The Liberation
"Go to Manila. Go around them, go through them, but go to Manila."
- General Douglas MacArthur, January 9, 1945
At the dawn of January 9, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur stayed true to his famous promise. He returned with 164 ships ready to pound the Japanese Navy and its coastal defense of the Philippines to dust. When they reached the Philippine coast, he ordered for General Walter Krueger of the United States 6th Army to get the American forces to Manila. But soon enough, a flaw was found in the plan. G-2 officer Horton White and American guerrilla leader Robert Lapham explained to Krueger that there was a prison camp in Cabanatuan that held the survivors of Bataan and Corregidor. They believed that if they captured Manila before they freed them, the Japanese soldiers would execute the men before they surrender. Their solution was not a simple one. They were planning to deploy a new experimental unit called the Rangers.
Colonel Henry Mucci was the leader of the 6th Ranger Battalion and leader of the raid of Cabanatuan. General Krueger decided to send him, his men and two groups of native guerrillas to carry out this mission.
This Ranger group was the first and onto be deployed in the Pacific. The Ranger Corps had more failures than successes, the majority in the European front. Still reeling and shaken from another Ranger battalion's failure in Cisterna, Italy in 1944, Colonel Mucci was ready to complete this mission, no matter what.
- General Douglas MacArthur, January 9, 1945
At the dawn of January 9, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur stayed true to his famous promise. He returned with 164 ships ready to pound the Japanese Navy and its coastal defense of the Philippines to dust. When they reached the Philippine coast, he ordered for General Walter Krueger of the United States 6th Army to get the American forces to Manila. But soon enough, a flaw was found in the plan. G-2 officer Horton White and American guerrilla leader Robert Lapham explained to Krueger that there was a prison camp in Cabanatuan that held the survivors of Bataan and Corregidor. They believed that if they captured Manila before they freed them, the Japanese soldiers would execute the men before they surrender. Their solution was not a simple one. They were planning to deploy a new experimental unit called the Rangers.
Colonel Henry Mucci was the leader of the 6th Ranger Battalion and leader of the raid of Cabanatuan. General Krueger decided to send him, his men and two groups of native guerrillas to carry out this mission.
This Ranger group was the first and onto be deployed in the Pacific. The Ranger Corps had more failures than successes, the majority in the European front. Still reeling and shaken from another Ranger battalion's failure in Cisterna, Italy in 1944, Colonel Mucci was ready to complete this mission, no matter what.