There was no battle in Talisay 57 years ago!

We wrote about 57th anniversary of the Talisay Landing, which has been dubbed as the Liberation of Cebu as I was on my way to Alta Vista and listening to the radio reports over DySS where the reporter gave a blow-by-blow account of what was going on in the reenactment, which I wrote was totally inaccurate from what I’ve read in my history books. If you ask me, this could only be the result of the pro-Tagalog history, where the Liberation of Cebu was merely a footnote and not given any importance by historians.

Then yesterday morning, GMA-7’s local news showed the footages of Japanese troops attacking the Americans on the beach. This was total falsehood. Prior to the landings of the Victor II Attack Group, the beaches of Tangke, Talisay were pounded by Naval gunfire and since there were only nipa huts, there was no place for any Japanese troops to survive the shelling.

Clearly the Philippine Navy doesn’t know their local history. Perhaps I should give a lecture to Navforcen PIO Joseph Ison so he would know what really happened in the beaches of Tangke, Talisay 57 years ago, so he would not twist or change history for the sake of our future generations. I have two books on this, one is entitled “Under the Southern Cross: The Saga of the Americal Division by Capt. Francis D. Cron.” The other book is entitled “Orchids in the Mud: A personal account of the 132 Infantry Regiment edited by Robert C. Muehrcke.” Both books came up with detailed reports on exactly what happened in the beaches of Talisay on March 26,1945.

Here’s an excerpt of my up and coming book about World War II in Cebu.“On March 26, 1945 the Victor II Attack Group with fourteen thousand (14,000) soldiers on board fifty-nine ships with seventeen (17) Landing Ship Transport (LST) Liberty Ships, including five (5) destroyers, four (4) assault personnel destroyers (APDs), fourteen (14) Landing Craft Infantry (LCIs) and eight (8) minesweepers and organic units of the Americal Division loomed into the horizon along Tangke Beach, Talisay early dawn of March 26, 1945. At exactly 0730, the Seventh Fleet’s Task Force 74 fired their heavy guns on the beachhead for a full hour of merciless bombardment designed to obliterate any Japanese shore defenses.

Rocket armed LCI’s fired their rockets in unison to smother the beachhead with high explosives. Meanwhile scores of Amphibious tracked vehicles called Landing Vehicle Track (LVT) a.k.a. Amptracs disgorged from their LST mother ships and began moving towards the Tangke Beachhead. The US Forces designated the Tangke Beach landing areas as Green Beach 1, 2 & 3. As the first fifteen (15) LVTs arrived on the beach and moved away from the shore, ten (10) LVTs were struck by improvised mines, something that the Americans already knew, but somehow they thought that these mines were neutralized by the rockets fired by the LCIs.

Thus the first assault was abruptly stopped, creating a huge traffic jam of LVT’s and LCMs on the sea, which could not yet land ashore. But fortunately for the Americal Division invaders, the Japanese Imperial Army did not exploit what would have been a juicy target of sitting ducks. So after an hour and a half of minesweeping work, an opening was made to allow the LVTs to move on to the main town of Talisay and on to Cebu City.

So there you go the entire Navy reenactment only showed their total ignorance of Philippine or at least Cebu history. The only Japanese encounters they had on the beach was sporadic sniper fire, which was silenced long before the Americans landed on the beach. They did not meet any Japanese troops on the beaches of Talisay, which is why this piece of history has not been dubbed as the Battle of Talisay for there was no battle that ensued. It has since been dubbed the Liberation of Cebu. Let me continue.

“Recapturing the City of Cebu was very significant for the soldiers of the Americal Division because it was part of the US Commonwealth. As the column of American soldiers passed by the downtown areas of Cebu City, which was almost deserted as it was now in ruins, due to the bombings of the 13th Air Force. The soldiers went on search operations, looking for Japanese stragglers, but found none. The first two days of the Liberation of Cebu was rather uneventful with only sporadic resistance from the Japanese, something that the Americans did not expect. But on the third day of the invasion, the Americal Division was finally confronted by a fierce defense by well-entrenched Japanese soldiers in a small hill called Gochan Hill.”

I would love to include the first battle of Cebu in Gochan Hill, but we’ve ran out of space. So let me put that for our column tomorrow as it is also the 57th anniversary of that great battle where the Japanese defenders fought a bitter fight that lasted for three whole days. We hope that this article would educate our readers in the hope the reenactment will be accurate in the future celebrations of the Talisay Landings.

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