THE LIBERATION OF THE PHILIPPINES: Images of War series

1-227850

General Douglas A MacArthur, Commander of the Southwest Pacific Area, saw the liberation of the Philippines Archipelago as the launching board for the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. By late 1944, with the capture of New Guinea and surrounding islands, the US Sixth and Eighth Armies were poised for the challenge. Includes 250 black and white illustrations

American forces landed on Leyte on 20 October 1944 with the Leyte Gulf naval battle quickly following. By 25 December the island was cleared opening the way for Lieutenant General Walter Krueger's Sixth Army to invade Luzon on 9 January 1945. Bitter Japanese resistance required Eichelberger's Eighth Army as reinforcements. Manila finally fell on 4 March. In the meantime Bataan was captured on 16 February and Corregidor on 2 March after a US airborne assault. Fighting continued and MacArthur finally declared the liberation of the Archipelago on 5 July, just a month before the atom bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.