification of Face” threat. Then he was transferred to 13 th Labor Camp and
assigned to work in a motor pool. It was then that he heard a rumor that those
free from doubt of war crimes have started going back to Japan. However, he
was made to patiently wait at Leyte for that good news of returning home to
Japan. The 13th Labor Camp was full of relaxing time and joy of simple life. There
were volleyball game tournaments held for the prisoners, and even the US
soldiers befriended them. As a token of their friendship with the Americans,
Corporal Yamada fabricated aluminum pipes into a ring and made it as gift. As a
compliment, the Americans gave him cigarette "Lucky Strike," Every time a
Japanese war prisoner was ordered to return home, the American soldiers
sympathized and cheered up those of who were yet to have made to return to
 15

Japan. It was also the time, the publication of “Shoko Shimbun (Daybreak
Newspaper)" started in the camp by Japanese war prisoners and it became a
tool for them to learn the happenings in Japan and the world.

"I am home from Negros."

On December 7, exactly 6 years after the attack of Japanese at Pearl

Harbor, Corporal Yamada was on board the landing vessel from the pier in
Tacloban and, at last, made his dream return to Japan, The vessel had to take
shelter on the shores of Ishigaki Island in Okinawa to stay safe from a typhoon,
and arrived safely in Nagoya port on the 19th of December. He was just thinking
that his military career is all nullified as the war was over, but as he processed
his papers on his demobilization, he was rewarded with a certification “Army
Sergeant and reserve soldier effective December 20, 1946.

In the last page of his diary he stated:

“I was given free ticket for Japan railway to make my return to the longed sweet
home. The train arrives the railway station of "Kurihama" in the very clear
morning. As I got down and searched for the way to my house, I was surprised to
see the changes while being away from. The private railway "Keihin Express"
had built a high structure for their railway services. I got lost simply, but my old
friend who was on his company commuting found me very coincidently and run
into my house with overjoyed gesture to call my family to see me returned home
alive. My family was having breakfast so astonished of the news and run out of
the house to welcome me home. They were all the same and looking great,
except my grandmother. My grandmother laid long in bed and could not express
any words anymore. However, she expressed her joy of receiving me back again
to home by holding my hands so tightly with crying tears in her eyes. I could not
hold my tears down from my eyes in reciprocation. I went to my house altar, put
my palms together, then informed my ancestors and God that I have returned
home with my words: “Now, I made my return from Negros.”

Concluding Notes

It must be underscored that from the outset the Japanese had already
failed in their war of entry. From the very start they failed to get the sympathy of
the Filipino people. All throughout the war in Asia and the Pacific, the key to
victory is maintaining ample logistics and accessibility, which involved a
tremendous transportation and communication network. Evidently, the Japanese
could not sustain the war effort. In the Philippines, they were hungry enough to
turn to thievery. Likewise, hygienic practices were not adhered to, so skin
diseases, body lice, and other illnesses were rampant.
Subsequently, the ominous signs of the Japanese defeat caused
tremendous problems for the civilians with the former now preparing to make
 16

their last stand. Ultimately, with the American landing, the ‘prey’ and the
Japanese found themselves in a strange situation: the latter ended up as the
“new prey” seeking refuge in the hills and the mountains they formerly labeled as
the “Bandit Zone” because they now became the subject of a massive manhunt
operations of the combined US, Filipino, and Guerilla forces.

Below is a glimpse of the Japanese Forces after the American Landing in Leyte
that were stationed in Dumaguete who took refuge in Cuernos de Negros.13

Japanese Organization After the American Landing

Unit Commander Strength

174th Indep Inf Bn Hq Col Satoshi Oiye 150
1st Co 1st Lt. Tadaki Yamamoto 170
2nd Co 1st Lt. Tadashi Watanabe 200
Part of the 31st Air Training Unit 1st Lt Karushiro Matsuo 350
Dumaguete A Field Cons Unit Maj Fuji Takata 50
Dumaguete MP Squad 1st Lt Masatome Tokunaga 15
Dumaguete Infirmary 30
102d Div Finance Sec. Capt. Ueno 50
Castaway Seaman (Ship survivors) 150
MG & Mortar Unit 1st Lt. Motenaga Kuwahata 150
Labor Platoon 1st Lt. Yasukei Murakawa 60
Navy 30
Total 1,405

Upon their surrender on September 22, 1945, this was the Japanese strength:14

Unit Original Strength Casualties Percentage

174th Indep Inf Bn Hq 150 53 35
1st Co 170 101 59
2nd Co 200 189 95
Part of the 31st Air Training Unit 350 117 33
Dumaguete A Field Cons Unit 50 15 30
Dumaguete MP Squad 15 5 30
Dumaguete Infirmary 30 6 20
102d Div Finance Sec. 50 12 24
Castaway Seaman (Ship 150 52 35
survivors)
MG & Mortar Unit 150 52 35
Labor Platoon 60 22 37
Navy 30 4 13
Total 1,405 628 45
 17

It is clear that most of the casualties of the Japanese forces in Southern

Negros occurred in the last months of the war with the 2 nd company suffering the
worst at 95%. This was because this was the company that was ordered to
provide defensive actions by providing penetration squads. In the account of 1 st
Lieutenant Komei Fujitomi, he narrated that 28 of this mission did not return.
Moreover, most of the forces assigned in Southern Negros were not trained to
fight. Out of the 1,405, there were 520 who belonged to the Infantry Battalion and
350 personnel were actually “boy pilots” who had no planes to fly and the rest
were support groups.

