Have you heard of this battle?

 

I just recently heard of the Battle of Tirad Pass. If you haven't heard of it, don't worry, not a lot of us in the Western Hemisphere are experts on the history of the Philippines. 

But it's a remarkable war story, and right up there with some of the more famous stories where a vastly outnumbered force holds off the force that has the large advantage of numbers. As it is described, it is the "Philippine Thermopylae" (Thermopylae being the battle in the movie The 300, also mentioned in The Last Samurai, where a few Spartans and some other Greeks held off a vastly superior army of Persians for a considerable period of time, before the valiant outnumbered side was all killed). 

But back to the Philippines and the Battle of Tirad Pass. As described, it was a rearguard action in the Philippine-American War (OK, we in the USA should know something about that). The quick summary of the war goes like this:

"The conflict arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to secure independence from the United States following the latter's acquisition of the Philippines from Spain following the Spanish–American War. The war was a continuation of the Philippine struggle for independence that began in 1896 with the Philippine Revolution."

The background is this: 

"The Battle of Tirad Pass, sometimes referred to as the "Philippine Thermopylae", was a battle in the Philippine-American War fought on December 2, 1899, in northern Luzon in the Philippines, in which a 60-man Filipino rear guard commanded by Brigadier General Gregorio del Pilar succumbed to around 300 Americans of the 33rd Infantry Regiment under Major Peyton C. March, while delaying the American advance to ensure Emilio Aguinaldo's escape."

It's a pretty classic example of what a strong defensive position can do in war.

"At about 6:30 in the morning of December 2, the Americans advanced up the trail but were met with a steady volley of fire, resulting in them only being able to climb around 300 feet. The Americans abandoned the idea of a frontal assault and took cover in the zigzag trail. Texan sharpshooters stationed themselves on a hill overlooking the trenches and proceeded to whittle down the Philippine rear guard with measured volleys. Nevertheless, the Filipinos continued to hold their ground, utilizing focused volley fire that repelled other advances by the Americans. Therefore, March sent elements of their force with an Igorot villager named Januario Galut to determine Filipino positions and outflank the defenders. While the search party was not yet returning, three American soldiers, wanting to have a Medal of Honor, rushed to the battlefield but found themselves receiving Filipino fire. Two were dead, being the only Americans killed in the encounter, and the third one was badly wounded.

More than five hours after the battle began, the Americans began to feel the scorching heat of the midday sun and decided to rest for a while in the rock cover. Later that day, as the search party had succeeded their task, the Americans fell upon the rear of the outnumbered defenders, defeating them. Over the course of the battle, 52 of the 60 Filipinos were killed. Among the dead was General del Pilar, shot through the neck at the height or end of the struggle (depending upon which eye-witness account is to be believed)."

And there is a movie about it.  

What it looks like today: