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The Philippine CampaignSir Malit

The Philippine Campaign or the Battle of the Philippines, fought 8 December 1941 8 May 1942, was the invasion of the Philippines by Japan and the defense of the islands by Filipino and United States forces.

The Japanese launched the invasion by sea from Formosa over 200 miles to the north of the Philippines. The defending forces outnumbered the Japanese invaders by 3 to 2, however were a mixed force of non-combat experienced regular, national guard, constabulary and newly created Commonwealth units. The Japanese used first-line troops at the outset of the campaign concentrating forces in the first month enabling a swift overrun of most of Luzon.

The Japanese ObjectiveThe Japanese planned to occupy the Philippines as part of their plan for a "Greater East Asia War" in which their Southern Expeditionary Army Group seized sources of raw materials in Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies while the Combined Fleet neutralized the United States Pacific Fleet.

The Southern Expeditionary Army was created on 6 November 1941, commanded by Gen. Count Hisaichi Terauchi, who had previously been Minister of War. It was ordered to prepare for war in the event that negotiations with the United States did not succeed in peacefully meeting Japanese objectives. Under Terauchi's command were four corps-equivalent armies, comprising ten divisions and three combined arms brigades, including the 14th Army. Operations against the Philippines and Malaya were to be conducted simultaneously when Imperial General Headquarters ordered.

The Japanese LandedThe Japanese forces came from Formosa (Taiwan)

The invasion of the Philippines had three objectives:

To prevent the use of the Philippines as an advance base of operations by American forcesTo acquire staging areas and supply bases to enhance operations against the Netherlands East IndiesTo secure the lines of communication between occupied areas in the south and the Japanese Home Islands.

The Battle of BataanThe Battle of Bataan (7 January 9 April 1942) was a battle that represented the most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II.

In January 1942, forces of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy invaded Luzon along with several islands in the Philippine Archipelago after the bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. The commander-in-chief of all Filipino and American forces in the islands, General Douglas MacArthur, consolidated all of his Luzon-based units on the Bataan Peninsula to fight against the Japanese invaders.

Gen. Edward P. KingAfter months of fighting the invading Japanese Army and with food and medicine exhausted, King himself, accepting sole responsibility to disobey MacArthur's and Wainwright's orders, chose to surrender his troops on 9 April 1942. (This day is commemorated in the Philippines as Araw ng Kagitingan "Day of Valor").

A combined American and Filipino force of over 75,000 surrendered; this was the largest surrender of a military force in American history. Thousands of these soldiers would die under Japanese captivity during the ensuing Bataan Death March and imprisonment.

Despite a lack of supplies, Filipino (many were U.S. Nationals) and American forces managed to fight the Japanese for three months, engaging them initially in a fighting retreat southward. As the combined Filipino and American forces made a last stand, the delay cost the Japanese valuable time and prevented immediate victory across the Pacific.

The surrender at Bataan, with 140,000 soldiers surrendering in the Philippines altogether, was the largest in American and Filipino military histories, and was the largest United States surrender since the American Civil War's Battle of Harper's Ferry. Soon afterwards, Filipino and American (including Filipino-American and Chinese-Filipino) prisoners of war were forced into the Bataan Death March.

The Bataan Death MarchThe Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,00080,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war from Saisaih Point and Mariveles to Camp O'Donnell, Capas, Tarlac, via San Fernando, Pampanga, where the prisoners were loaded onto trains.

The 60 mi (97 km) march was characterized by severe physical abuse. It was later judged by an Allied military commission to be a Japanese war crime.

The Fall of CorregidorThe Imperial Japanese Army then concentrated on the island of Corregidor. Lt. General Jonathan Wainwright refused to surrender. The island was relentlessly pummelled by the Imperial Japanese artillery for several weeks. The island was surrounded and cut off from receiving any reinforcements and supplies from the United States. On the night of May 5, the Imperial Japanese landed troops and tanks. They quickly began advancing towards Malinta Tunnel where there were thousands of patients and nurses.

The raid at CabanatuanThe Raid at Cabanatuan, also known as The Great Raid, was a rescue of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians from a Japanese camp near Cabanatuan City, in the Philippines. On January 30, 1945, during World War II, United States Army Rangers, Alamo Scouts, and Filipino guerrillas liberated more than 500 from the POW camp.

In a night time raid, under the cover of darkness and a distraction by a P-61 Black Widow, the group surprised the Japanese forces in and around the camp. Hundreds of Japanese troops were killed in the 30-minute coordinated attack; the Americans suffered minimal casualties. The Rangers, Scouts, and guerrillas escorted the POWs back to American lines. The rescue allowed the prisoners to tell of the death march and prison camp atrocities, which sparked a new rush of resolve for the war against Japan. The rescuers were awarded commendations by MacArthur, and were also recognized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Henry L. MucciIn January 1945, Mucci led 121 Army Rangers in liberating the Cabanatuan Prison Camp with the loss of only 2 men killed in action. Mucci refused to sit back on the mission and joined his soldiers on the ground in combat, an unusual position for a colonel. The raid was supported by some 250 Filipino guerrillas, many of whom were unarmed, who guided the Rangers through Japanese held territory and held off Japanese reinforcements while the American Rangers freed the POWs.

The 6th Ranger battalion

Battle of Leyte GulfThe Battle of Leyte Gulf is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history.

Battle of Leyte GulfIt was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar and Luzon, from 2326 October 1944, between combined American and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy. On 20 October, United States troops invaded the island of Leyte as part of a strategy aimed at isolating Japan from the countries it had occupied in Southeast Asia, and in particular looting the vast supply of oil on Leyte. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) mobilized nearly all of its remaining major naval vessels in an attempt to defeat the Allied invasion but was repulsed by the U.S. Navy's 3rd and 7th Fleets. The IJN failed to achieve its objective, suffered very heavy losses, and never sailed to battle in comparable force thereafter. The majority of its surviving heavy ships, deprived of fuel, remained in their bases for the rest of the Pacific War.

The Leyte LandingsAfter advancing island by island across the Pacific Ocean, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur wades ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte, fulfilling his promise to return to the area he was forced to flee in 1942.

The Leyte Landings

The Battle of Manila (1945)The Battle of Manila (February 3, 1945 March 3, 1945) was a major battle of the Philippine campaign of 1944-45 during World War II that was fought by the American and Filipino forces against the Empire of Japan in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. The one-month battle, which culminated in the massacre of over 100,000 civilians and complete devastation of the city, was the scene of the worst urban fighting in the Pacific theater.

Battle of Zigzag PassOn 31 January 1945, driving west of Olongapo, the 38th Division advanced east on the intricate maze of enemy fortifications in 'Zig-Zag Pass', at the same time seeking out both Japanese flanks. But on the morning of 1 February, after about three miles (5 km) of steady progress, the 152nd Regiment ran into Japanese strongpoints at 'Horseshoe Bend', the first known major 'Zig-Zag Pass' obstacles.

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