Captain Nieves Fernandez was a schoolteacher, who became the only known Filipino female guerilla leader. Working with guerillas south of Tacloban, on Leyte Island, she rounded up native men to fight against the Japanese, during WW2. She commanded 110 natives who wiped out 200 Japanese soldiers with knives & shotguns made from pieces of gas pipes; demonstrating great resourcefulness. Nieves trained her men extensively, insuring they put up a strong front against the Japanese. The Japanese put a bounty of 10,000 pesos on her head. She was wounded once, leaving a scar on her right forearm. Nobody knows who she was before the war but her notoriety even reached newspapers in the US. In battle, she was a master guerilla fighter, an excellent marksman & hand-to-hand combatant. Nieves helped liberate her island and the guerillas also provided valuable information when General MacArthur, launched a series of attacks in the Philippines.
Intense & bloody fighting had been going on well before General MacArthur landed in Leyte. Nieves and her band of guerilla's helped provide security & aid for the civilians on Leyte island. In the book, The Hidden Battle of Leyte: The Picture Diary of a Girl Taken by the Japanese Military by Remedios Felias, who's a former comfort woman, described how the Filipino guerillas saved many young girls who were raped or about to be raped by the Japanese. In her vivid description of the Battle Buraeun, she recounts how the guerillas wiped out entire Japanese platoons, stationed in various villages in the municipality, saving the lives of many.
Side notes:
Tacloban- a autonomous region of the province Leyte but serves as it's capital
General MacArthur- an American general & field marshal of the Philippine Army; Chief of Staff of US Army, in 1930's & played a prominent role in the Pacific during WW2.
https://deadliestfiction.fandom.com/wiki/Nieves_Fernandez
YOU ARE READING
Female Warriors
No FicciónFrom Naotara li and Mulan to Eleanor of Aquitaine and Boudicca. Strong women throughout history who fought for the countries, families and beliefs; that made a stand against those who threatened to destroy them. They took charge when no else would.
