Rescue from Hell: The Daring 30-Mile Mission To Save 500 Doomed Prisoners

This is the story of the Great Raid on Cabanatuan – a pulse-pounding tale of courage against overwhelming odds, where the clock was ticking, and failure meant certain death for everyone involved. What happened on that fateful night of January 30, 1945, would become legend – a mission so audacious that even Hollywood couldn't have scripted it better.

Episode Transcript

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You are now listening to World War Two stories.
I'm your host, Steve Matthews. Today we plunge into one of the
most harrowing and heart stopping rescue missions ever
attempted in military history. Imagine this, 500 Allied
prisoners starved, diseased and awaiting execution, trapped 30

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miles behind enemy lines. Outside their prison walls,
thousands of Japanese troops stand ready to slaughter them at
a moment's notice. Their only hope a small band of
Rangers and Filipino guerrillas willing to attempt the
impossible. This is the story of the great
raid on Kabanat. 1A Pulse pounding tale of courage against

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overwhelming odds where the clock was ticking and failure
meant certain death for everyoneinvolved.
What happened on that fateful night of January 30th, 1945
would become legend, a mission so audacious that even Hollywood
couldn't have scripted it better.
The death sentence. It's late 1944.

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General Douglas MacArthur's forces are storming toward Luzon
in the Philippines, fulfilling his famous promise.
I shall return. But as Allied troops push
forward, the chilling piece of intelligence lands on commanders
desks. The Japanese high command has
issued what they coldly term a kill all policy.
This wasn't some vague threat orwartime rumor.

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In December 1944, on the island of Palawan, Japanese guards
herded 139 American PO WS into crude air raid shelters, doused
them with gasoline and set them ablaze.
Those who somehow escaped the inferno were gunned down as they
fled. Only a handful survived by
swimming out to sea or hiding under rocks, playing dead among

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their charred comrades. The message couldn't have been
clearer. The Japanese would execute every
prisoner rather than allow a single one to be liberated. 30
miles behind Japanese lines, surrounded by enemy forces, lay
Kabanapuan Prison camp. Inside it's barbed wire fences,
511 Allied prisoners waited, unknowing as their execution

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date drew nearer with each passing hour.
These men weren't just any PO WS, they were The Walking ghosts
of the infamous Bataan Death March, men who had somehow
survived 3 years of hell on earth.
To grasp the full horror of their situation, we need to
travel back to April 1942. After the fall of Bataan.

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Approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced
to March 65 miles through the scorching tropical heat.
Japanese guards offered almost no food or water.
Any prisoner who collapsed from exhaustion was bayonet on the
spot. Those desperate enough to break
ranks for a sip from roadside streams were shot through the

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head while their mouths were still in the water.
Beheadings were common. Men were buried alive.
Thousands died along that nightmarish journey, their
bodies left to rot in ditches under the merciless Philippine
sun. By January 1945, the survivors
at Kabanat Wan we're barely recognizable as human beings.

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Their bodies were ravaged by malaria, Berry Berry and
dysentery. Skin hung from their frames like
loose clothing. Their daily meal consisted of a
meter cup of wormy rice, sometimes with a few rotten
vegetables thrown in. Most had lost half their body
weight. Men in their 20s and 30s now

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resembled feeble 80 year olds, hobbling on makeshift crutches
or unable to rise from their bamboo sleeping platforms.
Medical supplies were virtually non existent.
Wounds were dressed with strips of filthy clothing, surgeries
performed with rusty instruments, and no anesthesia.
These living corpses had somehowendured nearly three years of

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this existence, clinging to lifethrough a combination of
stubborn will in the fading hopethat someone, someday might come
for them. When intelligence about the
Palawan massacre reached Lieutenant General Walter
Kruger, commander of the 6th Army, he knew the clock was
ticking. Those prisoners didn't have
weeks or months. They might not even have days.

