Word: vigan
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...second week. Close to his air bases, he had poured inferior aircraft south to Luzon, and by numbers taken a toll of better U.S. planes. He had also established three Luzon beachheads, apparently with airdromes: at Legaspi, Aparri, Vigan. Then he opened the battle's second phase...
Down from Vigan pushed another Jap column. Armored cars met it on the roads, whirled through a dizzying skirmish, shellacked the Jap. Some of them took to the trees, were shot down by U.S. soldiers. From the fringe of the gulf black columns of smoke rose. The U.S. Army had burned its gasoline dumps. It fell back in orderly fashion through villages where the Filipino civilians cheered and showed the "V" with their fingers. The Jap threw an armored spearhead east toward the islands' summer capital at Baguio. U.S. forces withdrew to save damage to the Philippines' most...
Therefore canny Douglas MacArthur had committed only a small part of his force to battle on the big island of Luzon. The battles at Legaspi, Aparri and Vigan, where the Japanese had set up beachheads, had been predominantly Air Force shows. The Japanese had grabbed these beachheads apparently to set up airdromes, and they had succeeded, though with heavy losses to men, transports and naval support. General MacArthur still kept a hard core of resistance centered around Manila...