Area in Question These particular circumstances put the Rangers in a precarious but high potential place to liberate prisoners of war at a camp in the Philippines that goes by the name of Cabanatuan. At this point in time, the Japanese have already seized this island from the Philippines who are the original inhabitants, and are using it as a place to both contain prisoners and engage in military strategy. This target area is located in a part of the overall landscape that is bare of plants or other natural materials that might make spotting the prisoners difficult. This is both advantageous and disadvantageous as it will offer little cover or shelter during the operation.

Time Available to Complete Action: Urgent

Lieutenant General Walter Krueger had long received word of the extreme inhuman treatment of allied prisoners. There is a strong belief that the Japanese will murder the remaining POW as means of warding off additional allied soldiers. There isn’t a moment to lose. Once the plan is formed and soldiers have been briefed and prepped its time to initiate. Planning should be done within half of a day or less, preparation should also complete within half of a day or less, and the entire operation should be completed successfully within two hours.

Terrain

This part of the countryside is exceedingly flat, largely because of the Japanese’s effort to clear out all plant life so that all potential raids might be seen from a mile away and to also prevent prisoner escapes.

Visibility

There will be a full moon on the day of the potential raid and there will only be one solid hour of total darkness: this is the time when the sun has moved below the horizon and the moon has not yet risen to full height. There is likely to be a full or mostly full moon on the planned night, which will mean that the strategy of the attack should be particular.

Weather

There are no expected deviations from the standard jungle type weather that is typical to the region this time of year. The sun will rise around 5:55am and set around 8:45pm.

Movement Rates: Speed and Security

The successful implementation of this action depends on harnessing the utmost speed.

Anticipated Movement Rates

The soldiers will need to leave Platero and arrive 700 yards from camp, having crossed the Pampanga River, no later than 45 minutes later. At this point the soldiers can safely wait for that complete hour of darkness once the sun is below the horizon and the moon hasn’t risen yet. A half hour before this movement, the selected aircraft, chosen to be a diversion for the Japanese needs to begin circling the island, engaging in a display of aeronautics: this needs to occur for as long as it takes for the soldiers to totally advance the camp and commence the raid: a minimum of two and half hours: from 18:00 to 21:00 minimum. While the plane is engaging in this spectacular diversion, one of the leaders needs to cut the phone lines in the camp.

Rangers & former POWs and 6th Army: Movement

The former POWs will probably be so disoriented, malnourished and traumatized, that they most likely won’t be of any help in countering the Japanese. The most we can hope for is that they cooperate fully and swiftly.

Ideal Time to Initiate Action

The ideal time to initiate action would be in that solid hour of total darkness when visibility is at its lowest as the moon has not yet risen fully. Soldiers need to rush the camp as much as possible in total silence with absolute discretion. This should occur at 9:00pm. Once the moon has fully risen, using a distraction such as an aircraft flying overhead will allow the soldiers to rush the camp with greater success.

Role of Civilians and Guerillas

Civilians and guerilla forces can play a valuable role to the success of this raid. Civilians nearby such as native Filipinos can do their best to quietly inform the Prisoners of War that a rescue is imminent and to be prepared. This can be done by discreet messaging the POWs in the camps, letting them know through secret messages they can trust, that a raid is coming.

Guerrilla Forces

Guerilla forces local to the area can be harnessed in their numbers to aid in the attack. It’s definitely worthwhile to meet with them, share intelligence and intentions. Guerilla Forces in the area offer potential for strengthening our own attack and making it even...

It’s also possible the Guerilla forces in the area have knowledge of the situation that we don’t and can offer valuable insight into weaknesses or habits of the Japanese within this camp that we’re not already aware of. Guerilla forces can act as a blockade from the collectives of Japanese forces near the camp.
Role of Aircraft

Aircraft offers much potential for aiding in the success of the raid. A single lone aircraft would be useful in providing a distraction for the Japanese so that soldiers can continue their steady advance upon the beach. The aircraft could pretend to be crashing or engaged in some other struggle that would definitively give the Japanese cause for concern. This would allow our soldiers the opportunity to fully advance upon the beach, unseen and unbeknownst to the Japanese, until they were under siege and confused.

#2 PROBLEM STATEMENT: METT-TCC

Mucci’s problem is distinct. The mission has distinct maneuver objectives: to free the prisoner’s of war while taking complete control of the camp, and forcing the Japanese militia located there to surrender. Coverage and counter fire should be expected from the Japanese when the mission is in full swing and the raid of the camp has commenced. In terms of enemy: this biggest threat to them is a surprise attack. There were 250 Japanese guards securing the camp. Over 500 soldiers are held prisoner and over 120 rangers are engaging in the raid, with the help of around 80 or so guerilla forces to act as guides. The temperature and humidity will be warm and humid as it typically is, with no rainfall and illumination from the moon. The troops are half the size in numbers the Japanese guards they have to overcome: 120 to 250. The general morale of the unit is strong, though this is a daunting task. This task is particularly daunting as there are ten thousand Japanese troops located nearby to defend the camp just in case something like this were to occur. However, Philippine guerilla forces volunteered to screen the flanks of the raiding force counter to Japanese reactions.

The terrain is flat and free of vegetation, meaning once the raid commences, all members of the unit will be quite exposed and in order to approach the camp will have to cross a full kilometer of open ground (Rottman, 2012, 22). In terms of time, the raid had to occur at dusk, with the bulk of the invasion occurring during the one hour of complete darkness. In regards to civilian casualties, this is not a big concern, given the isolation of the island.

#3 MISSION STATEMENT

According to the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, a raid is defined as. “An operation to temporarily seize an area in order to secure information, confuse an adversary, capture personnel or equipment, or to destroy a capability. It ends with a planned withdrawal upon completion of the assigned mission (JP 3-0).” Likewise, this same dictionary defines the verb “to secure” as: “In an operational context, to gain possession of a position or terrain feature, with or without force, and to make such disposition as will prevent, as far as possible, its destruction or loss by enemy action. See also denial measure.” Finally, this particular dictionary doesn’t have a specific definition for “to liberate” however, they do have a definition for “liberated territory” which is described as, “Any area, domestic, neutral, or friendly, which, having been occupied by an enemy, is retaken by friendly forces.” Hence, from this definition, one can infer that that to liberate means to retake something or someone via friendly forces that was formerly in the grip of an enemy. Upon scrutiny of all of these definitions, the verb “to raid” really is the most fitting one to describe the events at Cabanatuan.

#4 PURPOSE AND TASK

The Filipino citizens provided protection in the form of food, water and transport in the villages along the path to safety and freedom of American lines (TASK). This contribution was needed because it was a 30 mile journey and many of the freed prisoners of war were too weak to walk it on their own: Filipino citizens provided caribou carts to transports the soldiers too weak to walk (PURPOSE). This occurred after the raid had been successful and prisoners were officially freed from the camp (SYNCH). The Filipino Guerillas were responsible for much of…