This video presents the Philippines campaign, part of the Pacific Theater of World War II, involving Japan and the Allied power, particularly the United States.
Chapter:
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Path to War
01:38 Geography of the Philippines
02:25 Japanese Invasion of the Philippines
04:48 Allied Campaign for Liberation of Philippines
To Japan’s ambition of military expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, the US was certainly a formidable obstacle, forcing Japan to plan on attacking the US naval bases in the Pacific.
On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise air attack on the US naval base of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and ten hours later, on the Philippines islands.
In mid-1941, recognizing the importance of the Philippines’ location, the US recalled General Douglas MacArthur to serve as a Field Marshal in the Philippines Army and plan for the defense of the islands against a Japanese invasion.
On December 8, 1941, Japan began its invasion with initial aerial bombardment, followed by landings of ground troops from Formosa to Batan Island. The main attack of Japanese troops started on December 22 when they landed at the Lingayen Gulf, pushing back the inexperienced and poorly-trained Philippine troops and beginning to drive south toward Manila. As the Japanese fleet gained in numbers, MacArthur and the combined US-Philippine defending forces in Luzon withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula where they suffered a disastrous defeat after three months of resistance. The fall of the Bataan to the Japanese in April hastened the Corregidor collapse in the following month, marking the beginning of the Japanese occupation.
However, during this time, the Philippines Army continued forming resistance and guerrilla units to fight back until the Allies returned in full force with a campaign to liberate the Philippines. By August 1944, General MacArthur’s forces cleared all the Japanese in New Guinea and were poised to return to the Philippines with a campaign for liberating the country from the Imperial Japanese Army led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
The campaign started in October with amphibious landings of the US Army on the eastern Philippine island of Leyte which was captured by December. Landings then followed in January 1945 at the Lingayen Gulf, from which the army units moved south, capturing Clark Air Base in February, and continued heading toward Manila. After a month of fierce fighting, the city of Manila was officially declared liberated in March.
With additional landings on Mindanao, the U.S troops continued their steady advance and took several cities on the island. Battles continued as the Japanese made their last stand entrenched in northern Luzon until the Japanese surrender in September 1945.
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