Raw strength is pretty useful in warfare, and throughout history for the most part, those with the most brute force have won more often than not. However, sometimes raw strength is not enough. That is when brains have to replace brawn, and guile and deception come into play. Like that time when a fake vampire was used to cow Filipino insurgents.
The Huks, Luzon’s Fighting Filipino Farmers
In warfare, guile and deception can go a long way towards making victory that much easier for the strong, or towards warding off defeat for the weak. A great illustration of the former took place in the Cold War’s early years, during a protracted struggle against Filipino rebels who took up arms against their government after the Philippines were liberated from Japanese occupation. That occupation, which followed Japan’s expulsion of the US from its Philippines territory, had been brutal. Unsurprisingly, the brutality triggered widespread resistance.
One of the more active resistance groups was the Hukbalahap (a Filipino acronym for “The Nation’s Army Against Japan”). Commonly known as the “Huks”, they were a socialist/ communist guerrilla movement comprised mostly of central Luzon farmers. After Japan’s defeat, the Huks were not eager for the Philippines to resume its role as an American colonial possession. Nor were the small farmers who filled its ranks eager for a return to life under a landed wealthy native elite who exploited them.
Fake Vampires to Fight Insurgents
The Japanese were gone, but the Huks continued their insurgency. They redirected their weapons to fight both the Americans after their return to the Philippines, and the Filipino government after independence in 1946. To support the US-friendly Philippines government, the CIA helped with the counter-insurgency effort. That included a psychological operations (Psy-Op) plan to demoralize the Huks with fake vampires. It was the brainchild of US Air Force Brigadier General Edward Lansdale, a pioneer in clandestine and psychological warfare. Brought in by the CIA in 1950, Lansdale believed in tailoring Psy-Ops to the specific culture targeted.
The specific culture of central Luzon, the Huks’ home base, happened to believe in a mythical shape-shifting vampire called an aswang. A terrifying monster, the aswang slew its victims by draining their blood with a long, sharpened tongue. So Lansdale mimicked aswang attacks against Huk fighters. They were abducted and killed, then puncture wounds were placed on their necks, and their blood was drained. The bodies were left for other Huks to find – and conclude that their comrade had been slain and drained of blood by an aswang. The stratagem was highly effective in clearing Huk fighters out of an area. Between that and other effective counterinsurgency tactics, the Huk Rebellion was crushed within a few years.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Washington Post, February 24th, 1987 – Edward Lansdale, Prototype For Ugly American, Dies
