"The Hukbalahap Rebellion in the Philippines" Topic

"Between 1946 and 1952, the government of the Philippines fought against a tenacious foe called the Hukbalahap or Huk (pronounced roughly like "hook"). The guerrilla army got its name from a contraction of the Tagalog phrase Hukbo ng Bayan Balan sa Hapon, meaning "Anti-Japanese Army." Many of the guerrilla fighters had fought as insurgents against the Japanese occupation of the Philippines between 1941 and 1945. Some were even survivors of the Bataan Death March who managed to escape their captors…."
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Amicalement
Armand

The Huks were a Communist insurgency backed by Russia, but which was apparently not nearly so well managed as other Southeast Asian models (e.g. Viet Minh).

My uncle fought against them and told me of the Russian advisors who were captured, but which the US Government did not want to be public. Similarly, during the Korean War, the active participation of Russian fighters and pilots was denied for years afterward.

TVAG

You are right my friend.

Amicalement
Armand

Yes, that is what I had read/heard TVAG.

Your Uncle was in the PI military ? US Advisor/CIA ? Or ?

He was part of the Philippine Scouts and had fought the Japanese on Luzon from the US invasion to the end of the war prior to that.

He was a Greek-American from Texas!

He had a remarkable collection of photos and artifacts, now I fear all lost….

TVAG

Wow ! That is a really interesting ! The Philippine Scouts did quit a job on the IJFs.

May he Rest In Peace, he must be in Heaven, as He served his time in Hell …

Well said, Legion 4.

Thanks for the thought.

I hate to interrupt cold war paranoia , but I think you will find that the reasons for the rebellion pre dates WW2 and was partly as a result to the peasants protesting in organised political groups against changes to the tenancy system.
In 1945 despite their involvement in resistance against the Japanese, the US supported junta started to harass the huks and create the fiction that they were a threat which led to the massacre of squadron 77 where 100+ resistance fighters were murdered by government forces and the refusal to let Huk elected congressmen into their assembly were all a back drop to the continuing revolt.
In some ways the Huks were more like Luddites fighting for a way of life that was slowly disappearing and is doubtful had any realistic chance of success
It would be interesting to know how in the 1940's the Russians would have had any advisers experienced in Jungle Warfare, the Chinese of course would be a different matter.

Cold War paranoia ? There was a lot of that going on after WWII …

Rebellions and conflicts pre dating WWII … There was a lot of that going on before WWII …

True, I would agree with you Legion 4, but you can't label every political movement communist just because it opposes a US ally, especially a country which is re known to have a very low tolerance for any opposition. The communists certainly tried to jump on the bandwagon but were not at the root of the problem which pre dates the Cold War.

No of course not … many political movements were not communist, socialists, etc. But during WWII, there were both communists and nationalists partisans/guerillas/insurgents in many nations, e.g. France, Italy, China, Yugoslavia, the PI, etc. And in many cases fought against one another, as well as the Nazis, and IJFs, etc.

And yes, leadership, land reform, etc., etc., were some of the reasons for problems, conflicts, etc., before and after WWII. And the communists tried and did have a hand in it. And in some cases were successful.

Albeit, I served in the US ARMY, during the Cold War, '79-'90, so I may be a little biased when it comes to communists …

What surprises me, is that if this was a pivotal moment in Philippine history there seems to be very few(if any) books, apart from academic papers on this conflict?This includes even in the Philippines where it tend to be a foot note in General histories.
I have a Philippine relative who served in their military in the 1980's period who had a signed copy of a booklet on the military side, I think this might still be on Amazon. He had no memories of the conflict as he came from the southern Islands.

BTW, I've checked several sites on "international missions" where Russian advisers and forces took part. It is an extensive list, but there's no Philippines there. Indeed, in 40s Soviet Union will have no jungle warfare experience, and Huks had plenty of it.
They knew how to fight Japanese for years, it was just that they saw others of being not much better than Japanese.
I've seen an essay by one of our historians, in which he claims that in pre-Fulton times there was a kind of agreement between Stalin and Churchill – Churchill sent cossaks, who escaped Red Army into Western occupation zone, back to uncle Joe and closed his eyes on Poland, and in return Stalin allowed UK to suppress communists in Greece, providing them no support at all…

He had no memories of the conflict as he came from the southern Islands.

E.g. many in the USA know little to nothing about most conflicts and/or our history in general. It's down right amazing when someone from the media, etc., asks the most basic/simple question about American history. And gets a ridiculous to no answer.

Of course most of these are younger, certainly below 40 or 50 or generally much younger. Many are "college" age … It's quite distressing to me. As these are our future leaders. But we all know what happens if you don't understand your past … your history …

I've checked several sites on "international missions" where Russian advisers and forces took part. It is an extensive list, but there's no Philippines there. Indeed, in 40s Soviet Union will have no jungle warfare experience, and Huks had plenty of it.

Yes, that makes sense, but some of the locals may have chosen/gone along with Communist dogma, etc. Regardless of Russian or even Communist Chinese being there on the ground.

And yes, the USSR fought the IJFs but never in the jungle AFAIK. In the Mongolia region, before and in the later months of WWII in the PTO. Plus some islands north of the Japanese Mainland in late WWII. But there was no real jungle terrain in either of those locations AFAIK.

I've checked several sites on "international missions" where Russian advisers and forces took part.

Of course many Gov'ts don't release all information about intel, Spec Ops, etc., it remains classified, etc. And I'm not just referring to the USSR/Russia, but most certainly the USA, UK, etc., as well … For a variety of reasons …