Photo By Lori Stewart | Bartolome Cabangbang in 1955, during his tenure in the House of Representatives of the...... read more read more
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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
LT. CABANGBANG'S AIB DETACHMENT ARRIVES IN LUZON
On Sep. 1, 1944, 1st. Lt. Bartolome C. Cabangbang and his nineteen-man intelligence detachment arrived in the Philippine Islands. His Central Luzon Detachment of the Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) worked to develop “a radio net designed to reach enemy positions of major strategic importance, …implement plans to provide this headquarters with weather and air warning information, …[and] be alert to general and specific enemy intelligence.”
Created in July 1942, the AIB was one of several intelligence organizations created in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) to counter the loss of established information sources when the Japanese occupied many of the Pacific islands. Multi-national and multi-service, it included ground and naval personnel from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Australia.
From AIB headquarters in Brisbane, Australia, U.S. Army Col. (later Maj. Gen.) Courtney A. Whitney commanded the semi-autonomous Philippine Regional Section (PRS) responsible for observing and reporting on enemy activities and “lend[ing] aid and assistance to local efforts” throughout the Philippines. Unfortunately, the many guerrilla resistance groups formed since the Japanese had occupied the country had limited coordination between them and virtually no communications with SWPA headquarters. The PRS activated Filipino-American reconnaissance units to infiltrate into the islands to set up radio nets and weather observatories, coordinate local resistance efforts, and deliver supplies to the guerrillas.
The PRS’s Central Luzon Detachment was commanded by Lieutenant Cabangbang. Born in the island province of Bohol in 1917, Cabangbang had been one of the initial graduates of the Philippines Military Academy in 1940 and became a fighter pilot in the country’s Army Air Corps. When the Japanese invaded, he had fought with the 4th U.S. Marines on Corregidor, earning a Silver Star for rescuing several marines buried in the rubble caused by Japanese shelling. He spent some time in Japanese prison camps, but by 1943, he had joined the guerrilla movement.
The AIB recruited Cabangbang to lead the Central Luzon Detachment to establish a radio network to facilitate communications between the guerillas near Manila and SWPA headquarters. The all-Filipino-American detachment would also collect intelligence, conduct sabotage, and coordinate guerrilla operations around the Philippine capital.
On Aug. 20, 1944, the detachment departed Fort Darwin, Australia, on the submarine USS Narwhal. Twelve days later, they arrived in Central Luzon. Linking up with American officer and guerrilla leader Maj. Bernard L. Anderson, the two planned out the unit’s radio network. Cabangbang then sent his men to coordinate with the guerrilla units, providing them with food, medical supplies, clothing, explosives, and money to ensure their cooperation and raise morale.
Between September–December 1944, Cabangbang’s detachment installed two net control stations: “JWR” to handle traffic from within the provinces and “2TW” to communicate directly with the AIB station at Fort Darwin. At least fourteen additional radio stations were set up in guerrilla camps scattered throughout heavily occupied enemy territory around Manila. Station 2TW purportedly handled one hundred messages to and from SWPA headquarters daily and transmitted intelligence on enemy strength and the locations of airfields, hangars, supply and ammunition dumps, landmines, sniper holes, machine gun emplacements, and enemy units. The SWPA G-2, Brig. Gen. (later Maj. Gen.) Charles A. Willoughby credited Cabangbang’s radio network with “transmitting vital intelligence on enemy activities and dispositions which greatly facilitated…the successful liberation of Luzon.”
Once American units landed in the Philippines with their own intelligence sections, Cabangbang’s unit and others like it were no longer needed. Cabangbang turned his detachment over to his executive officer, who inactivated it in March 1945. Meanwhile, Cabangbang, who received a Legion of Merit for his work in the Philippines, transferred to the U.S. for training and served with U.S. air units until resigning as a major in 1947. He returned to the Philippines where, as a reservist, he became a colonel in the Philippines Air Force. He later became involved in politics, serving in the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 1953–1965, and even ran unsuccessfully for president against incumbent Ferdinand Marcos in 1981. He passed away in 1985.
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| Date Taken: | 08.29.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.29.2025 14:39 |
| Story ID: | 546904 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 18 |
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