‘Abucay Line’ in Bataan held, recreated WWII battle shows

BATAAN, Philippines—As the sun gleamed off the blade of his Gunto, the Japanese captain looked left and then right at the troops poised to charge the wire before them. Shells screamed above them toward the enemy line. With the first explosions, he raised the sword and screamed: “Tenno heika!”

The troops screamed “Banzai!” and made the short headlong rush into the barbed wire defenses. The joint Philippine-American forces quickly recovered and were soon firing into the advancing Japanese. Allied soldiers who had fallen in the initial rush were carried off by their comrades to waiting jeeps.

The first Japanese troops to make it to the wire collapsed on it and died there, becoming the bridge for their comrades to rush over.

Whistles blew from Philippine Army officers, bayonets were fixed and an attack was launched to rid the lines of the surviving invaders. The Philippine Scouts and Army troops brought forward in jeeps to the front lines jumped the sandbagged wall and rushed into the Japanese lines, stabilizing the front and saving the day in a short but violent battle.

And then from somewhere came applause.

The audience had just witnessed the first-ever period-authentic reenactment of the Battle of Abucay Line (in Bataan) staged as part of the recent jeep jamboree sponsored by the Military Vehicle Collectors Club of the Philippines (MVCCP) and hosted by MD Juan Enterprises. The battlefield was the old 26th Cavalry parade ground at Fort Stotsenburg, Clark Field, Pampanga.

On the invitation of Rommel Juan, reenactors from the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society (Fort McKinley and Fort Stotsenburg chapters), Buhay na Kasaysayan (Living History) and the Asia WW2 Airsoft Group represented US Army, Philippine Scouts, Philippine Army and Japanese Imperial Army troops in period-authentic uniforms, field gear, replica weapons and military jeeps.

For authenticity (blank fire weapons are not legal in the Philippines), pyrotechnics were used to replicate gunfire and artillery along with a soundtrack describing the battle as it unfolded.

After having rushed the Japanese line and assembling at the staging area behind the parade ground, the reenactors had one question: “When do we do this again?”