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With MacArthur's swift blessing,he ordered what many considered
a suicide mission. The prisoners were trapped 30
miles deep in enemy territory, surrounded by over 1000 Japanese
troops at the camp itself. Worse still, another 5000 to
8000 Japanese reinforcements were stationed within a few

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miles, including a tank battalion that could be
mobilized within minutes of an alarm.
For MacArthur, this wasn't just a military operation.
It was deeply personal. His forced departure from the
Philippines in 1942 had haunted him for three years.
He saw rescuing these PO WS as asacred obligation to the man

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he'd been forced to leave behind.
When briefed on the seemingly impossible odds, MacArthur
didn't hesitate. Get those men out.
If Krueger says it can be done, let him try.
The suicide mission fell to the 6th Ranger Battalion, led by
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Moochie.
Even by Ranger standards, this operation seemed beyond

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impossible. They would need to infiltrate 30
miles behind enemy lines, remainundetected while approaching A
heavily guarded camp, neutralizeall guards without alerting
nearby forces, extract hundreds of prisoners too weak to walk,
and then somehow escort the slowmoving column of invalids back
through enemy territory before being overrun by thousands of

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Japanese troops. The Raiders.
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Moochiewas not a man familiar with the
word impossible. At 34, the compact West Point
graduate had forged the 6th Ranger Battalion into what many
considered the most lethal fighting unit in the Pacific
through brutal training regiments that pushed men beyond

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their breaking points. Standing just five feet 8
inches, what Moochie lacked in height he made-up for in sheer
force of personality. His swagger and absolute
confidence earned him the nickname Little MacArthur among
his men, who would follow him straight into the jaws of hell
without question. When handed the Kabanagwan

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mission a virtual death sentenceby conventional military
thinking, Muchi simply nodded and said with unnerving
certainty. I've been preparing for this my
whole life. Captain Robert Prince was the
tactical mastermind tasked with figuring out how to pull off the
impossible. At 29, Prince had a cool,
analytical mind that approached seemingly insurmountable

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problems with calculating precision.
A graduate of the University of Washington's engineering
program, he saw the world as a series of obstacles that could
be overcome with proper planningand execution.
While others saw only chaos and danger, Prince could visualize
order and opportunity. In the days before the raid, he

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became obsessed with every detail, spending sleepless
nights pouring over grainy aerial photographs,
interrogating Filipino informants about guard
rotations, and mentally walking through every conceivable
scenario where the mission couldgo catastrophically wrong.
His final plan was a masterpieceof military precision, a

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synchronized ballet of violence that would need to be executed
with split second timing. If even one element failed,
everyone would die. Captain Juan Pagoda was a
Filipino warrior whose very existence the Japanese had
placed a bounty on. When American forces surrendered
in 1942, Pajota made a differentchoice.

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He melted into the jungle and began A relentless guerrilla
campaign against the occupiers. By 1945, he commanded a shadow
army of 250 fighters who moved like ghosts through terrain they
knew as intimately as their own bodies.
His network of spies extended into every village, providing
real time intelligence on Japanese movements that seemed

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almost supernatural in its accuracy.
While American commanders initially viewed Pajota as
merely a useful local asset, they would soon discover that
this fierce Filipino fighter might be the only thing standing
between the Rangers in total annihilation.
His contribution to the raid cannot be overstated.
When Pajota spoke, even the headstrong Moochie learned to

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listen because in this deadly game, the Filipino commander had
already survived 3 years withoutmaking a single fatal mistake.
The Alamo Scouts were the shadows that moved where other
soldiers feared to tread. This elite reconnaissance unit,
personally established by General Krueger, operated in the
deadly no man's land behind Japanese lines where discovery

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meant certain torture and death.Selected through a brutal
training program with an 80% washout rate, these men were
masters of stealth, intelligencegathering and silent killing.
For the Kabanapuan mission. Two teams of Alamo Scouts
slipped past Japanese patrols days before the main force,

