036 - A Tale of Two Generals

As 1941 turned to 1942, the new year did little to raise the hopes of any of the Allied Forces. British and Australian Forces were in close combat with the Japanese throughout Southeast Asia and New Zealand was under threat of Naval Attack. Meanwhile, the combined Filipino and American Forces were in retreat in the Northern Philippines.

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On Christmas Eve, 1941, American President Franklin Roosevelt ordered MacArthur and his troops to the island fortress of Corregidor while Vicente Lim and his brigade of Philippine Scouts of the 41^st Infantry Division were left to fend for themselves in Luzon.

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Gneral Lim, an able field commander, had attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and became its first Filipino graduate. While Lim was a cadet, he taught American soldiers how to speak both Tagalog (the native Philippine language) and Spanish. Lim also became a sharpshooter, placing near the top of his class in rifle marksmanship. Additionally, Lim had mastered use of the broadsword in hand-to-hand combat, earning a spot on West Point’s broadsword dueling team. He also observed the U.S. Army troops in Europe during World War I and sat in on war plan meetings with American Army Command.

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Fighting was fierce, even though the Filipinos were forced to travel hundreds of kilometers over various rough terrains, many times relying only on foot power.
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By the 9^th of January, General Lim and hjs Philippine Scouts had pulled back to the “Abucay Line”, where the Scouts were ordered to holdout against the Japanese with very limited resources and no hope of reinforcements, whether they were food, armament, or the much needed troops.

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