From: Davao (Kihara)
To: Tokyo
August 22, 1941
J-19
#104 (Intelligence of Primary Importance)
Because too much time
would be required to fill in the paddy fields as originally planned in the
construction of a new air base, it is rumored that these plans have been
changed. Construction is to begin on an air base which will be laid down
between the sea and the paddy fields where now stands a cocoanut grove. In
order that bombing planes can use this air field, four concrete runways are to
be constructed. It is understood that some 2,500 recruits from among the local
populace will be used in this construction enterprise. Four or five hundred
wheelbarrows which will be used in this construction work have already been
unloaded onto the pier. When I last visited this area and made an investigation
of the land they planned to use, it seemed to me that they would have to use
more than three feet of dirt to fill in these paddy fields. A great deal of
work will be entailed, I observe, in the cutting down and removal of the
cocoanut trees in the grove.
ARMY 24063 Trans. 10/28/41 (6)
(EXHIBITS OF JOINT COMMITTEE , EXHIBIT NO. 2 JAPANESE MESSAGES CONCERNING MILITARY INSTALLATIONS, SHIP MOVEMENTS, ETC.)