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becoming virtually invisible as they meticulously mapped every
approach to the camp, counted guards and recorded their
rotation schedules, identified machine gun positions, and
memorize the layout of barracks and guard towers.
They observed through high-powered scopes from
concealed positions, sometimes lying motionless for hours just

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yards from Japanese centuries. One wrong move, 1 snap twig, one
cough, and not only would they die, but the entire rescue
mission would be compromised before it began.
The Planning Challenges Planningthe Kabanakwan raid presented a
series of daunting challenges. First was the matter of

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distance. The camp was approximately 30
miles behind enemy lines, too far for vehicles, but a grueling
March for troops who would need to conserve energy for the
actual raid. The second challenge was the
condition of the prisoners. Intelligence suggested many were
unable to walk, meaning the rescue force would need to

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prepare for carrying hundreds ofmen.
This would slow their withdrawalsignificantly, extending their
vulnerability to counter attack.Third was the overwhelming
Japanese presence in the area. The camp itself was guarded by
approximately 220 soldiers, but within a few miles were
thousands more, including a tankbattalion.

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Any alarm would bring reinforcements quickly. 4th was
the terrain. The approach to the camp crossed
open ground with little cover. The final approach would require
crawling through knight grass, apainful process that would slow
the advance and risk detection. Finally, there was the problem
of timing. The mission needed to happen at

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night for concealment, but not so late that the withdrawal
would still be in progress at dawn.
Captain Prince's plan addressed these challenges methodically.
Rangers would travel light, carrying only essential weapons
and medical supplies. Local guerrillas would provide
Carbaugh water Buffalo carts to transport prisoners who couldn't

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walk. The attack would come at dusk,
allowing enough darkness for theapproach but maximum time for
withdrawal before sunrise. The original plan called for the
raid to occur on January 29th, 1945.
However, Captain Pajota receivedintelligence that a Japanese
division would be passing near the camp that evening.

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He insisted the raid be delayed by 24 hours, arguing that
attempting it on the 29th would be suicidal.
This caused tension with Mucci, who is eager to proceed, but
Pajota stood firm. Eventually, Mucci agreed to the
delay, a decision that likely saved the entire mission as the
Japanese division indeed passed through the area.

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As Pajota had warned, this moment highlighted the
importance of the American Filipino partnership.
Had Muchi ignored Pajota's advice and proceeded as
originally planned, the Rangers would likely have encountered
over 5000 Japanese troops in transit.
Instead, by respecting Pajota's intelligence and local

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knowledge, the mission gained a much higher chance of success.
The execution Infiltration. As dusk fell on January 30th,
1945, the operation began. The rescue force consisted of
121 Rangers, 14 Alamo Scouts andapproximately 250 Filipino

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guerrillas. They had spent the previous day
resting at Plutero, A guerrilla controlled village where final
preparations were made. The approach to the camp
required crossing the Kabul River and then traversing
several miles of open terrain toavoid detection.
The men crawled on their stomachs through Canai grass for

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hours, a painful process as the sharp grass cut into hands,
faces, and any exposed skin. 1 Ranger later described it as
crawling through shattered glass.
Local support was crucial duringthis phase.
Filipino civilians muzzle their dogs to prevent barking that
might alert Japanese patrols. Others deliberately created

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diversions to draw Japanese attention away from the
approaching rescue force. Women and children served as
lookouts, using a system of handsignals to warn of enemy
movements. By late afternoon, the force had
reached their jump off positions.
Prince divided his Rangers into two groups.
One would attack the front of the camp while the other would

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assault from the rear. Pajotas guerrillas established
blocking positions at the Kabul River bridge to prevent Japanese
reinforcements from reaching thecamp during the raid.
Another guerrilla group under Captain Eduardo Josen set up a
similar roadblock to the South. As they waited for darkness,
final reconnaissance reports came in from the Alamo Scouts.

