A PROMISE KEPT

A.P. American History - Oakwood High SchoolThe United States in World War II

RETURN TO THE PHILIPPINES

Mr. Marshak

Pacific Theatre Continued

Fleeing the Philippines in 1942, MacArthur pledged: ‘I shall return.’ Two and a half years later he did so, with drama and flamboyance. However, it took a hard campaign - including more than 60 amphibious lands and the greatest sea battle in history.

September 13, 1944U.S. Third Fleet begins air raids against Japanese naval bases in the

southern Philippines

• Preparing the way for invasion of the Palau Islands (500 miles east of the Philippines)

• Expecting strong opposition but encountered very little

• Japanese losses were heavy, and U.S. Third Fleet Commander Vice Admiral William Halsey reported success of the mission was “Unbelievable and fantastic”

• 478 Japanese planes destroyed (most of which were on the ground)

• 59 Japanese naval vessels sunk

The Invasion Moves Forward

• Halsey’s raid stunned Allied commanders

• Japan was actually still far stronger than U.S. leaders believed

• Halsey convinced the Joint Chiefs to move on with the invasion immediately

• The northern island of Luzon and the capital, Manila, were initially targeted

SHO 1The Japanese Plan for Defense

• Japanese strategy for defending the Philippine Islands

• Would go into effect only after the Americans had invaded Luzon

• Strategy was to build impregnable defenses inland, away from vulnerable beach-heads

• General Tomoyuki Yamashita assumes command of mission on October 9th

• Occupies Manila with 224,000 troops

Intelligence Poor on Both Sides

• Japanese were just as misinformed about American strength

• On October 12th Japanese torpedo bombers attacked Halsey’s carrier fleet

• Only two cruisers were damaged

• Pilots claimed they had sunk 11 carriers, 2 battleships, and 3 cruisers!

• Remarkably, they were believed! Japanese newspapers proclaimed the raid “A Second Pearl Harbor”

Leyte GulfThe World’s Greatest Sea Battle

• The single most decisive naval action of the Pacific War

• Massive three day battle• Fought by the two greatest navies in the

world• Covered an area the size of France• Americans destroyed the Japanese naval

power once and for all.

3 DAYS OF WAR AT SEA

• U.S. Third and Seventh Fleets combine to form the largest naval force in history, 800 ships

• The Japanese Imperial Fleet divided into three forces of 63 major combat vessels and a decoy force of empty carriers

• Japanese fleet was led by the 70,000 ton monster battleships Yamato and Musashi

• On day one U.S. ships suffer heavy damage from Japanese dive bombers and Kamikaze missions

• U.S. bombers finished off the Musashi, which had taken nearly 20 torpedo hits. One of the three Japanese forces is obliterated

• On the third day the remaining Japanese forces withdraw under fire

Kamikazes:Warriors of the ‘Divine Wind’

• Followed Bushido military tradition of self sacrifice

• Named after a typhoon that destroyed a Mongol invasion fleet in 1281

• Roughly 1465 Japanese pilots flew Kamikaze missions in the final phases of the war

• Embraced the opportunity to die for national honor

• Were nearly impossible to stop because incoming aircraft had to be completely destroyed, not just damaged

“We watched each plunging kamikaze with the detached horror of one witnessing a terrible spectacle rather than as the intended victim… and dominating it all was a strange mixture of respect and pity.”

-unknown U.S. Navy Officer

Another Japanese Mistake

• Lt. General Tomoyuki Yamashita expected the brunt of the invasion to fall on Luzon, in the north

• Instead General MacArthur landed on the central island of Leyte

• The U.S. Sixth Army led the invasion under the command of Lt. General Walter Krueger

• Because of Yamashita’s miscalculation of MacArthur’s plan, the Japanese were outnumbered 180,000 to 65,000

OCTOBER 20, 1944

• MacArthur lands on Leyte Island, Philippines, 12 noon

• Landed on “Red Beach” which had been invaded by U.S. Marines two hours earlier

• Accompanied by exiled Philippine President Sergio Osmena

• Addressed the Filipino people at 2 p.m.

MacArthur’s Proclamation:

“People of the Philippines, I have returned! Rally to me!… for your homes and hearths, strike! In the name of your sacred dead, strike!… let no heart be faint. Let every arm be steeled. The guidance of Divine God points the way. Follow in his name to the Holy Grail of righteous victory!”

Leyte IslandA Muddy, Bloody Foothold

• Taking Leyte was supposed to be a swift operation

• Japanese resistance proved tougher than expected

• Weather hellish, terrain a nightmare

• It took three months of grueling battle before the island was secure and the operation could push onward

The Problem of Weather

• The 1rst Cavalry Division was forced to cross Leyte’s swampy coastal plain the first day

• The rain began before sunset, and 35 inches fell over the next month

• Inclement weather delayed the conquest of the island and hindered plans to make it a key airbase

• Engineers struggled to build runways in the soft mud

• One out of every four planes attempting to land on Leyte ended up crashing, embedded in a “soft spot”

Battle for Luzon

• The Japanese had been left with virtually no navy, and Yamashita had no means of preventing the U.S. from landing

• The U.S. Sixth Army were transported and shielded by Vice Admiral Thomas Kinkaid’s Seventh Fleet, with air support from Halsey’s Third Fleet

• The Japanese force in Luzon was 275,000 strong

• During the invasion nearly 200,000 Japanese were killed at the expense of just 8,000 Americans

Mindanao: The Final Assault

• MacArthur was determined to liberate every Philippine Island

• The campaign to liberate the southern islands saw a mass of intricately planned invasions

• Mindanao, the southernmost of the major islands would serve as the Japanese “last stand” in the Philippines

• General Jiro Harada commanded the Japanese Thirty-Fifth Army, by this point reduced to just 43,000 men

Mindanao Secure at LastThe Philippines Liberated

• The Americans landed on March 10th

• Japanese were literally “dug into” the countryside

• Advance was slow as U.S. soldiers cut forward through the jungle, destroying each position with hand grenades and flame-throwers

• Not until June 10th did Harada finally end his resistance, and it was June 30th before Mindanao was reported secure

• 13,000 Japanese were killed in the siege

• 22,000 Japanese surrendered to American troops

• 8,000 remained unaccounted for

• Americans lost 820 men during the invasion

Gaining Perspective

• The Japanese had made the Philippines their final stand, but still refused to surrender after most of their army and entire navy had been obliterated in the campaign

• The ferocity with which the Japanese defended the Philippines was a determining factor in President Truman’s eventual decision to use atomic weapons, instead of invading Japan

• Perhaps the greatest victims of the conflict were the Filipinos themselves. The price of their liberation was great, as they found themselves trapped for months between two armies fighting to the death