Still Holding

New enemy air units are appearing over our lines, bombing our troops almost constantly. . . . Hostile artillery fire on our forts from positions on the Cavite shore continues. New enemy batteries in Bataan have increased the density of artillery fire on our positions. A fairly large convoy of Japanese troopships has arrived in Subic Bay and enemy reinforcements are landing at Olongapo.

This War Department communique last week, like so many of its predecessors, was 100% terse pessimism. Douglas Mac-Arthur and his battle-weary, outnumbered troops were still holding Bataan Peninsula and Manila Bay's five defensive forts. But their collapse under ever-increasing enemy weight and ferocity seemed imminent as never before. With Singapore taken (see p. 18), the Jap's battering blows against Bataan's defenders were becoming heavier and more frequent.

His fresh troops entered battle with increased aerial and artillery support. His strengthened Air Force dropped incendiary bombs in an apparently unsuccessful attempt to wipe out Douglas MacArthur's precious store of food and munitions. The desperate defense of his adversary called for desperate measures: last week, for the first time, he was revealed to be using the awesome flame throwers that his Axis ally has found so effective in the battle of Europe. Twice during the week his bombers unloaded on a civilian refugee camp.

In Washington, where pressure for reinforcements for Douglas MacArthur grew, military experts explained with weary patience that a relief force is out of the question. Transportation is the insoluble problem. Heavy bombers could fly the more than 1,000 miles from Java, the nearest Allied base to Manila Bay, but not the lighter escort planes that must accompany such an armada. Water-borne planes and troops would have little, if any, chance of running the Jap's naval gantlet. Said Deputy Chief of Staff Major General R. C. Moore to the House Appropriations Committee: "We could have a lot of them [bombers to MacArthur] by this time, if we could get them there."

All indications were that General Mac-Arthur and his men would continue their fight alone.

There were bright spots in the picture, however. In his weekend communique Douglas MacArthur included the dramatic story of non-Christian Igorot native tribesmen who, in an offensive over rough, matted terrain, mounted U.S. tanks like so many half-nude jockeys to direct American drivers inside. "When the attack was over," said the General, "the remnants of the tanks and of the Igorots were still there, but the 20th Japanese Infantry Regiment was completely annihilated. . . . When you tell that story, stand in tribute to those gallant Igorots."

The Jap was still paying heavily for his conquest of the Philippines. A crack regiment of Japanese regulars, harassing the defenders' left flank, lost out after a week of savage fighting to U.S. troops and Filipino scouts. The thinning line was still holding.

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