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The camp held slightly more prisoners than expected, 512
rather than 511, and guard positions were confirmed.
The terrain around the camp was flatter and more exposed than
aerial photographs had suggested, increasing the risk
of detection during the approach.
The execution Diversions in assault.

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As darkness fell, the diversionary tactics began.
AP61 Black Widow night fighter piloted by Captain Kenneth
Schreiber and 1st Lieutenant Bonnie Rocks approached the
camp. For 15 minutes, the aircraft
performed dramatic dives, climbsand tight turns over the camp.

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The guards, fascinated by the aerial display, were drawn out
of their pill boxes to watch exactly as planned.
More importantly, the aircraft'sengine noise masked the sounds
of Rangers approaching through the grass.
At precisely 1940 hours, Prince fired the signal shot around
from his .45 caliber pistol. The assault began with

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devastating precision. Rangers armed with Browning
automatic rifles targeted the guard towers while others used
grenades to destroy pill boxes. Within 30 seconds, most of the
camps defenses had been neutralized.
The rear assault team simultaneously cut through the
fence and entered the camp from behind, creating confusion among

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the Japanese defenders, who now faced attack from multiple
directions. The surprise was complete.
Many guards were killed before they could reach their weapons.
Inside the camp, prisoners initially thought the commotion
signaled their execution. Many hid under beds or in
latrines. When Rangers entered the

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barracks shouting We're Americans, the reaction was
mixed. Some prisoners cheered, while
others remained skeptical, believing it might be a Japanese
trick. One Ranger later recalled the
prisoner responding. Yeah, and I'm Marlena Dietrich.
Reflecting the prisoner's disbelief at their sudden
rescue. The Rangers had been briefed on

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the potentially dire condition of the prisoners, but we're
still shocked by what they found.
Many PO WS were so emaciated they could barely stand.
Some had to be physically carried from their beds.
Others, despite their weakness, insisted on walking out under
their own power, a matter of pride after years of brutal

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captivity. Meanwhile, outside the camp,
Pajoda's guerrillas had established their blocking
position at the Kabul River Bridge.
Their timing was impeccable. Shortly after the raid began, a
Japanese column including several tanks attempted to cross
the bridge to reinforce the camp.
Using improvised explosives and well placed machine guns, the

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guerrillas held off this vastly superior force, preventing them
from reaching the camp during the critical evacuation phase.
The execution evacuation. The evacuation presented the
most logistically challenging phase of the operation.
Many prisoners were unable to walk the 30 miles back to Allied

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lines. Some had to be carried on
improvised stretchers made from blankets and poles.
Others were placed on carabao carts provided by local
villagers. The Rangers have prepared for
this, bringing medical supplies and assigning men specifically
to assist the weakest prisoners.Still, the evacuation proceeded

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more slowly than planned. What had been envisioned as a 2
hour process stretched to nearly4 as the column of rescuers and
rescued moved E toward Allied lines.
They relied heavily on Pajota's guerrillas, who continued to
hold the Kabul River crossing against repeated Japanese
attempts to breakthrough. This blocking action was perhaps

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the most conventionally heroic aspect of the raid, a smaller
force holding off armored vehicles and hundreds of
infantry through disciplined fire and tactical positioning.
By midnight, the evacuation was complete, but the rescued group
still faced a long journey to safety.
Local villagers continue to provide assistance, offering

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additional carts, food, and water.
Some even carried prisoners on their backs.
When the men became too exhausted to continue.
The column reached the town of Plutero shortly before dawn,
where they rested briefly beforecontinuing.
American planes provided air cover during daylight hours,

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ensuring no Japanese aircraft could spot the slow moving
column. By the evening of January 31st,
the group had reached American lines near Telavera.
General Kruger personally greeted the rescued prisoners,
arranging immediate medical careand evacuation to hospitals when
informed of the raid's success, General MacArthur reportedly

