page_title: Antonio Luna
section_title: Further operations during the war
hierarchical_section_title: Antonio Luna / Philippine–American War / Further operations during the war
caption_attribution_description: English: 1st Nebraskan Volunteers advancing on Santo Tomas, Pampanga; May 4 1899
context_page_description: Antonio Narciso Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta was a Filipino army general who fought in the Philippine–American War.
  Regarded as one of the fiercest generals of his time, he succeeded Artemio Ricarte as the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He sought to apply his background in military science to the fledgling army. A sharpshooter himself, he organized professional guerrilla soldiers later called the "Luna Sharpshooters" and the "Black Guard". His three-tier defense, now known as the Luna Defense Line, gave the American troops a hard campaign in the provinces north of Manila. This defense line culminated in the creation of a military base in the Cordillera.
  Despite his commitment to discipline the army and serve the Republic which attracted the admiration of people, his temper caused some to abhor him, including people from Aguinaldo's Cabinet. Nevertheless, Luna's efforts were not without recognition during his time, for he was awarded the Philippine Republic Medal in 1899. He was also a member of the Malolos Congress. Besides his military studies, Luna also studied pharmacy, literature and chemistry.
context_section_description: A Filipino counterattack began at dawn on 23 February. The plan was to employ a pincer movement, using the battalions from the North and South, with the sharpshooters (the only professionally trained troops) at crucial points. The sandatahanes or bolomen inside Manila would start a great fire to signal the start of the assault. Troops directly under Luna's command were divided into three: the West Brigade under General Pantaleon García, the Center Brigade under General Mariano Llanera, and the East Brigade under General Licerio Gerónimo. Luna even requested the battle-hardened Tinio Brigade from Northern Luzon, under the command of General Manuel Tinio. It had more than 1,900 soldiers. However, Aguinaldo gave only ambiguous answers and the Tinio Brigade was unable to participate in the battle. It was only partly successful because of two main reasons. Firstly, some of the successful Filipino sectors ran low on  ammunition and food, and were thus forced to withdraw to Polo. Secondly, Luna failed to relieve the Kapampangan militia, already past their prime, when the battalion from Kawit, Cavite, refused to replace the former, saying that they had orders to obey only instructions directly from Aguinaldo. Such insubordination had become quite common among the Filipino forces at that time as most of the troops owed their loyalty to the officers from their provinces, towns or districts and not to the central command. As a result, the counterattack soon collapsed, and Luna placated himself by disarming the Kawit Battalion.
  Luna, however, proved to be a strict disciplinarian and his temper alienated many in the ranks of the common soldiers. An example of this occurred during the Battle of Calumpit, wherein Luna ordered General Tomás Mascardo to send troops from Guagua to strengthen the former's defenses. However, Mascardo ignored orders by Luna insisting that he was going to Arayat to undertake an "inspection of troops". Another version of Mascardo's reasoning emerged and it was probably that which reached Luna. This version was that Mascardo had left to visit his girlfriend. Luna, infuriated by Mascardo's actions, had decided to detain him. However, Major Hernando, one of Luna's aides, tried to placate the general's anger by convincing Luna to push the case to President Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo complied to detain Mascardo for twenty-four hours. Upon returning to the field, however, the Americans had broken through his defenses at the Bagbag River, forcing Luna to withdraw despite his heroic action to defend the remaining sectors.
  Luna resigned on 1 March, mainly in resentment for the rearmament of the Kawit Battalion as the Presidential Guard. Aguinaldo hesitantly accepted the resignation. As a result, Luna was absent from the field for three weeks, during which the Filipino forces suffered several defeats and setbacks. One such defeat would be at the Battle of Marilao River on 27 March. Receiving the depressing reports from the field through his La Independencia correspondents, Luna went to Aguinaldo and asked to be reinstated with more powers over all the military heads, and Aguinaldo promoted him to Lieutenant General and agreed making him Commander-in-Chief of all the Filipino forces in Central Luzon (Bulacan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Zambales).
  The Luna Defense Line was planned to create a series of delaying battles from Caloocan to Angeles, Pampanga, as the Republic was constructing a guerrilla base in the Mountain Province. The base was planned to be the last stand headquarters of the Republic in the case the Americans broke through the Defense Line. American military observers were astonished by the Defense Line, which they described as consisting of numerous bamboo trenches stretching from town to town. The series of trenches allowed the Filipinos to withdraw gradually, firing from cover at the advancing Americans. As the American troops occupied each new position, they were subjected to a series of traps that had been set in the trenches, which included bamboo spikes and poisonous reptiles.
  Earlier in the mo
caption: 1st Nebraskan Volunteers advancing during the Battle of Santo Tomas
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