On another plane, despite the violence, one can also draw an inspiring
story of friendship between Corporal Kyuji Yamada and his Filipino friends and
many other Japanese soldiers with other families. In the end, after thirty years,
collaborative efforts between the surviving Japanese soldiers and Filipino War
veterans, businessmen, and politicians led to a movement of Japanese war
veterans and their families to retrieve the bones of their fallen comrades which
were scattered in the area of the last stand that were left and hidden in the many
foxholes, bunkers and tunnels they made during the war. They wanted to get the
bones so that they could put them together in one place so that those fallen
soldiers who served their country could be honored because honoring a dead
relative is a tradition all Japanese follow.

On November 24, 1974, Mr. Hideo Harada came to Negros Oriental to

fulfill his mission along with co-veterans Yoshias Shirai, Hideo Miyahara and
Nozawa Minoro, Nobuo Nakamura, Zenii Okutsu, Nobyuki Ogata and Syunichi
Ito and relatives of the fallen Japanese soldiers and excavated the bones buried
in Sagbang. They went through old and moss-covered tunnels and cave which
was littered with bones of their comrades in Sagbang and other places where
they had gunfights. The remains of the soldiers were cremated in Palinpinon,
Valencia on December 17, 1974, and the ashes were brought to Japan and
distributed to the Japanese soldiers' relatives. The Memorial Shrine of the
Japanese was conceived during the cremation ceremony that had a touching and
heartbreaking Buddhist ritual.15

Hideo Harada came back to Negros Oriental to finalize the plan of

constructing an amity memorial shrine. A deed of donation executed by the
parents of Gabriel Waro gave the shrine its current location, a 400 square meter
land. "This shrine is dedicated not only to the fallen Japanese soldiers but also to
Filipino and American soldiers whose lives were sacrificed to the gods of war on
henceforth sacred grounds, where the three forces were once locked in battle." It
is a joint effort of concerned Filipino and Japanese veterans, relatives of
deceased Japanese soldiers, civic-minded persons, the municipality of Valencia
and the government of Negros Oriental as well as Americans who contributed
time, effort and money to push through the amity memorial shrine which is now
known as "Reunion for Peace Program".16
 18

On April 2, 1977, a memorial monument for soldiers and citizens who died
in the battle during the Second World War, was erected on ‘Nasunog Hill’ also
called ‘Senzan' by the Japanese. It was erected on a plateau on Nasunog ridge –
the northeastern shoulder of Mt. Talinis, Sagbang, Valencia, Negros Oriental.
Philippines. The shrine, an eight-meter concrete tower with white marble finish, is
a tri-sided tower representing the American Liberation forces (164 th Regiment
later replaced by the 503rd Parachute Regiment, US 8th Army), the Filipino
guerilla units (75th Infantry and 77th Infantry) and the Japanese Imperial Forces
(174th Infantry and Unit 31 Air Corps). It serves as a sacred memory and
deference to and an act of mourning for those who died during World War II – the
Filipino, American and Japanese soldiers. Indeed, it is a fitting and a historic
landmark of the fiercest and major encounter during World War II in Negros
Oriental.

This is the inscription that appears in the Dedication Plaque of the Memorial
Shrine:

This Filipino-Japanese-American Amity Memorial

Shrine marks the easternmost portion of the main defense site
that runs west along the two ridges converging on the top of
this mountain range where the main elements of the Japanese
Imperial Army of the 174th Independent Unit under the
command of Col. Satoshi Oie, properly positioned in a series of
bunkers, dug-outs, foxholes and tunnels linked by connecting
trenches, had battled the combined forces of the 164th
American Division, United States Army and Guerilla elements
of the 73rd provisional Division, 7th Military District of Negros
Island. The battle of the ridges commenced in earnest on April
27, 1945, and by the early part of June 1945, the combined Fil-
American forces captured these ridges from the Japanese
defenders. The remnants of the Japanese-Imperial Forces
withdrew from these ridges and finally surrendered by the
roadside, north of the town of Zamboanguita on September 22,
1945, signaling the end of the hostilities in Negros Oriental.
 19

Endnotes
1

Caridad A, Rodriguez, Negros Oriental From American Rule to the Present: A History. Vol. 2 (Cebu
City: The Toyota Foundation, 1989) p. 24-26.

