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:::A Brief History of the Philippine Chinese Wartime Hsuehkan Militia |
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Japan’s surprise attack at the U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941 lit the fuse of the Second World War. The Japanese forces triumphed over Pearl Harbor and thereafter, began their southward invasion. The prosperous and densely populated nations in Southeast Asia fell into Japan’s hands one after the other, and on January 2nd, the capital city of the Philippines, Manila, fell into the enemy hands.
The invading force ignoring the provisions of public international law started a spate of indiscriminate massacre that killed civilians and innocents alike and executed the R.O.C. consul to the Philippines, Dr. Yang Kuang-Sheng, Ph.D. The seven loyal consulate diplomatic staff also died in the line of duty. The killings put fear and anxiety in the heart of every Overseas Chinese.
In April, the “13th Manpower Resources Supplementary Training Center of Nan-Ping Military Affairs Department, Fukien Province” trained a group of ten or more students who were returning to the Philippines. They covertly convened to organize an underground anti-Japanese guerilla force to fight against the Japanese. They recruited members with strong ideals and aspirations to raise funds and build an arsenal. In May, they organized the “Loyal Fighters Group” launched a campaign to eliminate traitors in the guerilla struggle against the Japanese. Later, on September 18, 1942, the organization was given a new name, the “Philippine Chinese Wartime Hsuehkan Militia”. They issued a manifesto calling all overseas Chinese in the Philippines to join the resistance war against the Japanese for their survival. On October 10th, they began publishing the weekly gazette “Blasting Fuse (導火線) ”, an anti-Japanese propaganda material that documented actual accounts of the war to bolster the people’s morale and to further consolidate their faith in winning the war against the Japanese. Their hatred for one common enemy aroused and united the sentiments of the overseas Chinese. The Hsuehkan Militia had a membership of over 800 overseas Chinese at the time.
The Hsuehkan Militia fired its first shot in the city of Manila on June 16, 1943. The shot executed an undercover traitor working for the Japanese, the first man ever killed by a Philippine Chinese in the history of the Philippine Chinese community. When news of the event broke out, the entire community rejoiced at the death of an undercover traitor for Japanese. Patriotic youths gathered in droves and secretly joined the campaign to ferret out traitors of the anti-Japanese guerilla struggle. The Japanese troops greatly suffered in the attacks and started a massive search for anti-Japanese overseas Chinese fighters. The Hsuehkan Militia bore the brunt of the Japanese counter-effort. Many patriots were killed during the search. Occasionally, there would be news that although the Hsuehkan Militia suffered in the attacks, but morale remained high in the ranks, and the militia troops continued to grow to a thousand and more. It became the most popular Philippine Chinese anti-Japanese resistance organization until 1944, when the U.S. counterattack efforts in the Pacific War began to reap a string of victories. The Hsuehkan Militia spread its forces to the northern and southern part of Luzon, to the rural areas, and even dispatched fighters to the mountain regions to establish links with the American and Filipino guerilla fighters.
In early February of 1945, the Hsuehkan militia troops coordinated with the American troops landing in Lingayen Bay and traveled with them to Manila. They engaged and defeated the Japanese defense line in the northern outskirts of Manila. The Japanese troops retreated to the south bank of Pasig River and continued to resist the attacking force. The Hsuehkan militia troops engaged the enemy hand-to-hand, and in the physical battle it was hard to distinguish friends from foes. Determinedly, they led the American troops into the “Santo Tomas Prisoner of War Concentration Camp” to liberate the American and British prisoners of war. Shortly thereafter, Manila and its nearby areas were liberated from the Japanese. In Northern Luzon, the Japanese troops continued to hold their fort, although cornered, they continued to fight. A troop of 159 Hsuehkan Militiamen, reorganized under the U.S. command marched to the Northern Luzon to wipe out the enemy. The fighters remained in the militia until the Japanese Imperialist Government announced its unconditional surrender; thereafter, they gave up their arms and retired as civilians. In the three years of the militia’s existence, a total of 112 militiamen sacrificed their lives to the cause. After the militia was disbanded, the militiamen remained organized as a civilian group. They extensively recruited able young men to serve the Chinese community. At one point, their organization grew to a size of over 7,000 members. |
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