Prelude: MacArthur’s Return
October 20, 1945 to February 2, 1945
US landing craft approach the beaches of Lingayen Gulf
On a bright, warm Hawaiian day in July of 1944, General Douglas MacArthur, now commander in chief of the Southwest Pacific Area, met with US President Franklin Roosevelt, Chief of Staff Admiral William Leahy and Admiral Chester Nimitz, his opposite number in command of the campaign in the central Pacific.
The leaders of the American war effort in the Pacific meet in Hawaii, July 28, 1944
The meeting took place at the mansion of fish packing magnate Christian Holmes on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, and was to be where the future of the Pacific War was deceided. The two theater commanders, MacArthur and Nimitz, both had differing opinions as to where the next major operation was to take place. Nimitz and the Navy believed the time had come to strike at Formosa (modern day Taiwan), a view that enjoyed a broad support among the top US brass. MacArthur, on the other hand, was adamant that the Philippines must be liberated, both to secure the strategic anchorage at Manila and deny the use of the islands to the enemy, as well as for the political ramifications of abandoning US territory when the ability to liberate it was presented.
With the 1944 Presidential Election in its terminal phases, Roosevelt was apt to consider the political aspects, and the passion with which MacArthur advocated for the Philippine option as opposed to the dry, rehearsed nature of Nimitz’ proposal, won over the President. On July 28th, 1944, MacArthur was ordered to prepare his forces to return to the Philippines.
The US fleet assembling in Australia before heading to the Philippines
On October 20, 1944 the full might of the United States descended upon the island of Leyte, with a massive air and naval bombardment commencing at 0600, continuing for four hours until the first wave of infantry began their landings at 1000. As US forces made their landing, the Japanese attempted to launch a massive naval counterattack with almost the entire remaining surface fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. This plan, dubbed Sho-ichi-Go (Victory Plan One), involved using the few carriers remainging to the Japanese as bait to lure the main US naval force, Admiral Bull Halsey’s Third Fleet, away from the Philippines, allowing a pincer attack on the landing area by the IJN’s remaining heavy surface fleet, including the two Yamato Class Battleships, the largest ever built.
The Yamato Class Battleship Musashi under heavy US air attack
The Japanese main forces were detected, leading to them being set upon by US carrier aircraft. In the ensuing attacks, the powerful Japanese Center Force suffered severe casualties and turned back, loosing the Yamato class ship Mushashi in the process. The Southern Force had an even worse experience, with the Battle of the Surigao Strait ending what was to be the last battleship on battleship engagement in naval history with the aged Japanese ships being decimated, leaving only the destroyer Shigure to escape the engagement. The Center Force, however, turned around and traveled through the San Bernardino Strait, approaching a position to engage the Leyte invasion force with only a token US destroyer screen in their way, Halsey’s carriers having departed to chase down the decoy Japanese carriers. The result was the one sided Battle of Samar, previously detailed on this site, which resulted in a US victory despite all odds.
GIs on the beaches of Leyte
With the Imperial Japanese Navy now all but destroyed, the invasion was clear to proceed further. The Japanese defense was hampered by the fact that the commander of the Philippines, General Yamashita, had intended to concentrate his forces for the defense of Luzon, but had been overruled on the 22nd by his superiors in Tokyo, ordering him to concentrate all his efforts on preventing the Americans from taking Leyte. In addition, Japanese forces had already been concentrated in Mindanao, as the island’s proximity to the Americans led them to believe it would be the primary target.
US Army
Back on the beaches, the Americans had secured a beachhead in three different areas on the coast of Leyte Gulf, and within an hour heavy equipment was being brought ashore despite enemy resistance. Getting off the beaches, US forces found the terrain a swampy jungle, hampering their movement and aiding the camouflaged Japanese defenders. By evening, the beachhead was a mile deep, and 1st Cavalry troopers were fighting the Japanese on Tacloban Airfield, while other forces had secured the a vantage point at Hill 522. Earlier in the day, just after noon, General MacArthur and his staff, as well as Sergio Osmeña, President of the Philippine Commonwealth, boarded a landing craft to approach the beach new Tacloban. The landing craft bottomed out on its journey to shore, forcing an irritated MacArthur to wade to shore with his entourage. The result was the capture of one the most iconic images of the Second World War.
MacArthur wades ashore on Leyte. Note President Osmeña on the left wearing the pith helmet.
“People of the Philippines, I have returned! By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil.”
The campaign for Leyte would drag on until just after Christmas of 1944, with the Sixth Army being withdrawn from the island in preparation for landing on Luzon in early 1945. The fighting on Leyte had been disastrous for the Japanese, who saw the loss of almost 50,000 troops, and the annihilation of four infantry divisions. More than half of the aircraft available in the Philippines were destroyed, and the Imperial Japanese Navy had been effectively destroyed as an effective force. Even with a quarter of a million men left to him on Luzon, General Yamashita could count on no significant naval or air support against the overwhelming might of the Americans.
