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ABSTRACT
Insurgencies thrive in regions where government legitimacy is absent. In the post-war Philippines, Captain Charles T. R. Bohannan of the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps became actively aware of this dynamic. Bohannan is best known for his later work with Edward Lansdale and Ramon Magsaysay in defeating the Huk Rebellion (1950–1954). Here the author examines Bohannan’s early investigative work against Japanese war criminals, wartime Filipino collaborators, and the rising threat of communist subversion most associated with the Huk. All of these experiences fed into what would be the successful campaign against the Huk, chronicled in his seminal work, Counter Guerrilla Operations: The Philippines Experience, and offers lessons on the investigative (as opposed to tactical or psychological) nature of effective counter-insurgency work, as it relates to both legitimacy in governance and the rise of insurgencies.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank The Smith Richardson Foundation for their support in the creation of this article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Charles T.R. Bohannan and Napolean Valeriano, Counter Guerrilla Warfare: The Philippines’ Experience (New York: Praeger, 1964; reprinted 2006), 18.
2. The group that would be known as the Huk emerged from several sectors of Filipino society in the 1920s and 1930s. The bulk were disgruntled peasants, abused by years of crooked land holding practices from the days of Spanish rule that had maintained themselves largely through the US occupation. But the leadership who provided them their foci were part of the urban professional class. They were members of many rural and urban political organizations, most prominently the Socialist and Communist parties of the Philippines. While fighting for peasants’ rights, the Socialists and Communist Party merged in November 1938, but the party soon became dominated by communist party apparatus, as a central committee formed, and politburo. When Japan invaded, many of the less militant members such as popular politician Abas Santos sought to avoid conflict and survive. Most were caught and killed by the Japanese, leaving a younger, more militant core. In March 1942, these leaders met at Mt. Arayat, many carrying homemade guns and knives. By the end, they created the Huk. Their commander in chief was Luis Taruc, disciple of Santos who had been a tailor before turning to politics. The vice chief and party boss was Jesus Lava, whose wealthy and famous and notable family had been involved in peasant politics since the 1930s, and whose influence as a communist in the part would grow. They named themselves Hukbong Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon, or “Peoples Army Against the Japanese.” This was contracted to Hukbalahap, but were known everywhere as “The Huk.”
3. On Edward Lansdale, see Lansdale, In the Midst of Wars: An American’s Mission to Southeast Asia (Fordham University Press, 1991; originally published 1972), Cecil Currey, Edward Lansdale: The Unquiet American, 1st ed. (Brassey’s Inc, 1998; originally published 1988), also Jonathan Nashel, Edward Lansdale’s Cold War (Boston: University of Massachusetts Press, 2005).
4. Charles Bohannan and Napoleon Valeriano, Counter-Guerrilla Warfare: The Philippines Experience (Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2006). See also Dennise Rempe, ‘The Past as Prologue? A History of US Counterinsurgency in Colombia, 1958–1966’ (Occasional Paper from the Strategic Studies Institute, March 2002), John Toland, Captured by History: One Man’s View of Our Tumultuous Century (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), 157.
5. There remains no comprehensive account of the role of guerrilla groups in a variety of legal and illegal enterprises in the immediate aftermath of the war. The author is currently working on an article regarding the controversies over the CIC’s Guerrilla Affairs Division, who assessed the claims of guerrillas seeking compensation, and some of the claims made by guerrilla groups, including a near-violent confrontation with the commanding officer of Marking’s Guerrillas. Until that is finished, only limited inferences can be mentioned regarding a highly contentious subject of American compensation for Filipino guerrillas and soldiers during the war.
6. Death Notice for ‘Charles Dudley Bohannan’, Evening Star, October 18, 1956, transcribed by Claring Bohannan.
7. Bohannan unpublished memoir.
8. Author, ‘Cowboy Academic: The Unconventional Education of Charles T. R. Bohannan, Counterinsurgency Pioneer’, unpublished paper.
9. ‘Training of the CIC Personnel’, in The History of the Counter Intelligence Corps, ed. John Mendelsohn (New York: Garland Publishing, 1989), 2, 24.
10. Ibid, 20.
11. Ibid, 34.
12. Ibid, 35.
13. Ibid, 40–9.
14. Bohannan to Joseph Starr, August 3, 1981.
15. The Reports of General MacArthur: MacArthur in Japan: The Occupation: Military Phase Volume I supplement, prepared by his General Staff (1966, reprinted 1994), 233.
16. ‘Training of the CIC Personnel’, 143.
