TARLAC RAILROAD
STATION ; salvaging a carload of
.30-caliber ammunition |
|
As the front-line units moved back, the
troops to the rear began to carry out the supply plan. On 24 December
General MacArthur's headquarters had ordered the evacuation of Fort
Stotsenburg and the destruction of its 300,000 gallons of gasoline and
large amounts of high octane fuel. Lt. Col. Wallace E. Durst, Post
Quartermaster, was able to save about 50,000 gallons of gas by shipping
some of it to the rear and issuing the rest to vehicles in the immediate
area. "No material amount of gasoline," reported Durst's assistant, Lt.
Col. Irvin Alexander, "was abandoned to the enemy."51
In addition to gasoline, Stotsenburg stocks included 8,000 pounds of
fresh beef, about 100,000 components of dry rations, large supplies of
clothing, and air corps ammunition and equipment. When the post was
finally abandoned, almost nothing of value was left, according to
Colonel Alexander. All supplies, he said, had been shipped to Bataan or
issued to troops in the Stotsenburg area.52
The evacuation of Fort Stotsenburg long
before the approach of enemy forces, aroused much criticism from
officers who disagreed sharply with Colonel Alexander's optimistic
statements on the amount of supplies saved. Colonel Collier
exaggeratedly described the evacuation of Stotsenburg as a "frenzied
departure" in which "warehouses filled with food, clothing, and other
military supplies were left intact." Also left behind, he reported, were
250,000 gallons of gasoline and several obsolete but serviceable planes.53
General Drake, MacArthur's quartermaster, reported that only a portion
of the reserve supplies stocked at Stotsenburg had been removed before
its evacuation.