The Bibliography of a Defeat: The Search for Records on the Loss of the Philippines

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

military disasters of modern times are as sparsely documented or inadequately recorded in the official records as the defeat of America's forces in the Philippines in the first 6 months of World War II. Cut off from the United States almost immediately and encircled by a tightening blockade, the Philippine garrison soon became the only island of resistance in the rising tide of Japanese victory. Its sole remaining means of communication with the outside world was by radio. Occasionally an airplane or submarine reached Manila Bay with vitally needed supplies, carrying back on the outward voyage to Australia and Hawaii small and selected cargoes. Space was at a premium; there was room only for the nurses, correspondents, officials and their families, selected officers and enlisted men, and precious commodities such as the gold of the Philippine Commonwealth. Under the circumstances, records did not enjoy a high priority, and only a small number of official documents survived the campaign. How then was the historian to reconstruct the story of the loss of the Philippines ? Where would he find the materials needed to write a complete and accurate account of the campaign? The search for this material was a long one, but it proved to be an exciting and ultimately a rewarding adventure.