By Matthew Ilseman
When we think of paratroopers in World War II, we tend to think 101st Airborne in Europe. However, there were other airborne units including the 11th Airborne which fought in the Pacific. Angels against the Sun by James M. Fenelon is their story.
I first heard of the 11th Airborne in the Wikipedia article on Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling. It was Serling’s unit. The episodes “The Purple Testament” and “Quality of Mercy” are based on his experience during war. He would leave the war with a wounded knee and mental scars that would trouble him for the rest of his life.
The 11th was the brain child of General Joseph Swing. It was set up as an elite unit. They went through intensive training. It had one parachute regiment and two glider regiments. The idea was for them to land behind enemy lines and cause havoc. As such they were to some degree a precursor to special operations units. However, they seemed to have been used mostly as normal troops.
After their training, which took some time, they were assigned to fight in the Philippines. The Philippines was a frontier realm that was taken from Spain by the US in the Spanish American War. There would later be an insurrection that we would, quite brutally, put down. Eventually, it became a conquest of Imperial Japan.
The troops would also have to deal with disease and primitive conditions. Dysentry and malaria were common. Some troops apparently expected a tropical paradise but what they found was a harsh jungle.
Since the 11th were not immediately sent into combat the troops at first often suffered boredom alongside other privations. This was alleviated by football games and boxing matches. Another pastime seems to have been bootlegging. Inventive troops came up with makeshift stills.
Any one has read my review of With the Old Breed, by Eugene Sledge knows that fighting in the Pacific was horrible even by the standards of war. The experience was no different for the 11th. The Japanese usually fought to the death. The American troops were happy to oblige them. Even those who did surrender were sometimes simply executed in retaliation to atrocities against the Americans and the Filipinos. The taking of teeth as souvenirs that was depicted in With the Old Breed was not unknown among the troops of the 11th.
The American forces worked with and sometimes supplemented by Filipino guerrillas. Often they fought alongside American forces. Ad hoc units that included paratroopers, guerrillas, and other members of the military were often used in operations. By most accounts, these guerrillas were brave and fierce fighters. They would help reinforce the 11th after the division suffered heavy casualties.
Interestingly, the Japanese had their own Filipino auxiliaries. They are dealt with only sparingly in the book. They seem to have aided in various massacres of their own country men. When captured by pro-American guerrillas they were often killed in horrible ways. Hanging was the least of them.
There was much similarity with other frontier conflicts since the Filipinos served as scouts. There were, of course, differences. Air power was used as often. Swing often used artillery to devastating effect. On the other side, the Japanese who modified anti-aircraft guns to use against land troops in the Battle for Manila.
One of the more notable operations was the rescue of the inhabitants of a Japanese prison camp. These were foreign civilians mostly who had made a living in the Philippines that had been caught up in the war. Quite often they were Christian missionaries. Fearing that, with the advance of American troops, they would be either evacuated to Japan or outright massacred Swing authorized a rescue mission.
The mission was a spectacular success except that because Filipinos assisted in the operation the Japanese retaliate with massacres of the local population.
Eventually, the Philippines were taken. The 11th expected to be used in the invasion of Japan. Obviously, that did not happen, though they would be station there after the war.
Angles against the Sun is not quite as gripping as With the Old Breed. This is because it is not a personal account like Sledge’s. That said it is no dry recital of facts either. Fenelon is a good writer and he makes clear what the men of the division went through. It also shines a spotlight on area of World War II often overlooked. I would highly recommend it.
Rick+Schwertfeger says
It was mighty tough duty in the Pacific. My godfather Paul Hahn, a German immigrant to the U.S. from the Free City of Danzig – now Gdansk, Poland – was a U.S. Army infantryman who fought gallantly on one of the Pacific Islands early in the war. He took out a Japanese machine gun nest single-handedly. But the lower left part of his jaw was shot away during his attack. He survived, and had 50 operations as U.S. surgeons rebuilt his jaw, improving their plastic surgery techniques and skills as they worked. He and my Dad were good friends, and my Dad asked Paul to be my godfather when I was born. I’ve always been honored; and keep his memory alive.
JimC says
Tough man.
Matthew says
Everything I ever read about it makes it sound hellish.
GAH says
Thanks for the book recommendation, the Rod Serling connection is interesting… Also last year I picked up the book “Rock Force” (Kevin Maurer, 2020), which was a good read that was concerned with the 503rd Parachute Infantry regiment that jumped on Corregidor during liberation of the Philippines…
Patrick K O’Donnell also covered some of the airborne divisions (and independent parachute regiments) in his early book “Into the Rising Sun”… GAH
Matthew says
You’re welcome.
Ugly Hombre says
Great review and heads up, did not know about the 11 Airborne or the book. Thanks Matthew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2kLAyW2_Y8
I was in Manila 30 some years after the battle when R.P./U.S. forces went back in. You could still see some of the scars in the old section of the city from “The Battle Of Manila” where it seems the 11th played a major part.
https://i2.wp.com/warfarehistorynetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/Guerrilla-War-on-Luzon-During-World-War-II-5.jpg?ssl=1
My F.I.L was a Partisan fighting against the Japanese in the Baguio area after he got out of the Camp O’Donnel prison camp. He did not talk much, but there was no holding back on either side- from the little that he would tell.
Thanks again for the tip on “Angels against the sun”.
Keep um’ coming!
Matthew says
The book deals a lot with the Battle of Manila. It was interesting, and from the description hellish, battle. I think you would enjoy the book.
Craig P Davis says
My dad was an original ‘Angel’ with the 11th AB Div (1943)
Specifically he was w/ H Co 511th PIR. Word was to qualify
for the 511th PIR you needed a 110 IQ or higher. My dad was
WIA outside of Manila in Feb ’45. By formal surrender he was
enrolled in college. He completed a 4yr Animal Husbandry BS
in less than 3yrs, farmed for 5 yrs, earned a Vo-Ag teach credential,
taught high school Ag for 13 yrs before becoming a
vocational Ag-Ed specialist for CA. He retired in ’86 with a
PhD and a titanium plate in his skull from that Manila battle.
Maybe there was something to that 110+ IQ requirement
for the 511th. Pop was bright, humble, quiet, and tough!
I very much enjoyed ‘Angels Against the Sun’. Considering
the author didn’t get the chance to meet & chat-up many
11th AB troopers I’m sure he nailed their personnas. I
didn’t get to know many of them except my dad. They were
in their 70s by the time I got to meet them at reunions
with my folks. A rowdy crew they were then so I can imagine
how they were as cocky 19-20 year old paratroopers in the
1940s.
The Los Banos Raid rescue was the most successful
operation of its’ kind in US military history. Over 2100
mostly US civilians rescued w/out harm to CPOWS.
It happened on the same day as the hoisting of the
famous flag over Mt Suribachi on Iwo Jima and received
less media. The Pacific Theater reporters were pretty
much on board the ships surrounding Iwo Jima at the time
or maybe more people would be familiar with these 11th
Angels. Still, James Fenelon did a great job with Angels
Against the Sun!
JimC says
Thank you for sharing this. A salute to your dad…
william johnson says
I don’t know if Fenelon spoke with any survivors while writing “Angels against the Sun”, but I know he did for his 1st book “Four hours of Fury”. Which covered Opn Varsity in the European theatre. He also accessed original maps and after action reports; then went to Germany to walk the terrain that the fire fights occurred on. I highly recommend the book.
Full disclosure, Fenelon was one of my soldiers when I was 1SG for a Long Range Surveillance Det. While I never doubted his skill as a paratrooper, I am still greatly impressed by his skill as a historian and author.
All the way