Philippine Scouts
The Philippine Scouts ( dt. Philippine Scout or Philippine reconnaissance ) were a US colonial troops from locals who after the conquest of the Philippines in 1898/99 - in addition to the stationed there six regiments of the US Army - was set up.
history
founding
The Philippine Scouts were set up soon after the completion of the US conquest of the Philippines in the Spanish-American War . The need for a colonial auxiliary force ( military auxiliaries ) arose not only for reasons of cost, but also because of high American losses due to tropical diseases. Of the 4,165 Americans who died during the conquest, around three quarters succumbed to disease (S 171-3).
At the suggestion of Matthew Batson , Filipinos were recruited for the first time in September 1899. The unit was called Macabebe Scouts , after their region of origin. They proved their worth in the suppression of the rebellion ( Philippine-American War ) of the republican government around President Emilio Aguinaldo .
1913–1915 they were used against Moro Datus in southern Mindanao .
Mutiny 1924
Filipinos originally received about half the pay of an American. The pay was high enough that even ordinary soldiers could support a family. By 1921, the pay of a common American soldier had increased to $ 21 a month. Filipinos only got $ 8 as there had only been an increase of 40 ¢ in 20 years.
On July 6, 1924, 26 "conspirators", including four informants, were arrested at the Ft. McKinley arrested. The next morning came two infantry - battalions of the 57th Infantry Regiment in "strike" to compete by refusing to protest against the lower pay. The commander remained calm and explained the consequences of their deed to the mutineers in one-to-one conversations. Of 380 soldiers, 104 remained obstinate. The members of the H - Company were "convinced" by Captain NP Williams and his spear Victoriano Hopinaldo to take up the service when the two stormed into the quarters, swinging a club or a machete. The next day, 202 members of the 12th Medical Regiment did not show up for duty, but the 117 men took it back.
From July 29th to August 21st, a court-martial was convened by the commanding officer - Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur - against 225 soldiers for mutiny respectively. Negotiating insubordination. Most of them were dishonorably released and there were individual prison sentences of up to five years with forced labor. All of the convicts were ordinary soldiers or corporals, two sergeants had been arrested but not charged. There were only six acquittals .
15 defendants were tried as ringleaders. As the leader of the mutiny , Tomas Riveral received 20 years, Gregorio Magalit 10 years. He was released in 1932. Three others got 10–15 years. The Judge Advocate General in Washington found the verdicts too severe and suggested that most of them be reinstated in the scouts. The officers on site refused, but the five-year prison sentence was reduced in 2½-year service in a criminal unit.
1924-1942
The service returned to normal operations. The pay was increased by $ 1 in 1929, although the Bureau of Insular Affairs believed the soldiers were already overpaid. In the late 1930s, there was a combat mission in Jolo , Palawan when the local police were overwhelmed with bandits.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1934 that pensions were payable to Scouts who had left after 30 years of service . In 1941 a legal regulation was discussed.
After the creation of the Commonwealth of the Philippines with a high degree of self-government in 1935, the stated goal of the government was to build its own army, which by 1942 comprised 100,000 poorly trained soldiers. Many scouts feared for their privileged status. In early 1941, in view of the Japanese threat, the number of troops was also doubled.
The two Philippine divisions formed, 12,000 men in total, were completely crushed during the invasion that led to the Japanese occupation . They secured in the Battle of Bataan the American withdrawal, taking in the Battle of the Points delayed Japanese advance and in the area Abucay-Cabcaben. A total of 9 Distinguished Service Crosses , 74 Silver Stars and over 2,000 Bronze Stars were awarded to the relatives for bravery . Sergeant Jose Calugas was the only Filipino to ever receive the Medal of Honor .
Organization and equipment
After 1901, up to 12,000 men, now referred to as "scouts", could be recruited. In fact, the strength was only around 5,000 until around World War I. The practice of recruiting along ethnic lines was abandoned after 1911.
The Scouts were not considered members of the regular US Army until 1934. American professional soldiers who during their, usually two years, years of service in the Philippines company level commanded, often received a temporary ( temporary ) rank higher. Scouts could be promoted from 1908 to the rank of captain . Command posts at the level of the 13 battalions and higher were reserved for professional officers of the regular army.
