World War 2 in Leyte: Japs retaliate, vent their ire on Balderian's parents

In response to all these guerrilla offensives, the Japanese tried enlisting the surrendered USAFFE in its pacification campaign and espionage activities. The so-called Leyte Special Force was organized, comprising about 180 USAFFE men. This was headed by Lt. Col Juan Causing who was assisted by other surrendered officers. They were released and commissioned to help maintain law and order in occupied areas, with a stern warning that they were still under surveillance. Special detachments were placed in Tacloban, Alangalang, Sta. Fe and Barugo.

To supplement the Special Force, the new rulers also set up the Home Guards patterned after the ones organized before they came. The first to be set up was in Burauen in August 16, 1942. Its members were to spy on suspected persons in the town.

But according to some former members, neither the Home Guards nor the Special Force materially strengthened the position of the Japanese in Leyte. Instead they succeeded only in making the guerillas and their supporters more cautious. Save for a few who betrayed their countrymen, “most of these auxiliaries went about their assignments in purely perfunctory fashion.”[i]

Sgt. Martinito Bao said the Japanese Kempei Tai never fully trusted them and looked upon them with contempt. Col. Omori, head of the Kempei Tai unit in Tacloban, often brandished his sword menacingly when addressing them. The Special force was disbanded after Lt. Col. Juan Causing joined Kangleon in 1943.[ii]

Even with the Special Force and Home Guards, the guerilla attacks did not let up. In the eastern part of the island, Lt. Alejandro Balderian again unleashed a series of attacks against Japanese troops and garrisons in October and November, 1942, prompting brutal retaliations from the harassed Japanese. On October 3, he and his group ambushed 18 Japanese and five members of the Bureau of Constabulary (BC) at Taltal, Burauen. The Japanese were reportedly on their way to attack Balderian’s headquarters. Twelve Japanese and two BCs were killed and the rest were wounded.

On October 25, his group again waylaid the Japanese at the junction of the road going to Pastrana from Dagami, killing eight and wounding five. Not content with ambuscades, he took a more aggressive stance, this time laying siege to Japanese garrisons for days at a time. On November 4, he started a 14-day siege of the Japanese garrison in Burauen. Some 66 Japanese and 11 BCs were killed, while Balderian lost only four riflemen and two bolo men. The complete annihilation of the camp was prevented only by the timely arrival of Japanese reinforcements.

Two weeks later, on November 19, Balderian again led his group of 155 riflemen against 56 Japanese and 18 puppet policemen at the Dagami garrison, his hometown. After six days of fighting, only one Japanese and five policemen escaped. The rest were killed. Only four of Balderian’s men were slain.[iii]

So incensed were the Japanese that they retaliated savagely. They caught his parents, tied them to a horse and dragged them around town until they died. Some witnesses claimed that they were beheaded. They also captured his pregnant wife and brought her to a prison camp in Tacloban where she gave birth to a baby boy. Balderian never saw the boy because when the guerillas rescued her wife, they could not find the baby.[iv]

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