In a letter of Deputy Governor Miguel M. Gatuslao to Pres. Manuel L. Quezon dated De. 9, 1943,
among the various reasons were: People were not sure what the Japanese would do next; some were
families of soldiers who refused to surrender; families feared for their beautiful daughters; they were
convinced that the Americans were coming back; and the love of freedom rather than life under the
Japanese. Letter of Deputy Gov. Miguel M. Gatuslao to Pres. Quezon in Manual L. Quezon Papers.
Series VII, Provincial and Municipal File, 1917 – 1943.

From the G-2 monthly reports and DIO report no. 8, July 31, 1944, prepared by Rodolfo Reyes. See
also DIO Report No. 10, Oct. 24, 1944.

" Unit Report No. 6, July 25, 1944 of the 7th MD,p5.

This original Japanese manuscript was written on September 24, 1977. This was edited and translated
on June 26, 2015, by Engr. Katsutoshi Furukawa of 4-24-2013, Shojabaru
Nishi 2 Chome, Kasuya Machi, Kasuya Gun, Fukuoka Ken, Japan. This was furnished to the author as
a token of friendship on December 4, 2015 by Furukawa. The other account is taken from “The Staff
Study of Japanese Operations in Negros Island. “ Narrative of Operations in Southern Negros as Based
on Accounts Prepared by First Lieutenant Komei Fujitomi, 174 th Independent Infantry Battalion
(Restricted) p. 5. The interrogation of 1 st Lieutenant Komei Fujitomi was held in the Customs
Building, Eighth Army Headquarters, Yokohama, Japan, 18 th to 21st August 1947. Negros Operation
was the subject of the interrogation. Dr. Ricardo Trota Jose who specializes in the Japanese Occupation
and is an expert on the Japanese War Documents furnished this document to the author.

The author owns the lot adjacent to the Japanese Shrine and had since discovered old foxholes and
tunnels in the area. Moreover, scars of the bombing can still be seen around the area.

https://earth.google.com/web/@9.278788,123.21491472,596.87907473a,7061.5981862d,35y,-
37.61985968h,60.02255761t,0r Accessed on October 9, 2017.

Yamada puts the figure of those who surrendered at 890 plus because he claimed that the figure
included Japanese civilians who might have surrendered or were captured in other areas.

(Courtesy of Lorenzo A. Cimafranca – picture taken from the Silliman University World War II
Collection by EJPL Cleope)

(Courtesy of Lorenzo A. Cimafranca – picture taken from the Silliman University World War II
Collection by EJPL Cleope)

(Courtesy of Lorenzo A. Cimafranca – picture taken from the Silliman University World War II
Collection by EJPL Cleope)

Fujitomi, p. 2. There would have been more but on July 1944, the 3d and 4 th Companies, under the
command of 1st Lt Rokuzo Obayashi, were transferred to the direct control of the Fukuei Division and
dispatched to Bohol and Palawan Islands.
 Fujitomi, 5. Casualties included those who were killed, missing, and labeled in the manuscript as fate
unknown. Yamada puts the figure of those who surrendered at 890 plus but since Fujitomi is a trained
journalist, then his figure is used in this study.

Kyuji Yamada, Nasunog Hill, (Misaki, Miura City, Kanagawa, Japan: Unpublished Manuscript, 2015)
Translated by Akito Tsukada and Edited by Katsutoshi Furukawa. This manuscript was given as a
Christmas gift by Engr. Furukawa on December 15, 2015.

Josefa T. Escaño, Interview with Anthony Gerard E. Villegas, Dumaguete City, November 22, 2008.
From Anthony Gerard E. Villegas unpublished Manuscript, “War stories of Mrs. Josefa T. Escaño&
Mr. Hideo Harada.

In a letter of Deputy Governor Miguel M. Gatuslao to Pres. Manuel L. Quezon dated De. 9, 1943,
among the various reasons were: People were not sure what the Japanese would do next; some were
families of soldiers who refused to surrender; families feared for their beautiful daughters; they were
convinced that the Americans were coming back; and the love of freedom rather than life under the
Japanese. Letter of Deputy Gov. Miguel M. Gatuslao to Pres. Quezon in Manual L. Quezon Papers.
Series VII, Provincial and Municipal File, 1917 – 1943.
3

In a letter of Deputy Governor Miguel M. Gatuslao to Pres. Manuel L. Quezon dated De. 9, 1943,
among the various reasons were: People were not sure what the Japanese would do next; some were
families of soldiers who refused to surrender; families feared for their beautiful daughters; they were
convinced that the Americans were coming back; and the love of freedom rather than life under the
Japanese. Letter of Deputy Gov. Miguel M. Gatuslao to Pres. Quezon in Manual L. Quezon Papers.
Series VII, Provincial and Municipal File, 1917 – 1943.
4
" Unit Report No. 6, July 25, 1944 of the 7th MD,p5.
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16