From October 1920 the previously independent regiments became a pure scouts division ( 1st Philippine Infantry (Provisional) ) of about 10,000 men, which was used as a mobile unit inland, while regular American troops mainly manned the coastal artillery. After 1922 the troop strength was reduced to 7,000.
They were organized as the 45th Infantry (PS), 1st Philippine Artillery, a Medical Regiment , 24th Philippine Field Artillery, and the new 26th Cavallery Regiment. The latter two were stationed at Camp Stotsenburg , about 100 km north of Manila . From 1923 Filipinos were also allowed to be used in coastal defense forts ( 91st and 92nd Coast Artillery Regiment (PS) ). They were excluded from service in the Air Force. The unit was placed under the United States Army Forces, Far East (USAFFE) when the war broke out .
The families of the scouts lived in their own barrios on the bases . The troops were seen as orderly, motivated, and disciplined, but were treated condescendingly nonetheless. Sexually transmitted diseases and alcoholism were significantly less common than among the Americans, and relations with the officers were generally good; this although there was often a lack of language skills on both sides.
In 1946 another scouts unit was set up to be trained for occupation service in Japan, but this was demobilized after full independence.
In parallel, the Philippine Constabulary existed as an armed police force and, during World War I, a Philippine National Guard .
literature
- Edward M. Coffman: The Philippine Scouts 1899-1942 . In: ACTA , Vol. 3, 1978, pp. 68-73
- James K. Eyre: The Philippine Scouts: United States Army Troops Extraordinary . In: The Military Engineer , Vol. 35, April 1942
- Karl Hack, Tobias Rettig (Ed.): Colonial Armies in Southeast Asia . Abingdon 2006, ISBN 978-0-415-33413-6 , chap. 7: American Exceptionalism in Colonial Forces?
- Edwin Herbert: Risings and Rebellions 1919–1939 . Nottingham 2007, ISBN 1-901543-12-9
- D. Laurie: The Philippine Scouts: America's Colonial Army, 1899-1913 . In: Philippine Studies, Vol. 37, 1987, pp. 174-191
- K. Whitehead: Odyssey of a Philippine Scout .
- James Richard Woolard: The Philippine Scouts: the development of America's colonial army . Diss., Ohio State Univ., 1975
Archives:
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US National Archives :
- RG 165: Major Walter E. Prosser; Mutiny of July 7-8, 1924 in Philippine Division, Ft. William Mc Kinley; PI; MID 10582-59 / 18
- RG 407: Maj.-Gen. William Lassiter; Report on the Defense of the Philippines, August 21, 1928
- US Cavalry Memorial Research Library
- 26th US Cavalry Regiment Finding Aids (PDF; 47 kB)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Karl Hack, Tobias Rettig (Ed.): Colonial Armies in Southeast Asia . Abingdon 2006, ISBN 978-0-415-33413-6 , chap. 7: American Exceptionalism in Colonial Forces?
- ↑ Philippines Herald , Aug. 2, 1924, cited above. in Karl Hack, Tobias Rettig (Ed.): Colonial Armies in Southeast Asia . Abingdon 2006, ISBN 978-0-415-33413-6 , p. 193, fn. 48
- ^ The Evening Independent . July 18, 1924
- ↑ United States. Congress. Senates. Committee on Military Affairs; Discharge or retirement of enlisted men and Philippine scouts: Hearing before the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate, Seventy-seventh Congress, first session, on p. 239, a bill to provide for the discharge or retirement of enlisted men of the regular Army and of the Philippine scouts in certain cases. February 7, 1941; Washington 1941 (US Govt. Print. Off)
- ↑ under the provisions of the Tydings-McDuffie Act 1934
- ^ Historical Dictionary of the Philippines . 2nd Edition. Lanham 2005, ISBN 0-8108-5490-2 , p. 312
- ↑ Jose Calugas on the English Wikipedia
- ↑ Karl Hack, Tobias Rettig (Ed.): Colonial Armies in Southeast Asia . Abingdon 2006, ISBN 978-0-415-33413-6 , pp. 175 ff.
- ↑ In the early 1920s, many US soldiers were veterans of the Siberian intervention , where they were brutalized. Hack (2006), p. 187
- ^ John Olsen, Frank Anders: Anytime - Anywhere: The History of the 57th Infantry (PS) . Self-published, 1991, p. 8