17. Counter Intelligence Corps History and Mission in World War II (Baltimore, MD: Counter Intelligence Corps School Fort Holabird), 82.
18. The Reports of General MacArthur, 235.
19. Hunting Japanese war criminals became urgent. By September 11, the War Department made the first major list of war criminals, headed by General Hideki Tojo, among 40 others. The International Military Tribunal was preparing to try the Class A criminals. “The 441st Counter Intelligence Corps was assigned the initial task of apprehending these war criminal suspects,” but the Japanese government was soon ordered to hand over all the wanted men, as well, The Reports of General MacArthur: MacArthur in Japan: The Occupation: Military Phase, 243.
20. The Reports of General MacArthur: MacArthur in Japan: The Occupation: Military Phase, 244.
21. Ibid., 254.
22. CTRB, Bohannan to Joseph Starr, August 3, 1981.
23. Bohannan personnel file.
24. Theodore Friend, Between Two Empires: The Ordeal of the Philippines, 1929–1946 (New Haven, CT: Yale Univeristy Press, 1965), 261–2.
25. Unattributed quote in Ibid, 262.
26. David Joel Steinberg, Philippine Collaboration in World War II (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1967), 75.
27. Ibid,74–5.
28. William A. Owens, Eye Deep in Hell: A Memoir of the Liberation of the Philippines, 1944–1945 (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1989), 195.
29. Steinberg, op. cit., in note 26, 125–6.
30. Friend, op. cit., in note 24, 250.
31. Owens, op. cit., in note 28, 195.
32. According to Senator Claro Rector, a collaborator who would rise as one of the major statesmen of the Philippines,
[the collaborators] had to tax their ingenuity and make the most of their practical wisdom to meet the grave implications of the enemy invasion and occupation, in the face of the defenselessness and bewilderment of the people. They had to feign cooperation and pretend to play into the hands of the wily enemy because the latter was not only suspicious but already convinced that the Filipinos were just waiting for the opportune moment to strike back … In the midst of these terrible realities, this handful of Filipino leaders was entrusted with the task of looking after the well-being of their own people and trying to save the country from abject misery, even possible extinction. (George E. Taylor, The Philippines and the United States: Problems of Partnership (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1964), 104)
33. Steinberg, op. cit., in note 26, 120.
34. Douglas MacArthur Archive (DMA), Papers of Lt. Cdr. Frederick Worcester, Box 2 Folder 12m Worcester to High Commissioner, “Politica Developments 3–10 February.”
35. Steinberg, op. cit., in note 26, 145.
36. Ibid, 130.
37. Ibid, 128.
38. Ibid, 128.
39. Ibid, 132.
40. George E. Taylor, The Philippines and the United States: Problems of Partnership (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1964), 110.
41. Interview with Rufus Philips by author, October 8, 2012.
42. William Triplet, In the Philippines and Okinawa: A Memoir, 1945–1948, 45–46.
43. Forsyth Library Special Collections Fort Hayes State University, Kansas, Cecil Currey Collection, Dorothy Bohannan interview with Cecil Currey, July 27, 1985.
44. Ibid.
45. Bohannan Papers, Hoover Institution Archive, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Joseph Teplitchi.
46. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Jose Feldmano.
47. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Danilova.
48. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Tavara Danilova.
49. Dorothy Bohannan interview with Cecil Currey, July 27, 1985.
50. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Merchant Seamen.
51. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Communist Chinese, included in the Russian File.
52. Duval A. Edwards, ed., Jungle and Other Tales: True Stories of Historic Counterintelligence Operations (Wheat Mark: Tucson, 2008), passim.
53. Lavinia N. Hansen, ‘Successful Counterguerrilla Warfare – Magsaysay and the Philippine Huks: A Case Study’ (MA thesis, Department of Political Science, University of Nevada, 1983), 33–4.
54. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Casto Alejandrino.
55. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Manuel Crudo.
56. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Jorge Frianeza.
57. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Vincent Lava.
58. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Jose Lava.
59. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Fernancio Sampang.
60. Bohannan Papers, HIA, Box 28, File 1138th CIC Detachment, Subject File: Luis Taruc.
61. The Economic Development Corporation plan, which offered amnesty to Huk who were willing to relocate to lands where they could farm far away from Huk sources of power, was in part Bohannan’s idea and exemplified the ability and need to separate the faithful from the conditional Huk.
62. See David Kilculen, The Accidental Guerrilla, passim.
63. Unpublished report on Guerrilla Warfare in the Philippines, Charles Bohannan Collection, Box 4, Folder: Bohannan’s drafts, Hoover Institution Archives.