The battleship USS Pennsylvania leads US warships into Lingayen Gulf
On the morning of January 9, 1945 a column of US warships entered Lingayen Gulf, and commenced a massive bombardment of the local beaches. The Japanese responded with kamikaze attacks, destroying an escort carrier and several other light warships, but the bombardment was not seriously disrupted. The landings began at 0900, with US forces coming ashore at the same spot the Japanese had years earlier, again with almost no opposition.
Clark Field under US air attack - US National Archives
As the Americans approached the city, they moved slowly, so slowly, in fact, as to arouse the ire of General MacArthur, who felt that the advance could be faster in the face of limited Japanese resistance. The XIV Corps of General Griswold was ordered to advance southward toward the capitol, its flank screened by the I Corps, encountering only scattered pockets of light resistance. In order to spur on his Army commander, General Krueger, MacArthur moved his command post thirty five miles further forward than Krueger’s, an unprecedented situation. Even while this happened (and gained all the press attention), the I Corps was engaged in viscious combat with Yamashita’s Shobu Group on the approach to Baguio.
A wrecked Japanese “Sally” bomber at San Manuel Airfield north of Manila - US National Archives
As the Americans approached the old US Army Air Force base at Clark Field they finally began to encounter significant resistance as the Japanese had dug in to the surrounding hills with extensive tunnel systems, holding up the advance and irritating a MacArthur who was already planning his grand entrance into Manila.
From the first encounter with Japanese resistance outside the airfield on January 23rd, it would take over a week to finally reduce the Japanese stronghold, with troops forced to clear the Japanese out of extensive tunnel systems with flamethrowers. Having overcome the worst resistance there, the 37th Infantry continued to drive on Manila starting on February 2, rapidly approaching the northern suburbs.
On January 27th, 1945, the 1st Cavalry Division landed at Lingayen, and began advancing toward Manila, after a still-impatient MacArthur ordered them to advance on Manila as fast as possible. They formed a “flying column” of fast vehicles and troopers and began a rapid drive on the city under the command of Brigadier General William Chase.
General Chase speaks with 1st Cavalry Division commander General Verne Mudge during the drive on Manila
The flying columns made their rapid advance on the city, supported by US Marine Corsair fighter bombers against scattered Japanese resistance, moving rapidly and essentially racing the 37th Infantry to Manila, but the more streamlined and fully mechanized cavalry units had a significant advantage over the infantry. But even then, another operation was in play, this time to the south: General Robert Eichelberger’s 8th Army was landing south of the city at Nasugbu, and the 11th Airborne Division was preparing to drive on the city with part of its force, to be joined by the rest after a drop on Tagaytay Ridge.
11th Airborne paratroopers march through Nasugbu shortly after landing
They had quickly begun their advance from the beachhead, eliminating only scattered enemy resistance and pushing toward Tagaytay Ridge, where they ran into stiff Japanese opposition as they approached a grouping of mountains defended by the IJA’s Fuji Force. After securing the first Japanese position on Mount Aiming, the paratroopers held it against infantry counterattacks, with other elements attempting to dislodge the IJA from Mount Batulao and Mount Cariliao, where the dense jungle made movement difficult and the airborne suffered from a lack of heavy artillery to counter larger Japanese guns. On February 2, Mout Cariliao was finally secured, but Japanese resistance continued overnight on Mount Batulao. With these obstacles overcome, the Japanese defenses on Tagaytay Ridge proper were all that remained in the path of the 11th Airborne and Manila, and the planned parachute drop on the ridge by the remainder of the division was set for February 3.
A group of Filipino guerillas enter a US Army camp. Guerillas proved invaluable when US forces landed in the Philippines, where their intimate knowledge of the terrain as well as the enemy’s activities proved a great asset to the campaign as a whole - US National Archives
As night falls on February 2nd, 1945 it was evident that the days of the Japanese garrison in Manila were numbered, as US forces approached from both north and south. MacArthur was impatient, and occupied himself with plans for a grand entry into the city, with a victory parade down Dewey Boulevard intended to rival those in Rome and Paris in the past year. The Japanese, however, had different plans: Admiral Iwabuchi and his Manila Naval Defense Force were still preparing for their defense of the city, with intention to fight to the death, regardless of the orders of General Yamashita. MacArthur’s hopes for an open city and triumphant return amidst an adoring public while the press enforces his image at home were soon to be dashed, as some of the most brutal fighting of the Pacific War was about to commence on the streets of the Pearl of the Orient, as well as one of the most appalling crimes of the Second World War.