What military reinforcement was supposed to be shipped to the Philippine Islands before the the onse

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Von Mannerheim,

When will your Thesis be available for other researchers to read?

I think there's a "HEAD" missing in your Wainwright quote by the way...I only note this because it is a favorite of mine, and of course provided John Toland with a great title to a great book.

 

I just happened upon this information pertaining to MacArthur's request for an armored division to be sent to the pre-war Philippines:

II. SUMMARY

2. PRE-WAR BRIEF. Any evaluation of the operations of this unit mast take into consideration the precis, (See Addenda "A"), of its movement to the theater on the eve of the outbreak of hostilities, its organization 17 days before that, and the consequent lack of mutual acquaintance between the armored personnel and their supported associates, in a strange land and climate, and with weapons new to them, as well as to all present for the war except the Tank Group Commander. It was for this reason that he asked to remain with the Tank Group when division command was proposed on his arrival. In approving on 21 November, General MacArthur stated that he had asked for an armored division, to the command of which the Group Commander would succeed. The nucleus of this division was never augmented; although a medium G.H.Q. Tank Battalion had been completely equipped and was on 48-hour standby for departure for the Philippines when its orders were cancelled on 10 December 1941. ((Another light tank bn had been alerted))

Operations of the Provisional Tank Group in the Philippines 1941-42.

 

A full 1941 armored division would have had a hell of a logistics demand. probablly larger than what any of the infantry corps would have drawn were they full strength. Would the roads have accomadated such a mass of vehicals? A 1941 armored division had six tank battalions, three motrorized infantry battalions with extras, three motorized artillery battalions, antiaircraft, engineers.... reinforcing the existing tank group makes more sense considering the cargo ships available and all the other requirements and items scheduled for PI.

 

Carl,

I recently found 4 letters my father wrote to my grandfather and my aunt. There are some discussions of training in them. They have been in envelopes for many years so they are a little hard to read. I also have some other pictures of the equipment and firing of the 75mm howitzers, but I have not scanned them yet.

The letters must be too large to upload. I know I can e-mail them, so send me an e-mail at the address below and perhaps you can figure out how to upload them.

Please feel free to contact me at "dauis at msn.com"

Gary

 

I am fine with putting them on the web - just tell me what I need to do.

Gary

 

I just sent the letters to the e-mail you gave me.

Gary

 

I know this a response to an old post. However, I recently had someone pull the morning reports from Battery E from Nov 1940 to Oct 1944. It talks in general terms what the battery did every day, promotions, furloughs, illness, etc. I also have a few books that talk about the 147th as well.

 

• I haven't been on here for quite awhile.
• I don't have the books with me, but I will post the names when I can. One is something like - "South Dakota in WWI". I found a copy at a used bookstore in Denver. The other book was written by a member of the 147th.
• I have also found some articles in South Dakota papers with stories from various members of the 147th.

 

The 2 books are: 1) "The Coyotes - A history of South Dakota National Guard" by Richard Cropp and 2) South Dakota in World War II by the South Dakota World War II History Commission. The Daily Republic of Mitchell, South Dakota had a special section on August 29, 2006 that had a number of articles about servicemen from South Dakota including a couple about the 147th Field Artillery. I tried to upload the special section, but it was too large. The Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, South Dakota had an article on May 26, 2017 that also had stories about the 147th Field Artillery.

I have started writing a book of my father's time in the 147th. I have completed the chapter covering November 1941 to June 1942 if anyone is interested.

 

H

i know this is an old thread, but hopefully you are still following this. I have gotten the morning reports of my dad's battery, a diary of a Lt. Col., and a Corporal. The Col and Corporal were in the 147th. But not my dad's battery.

 

there are a couple of diaries in digital form that I have found. One is from Colonel Scurr for 1941, 1942, and 1943. The other is from Corporal Gill of Battery A for 1942. I am not sure how much information there is on battles, but there is some interesting commentary for the time in the Northern Territory from Jan 1942 to June 1942. I have not really read the rest of the periods yet. Go to this site and search for Scurr and Gill:
CONTENTdm