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said. No incident of the campaign has
given me such personal satisfaction.
The outcome statistics and immediate impact.
The final tally of the Kabanat One raid is remarkable. 512
prisoners rescued, 492 Americansand 20 other Allied personnel,
along with 33 civilians who wereeither camp employees or local

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residents in danger of Japanese reprisals.
This was achieved at the cost ofjust two Rangers killed and four
wounded, with approximately 20 guerrillas injured.
The Japanese, by contrast, suffered between 530 and 1000
casualties, including both camp guards and reinforcement troops

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who encountered the guerrilla blocking forces.
The disproportionate casualty ratio speaks to the
effectiveness of the surprise attack in the quality of the
defensive positions established by Pajoda's guerrillas.
Beyond the numbers, the raid hadimmediate psychological impact
on both sides. For Americans, it represented a

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fulfillment of the promise not to abandon those captured in the
early, disastrous days of the Pacific War.
The rescue made headlines acrossthe United States, providing A
morale boost at a time when the public was growing weary of the
prolonged conflict. For the Japanese, the raid
demonstrated the effectiveness of American Filipino cooperation

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and the vulnerability of their positions even well behind their
front lines. It contributed to a sense that
their hold on the Philippines was crumbling from both without
and within. For the Filipino population, the
raid reinforced their belief in eventual liberation and
validated their decision to support the returning American
forces rather than accommodate to Japanese occupation.

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The successful collaboration between American military units
and Filipino guerrillas became amodel for subsequent operations
throughout the Philippines. Campaign.
The strategic impact While the Kabanat One raid was primarily
humanitarian and purpose, it hadsignificant strategic
implications. First, it exposed Japanese

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atrocities like the Bataan DeathMarch to the world in a way that
abstract reports never could. The physical condition of the
rescued prisoners, documented bywar correspondents and military
physicians, provided irrefutableevidence of mistreatment that
shocked the American public. Second, the raid demonstrated
the effectiveness of US Filipinoguerrilla collaboration.

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This partnership would prove crucial throughout the
liberation of the Philippines, with guerrilla forces providing
intelligence, sabotaging Japanese communications, and
occasionally engaging in direct combat alongside conventional
American units. Third, the raid's success
inspired subsequent POW rescues.By the end of the Philippines

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campaign, similar operations hadliberated over 7000 allied
prisoners and, in turn, civilians.
The Kabanat One model, careful intelligence gathering,
coordination with local forces, diversionary tactics, and rapid
execution was replicated numerous times.
Perhaps most significantly, the raid validated the concept of

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special operations deep behind enemy lines.
The 6th Ranger Battalion and theAlamo Scouts demonstrated that
small, well trained units could achieve objectives that would be
impossible for conventional forces.
This lesson was not lost on military planners who
incorporated similar capabilities into post war force

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structures, the legacy military doctrine and recognition.
Today, the Kabanathwan raid is studied in military academies
worldwide as a model for specialoperations.
It exemplifies several principles that remain relevant
in Modern Warfare. First, the importance of
accurate intelligence. The Alamo Scouts reconnaissance

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in the information network established by Pajoda's
guerrillas provided detailed knowledge of enemy positions,
strength, and movements, knowledge that proved crucial to
the mission's success. Second, the value of local
partnerships. Without Filipino guerrillas and
civilian support, the raid wouldhave been impossible.

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Their knowledge of terrain, enemy dispositions and local
conditions was irreplaceable. Third, the effectiveness of
diversionary tactics. The P61 overflight in the
blocking actions at river crossings divided Japanese
attention and prevented A coordinated response to the
raid. 4th The Principle of surprise.

