The Liberation of the Philippines: Manila the Approach March (Picture of Destroyed Highway and Railroad Bridges) by JAA USA/Philippines Collection

[CSJournals-migration]

The picture attached to this Journal entry was taken by my father in early February 1945 during the approach march to Manila. The picture shows one of the many highway and railroad bridges which were destroyed by the Japanese to slow the American advance.

 

After securing Ft. Stotsenburg and the important Clark Field Air Base the XVI Corps attacked south through the Central Plains toward Manila.

 

(See my earlier Journal entry for historical details and picture of Ft. Stotsenburg http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/JournalDetail.aspx?JournalEntryID=10743)

 

The Central Plains between Ft. Stotsenburg and Manila is crossed by many deep and broad rivers. The main bridges over these rivers were the route 3, route 5 and Manila Railroad bridges. In order to slow the American advance the Japanese destroyed these bridges as they retreated.

 

The Route 3 and Manila Railroad crossing at Calumpit are located twenty-five miles below Clark Field and about an equal distance from Manila. This was an important XVI Corps objective because the crossing at Calumpit was "a flat land defile through which passed the only highway and rail connections providing direct access to Manila from the western side of the Central Plains. To the northeast of Calumpit lies the formidable Candaba Swamp, passable only to light vehicles even in dry weather; to the south and west are virtually impassable swamplands, fish pounds, and marshy river deltas forming the northern shore of Manila Bay. Although the Japanese had destroyed the bridges at Calumpit XVI Corps had to secure the crossing sites before the Japanese took advantage of the natural defense opportunities afforded by the deep, unfordable Pampanga to block the western approach to Manila." (Ross, 1993 page 211)

 

The destroyed bridges in this photo are the Route 3 and Manila Railroad Bridges over the Pampanga River at Calumpit.

 

REFERENCES

Original letters written by my father during the Luzon Campaign

 

Smith, Robert Ross, "Manila: The Approach March" in U.S. Army in World War ll. The War In the Pacific: Triumph in the Philippines, (Center of Military History United States Army, Washington D.C., 1993) pages 211-236.

 

See more journals by JAA USA/Philippines Collection

[Thane]

It's amazing just how many US foreign coin collections are the result of foreign wars.

 

I've picked up a number of mixed foreign coin lots at auction - they seem to come from (in order of commonality)

 

(1) foreign wars (e.g. European coins pre-1946)

(2) strong US allies (e.g. Great Britain)

(3) popular vacation spots during strong vacation years (e.g. Baby Boomer West Indies cruise destinations)

(4) emerging foreign markets during favorable investment climates (e.g. Venezuela pre-Chavez)

 

And so in US collections of foreign coinage, some places and times are really scarce, like

 

(1) post-colonial African coinage

(2) earlier Communist coinage (more than two decades pre-1989)

 

Thanks for the reminder of that terrible war. Everyone said IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN after the Great War ended in 1918. A lot of things can change in twenty years. We should all remember and take heed.