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By attacking at Duskin from multiple directions
simultaneously, the Rangers achieved complete tactical
surprise despite operating an open terrain against the
numerically superior enemy. The leaders of the raid received
well deserved recognition. Lieutenant Colonel Moochie and
Captain Prince were awarded Distinguished Service Crosses,

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the second highest American decoration for valor.
Many other participants receivedSilver Stars and Bronze Stars.
Captain Pajota's contribution was initially less formally
recognized, reflecting the sometimes complicated
relationship between American forces and their Filipino
allies. However, he was later awarded

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the US Medal of Freedom for his crucial role in the raid in the
Philippines. Pajota is remembered as a
national hero whose tactical acumen and courage were
instrumental to the raid's success.
The cultural impact the Kabhanaat One raid has inspired
numerous books, documentaries, and films.

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Hampton Sides book Ghost Soldiers provides perhaps the
most comprehensive account, weaving together the experiences
of the prisoners, their rescuers, in the historical
context. The 2005 film The Great Raid,
based partly on Sides book, brought the story to modern
audiences, though with the dramatic license common to

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Hollywood productions. Veterans of the raid frequently
spoke about their experiences inthe decades following the war.
Captain Prince, who designed theraid, maintained his
characteristic humility, often stating we didn't think we were
heroes, we just wanted to bring our guys home.
Many of the rescued prisoners formed lifelong bonds with their

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rescuers. Annual reunions were held for
decades, though these naturally dwindled as the World War Two
generation aged. The last known survivor of the
raid, Ranger Corporal Royce Sweezy, passed away in 2020 at
the age of 96, marking the end of an era.
Physical memorials to the raid exist in both the United States

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and the Philippines. The Kabanatwan American Memorial
in the Philippines honors both rescuers and survivors.
In the United States, the raid is commemorated at the Ranger
Memorial at Fort Benning, GA. The personal stories behind the
statistics and strategies are countless personal stories that

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humanize this remarkable operation.
Consider Frank Giovi, a Ranger private who carried an emaciated
prisoner on his back for miles when the man could no longer
walk. When asked years later why he
risked his life for a stranger, Giovi simply said because he was
one of ours. Or Edwin Rose, a British

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civilian who had been imprisonedwith the American military
personnel. When Rangers entered his
barracks, Rose reportedly stood at attention, saluted and in a
proper British accent, said Jolly good show boys knew you'd
come carry on. His composure after years of
brutal captivity amazed his rescuers.

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There was Burt Bank, a prisoner who had secretly maintained a
radio, keeping fellow inmates informed of Allied progress.
When rescued, his first questionwasn't about food or medical
care, but whether the Rangers had brought batteries so he
could continue radio operations.Captain James Fisher, the senior
American officer among the prisoners, initially refused

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evacuation, insisting that his men go first.
He had to be ordered to leave byCaptain Prince, who recognized
Fisher's value as a source of information about other POW
camps. And there was Colonel Moochie
himself, who later recalled thathis proudest moment wasn't
receiving medals or accolades, but watching the rescued men

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received their first proper mealin years at American field
hospitals. That, he said, was worth every
risk we took. Conclusion In military terms,
the Kabanat One raid wasn't the largest operation of World War
2. It didn't capture vital
territory or destroy significantenemy capabilities.

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It wasn't a turning point in theconventional sense of altering
the war strategic direction. But measured in humanitarian
terms, in the determination to leave no one behind, it stands
as one of the most meaningful actions of the entire conflict.
At a time when the world seemed consumed by hatred and
destruction, the raid represented the best of human

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nature, courage, compassion, andthe willingness to risk
everything to save others. The great raid on Kaban Atwan
remains a testament to courage, ingenuity, and the unbreakable
bond between allied forces and Filipino resistance fighters.
It reminds us that even in humanity's darkest hours, acts

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of extraordinary bravery and compassion can shine through.
As we look back on this remarkable chapter of World War
2 history, perhaps the most fitting epitaph comes from a
simple handwritten sign that rescued prisoners erected as
they left the camp. To the angels from heaven, the
Rangers and guerrillas, we thankyou.

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This has been World War Two stories.
I'm Steve Matthews. Join us next time as we continue
exploring the moments that shaped the greatest conflict in
human history.