This day in 1944, General Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines from Australia, with around 250,000 American troops, which started the Philippine Campaign of 1944-1945 to liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation.
Reports had said that the US forces had used ten divisions and five independent regiments to liberate the Philippines, which made it the largest US military campaign in WWII, involving more troops than what the US had used against the Germans in Europe.
The battle of Leyte could be one of the bloodiest in history.
The U.S. Sixth Army, with heavy air and naval support, landed on the eastern part of the island province of Leyte, about 512 km from Manila. The Japanese forces failed to foil the American advance, although they tried to hold out as immense series of naval battles ensued at the Gulf of Leyte, which lasted for three days.
As a result, four carrier ships of Japanese Imperial Forces sunk along with battleships, cruisers and destroyers. Even their air assets had been depleted.
Americans forces then advanced further while Japanese forces attempted to reinforce their troops at Ormoc Bay. However, the US 5th Air Force successfully provided support to the troops on the ground by foiling the remaining Japanese forces attempts to launch counter assaults.
In less than 48 days, US forces had successfully taken control of the island, which completely curtailed all Japanese logistic and ordnance support.
After Leyte, US Forces took the province of Mindoro and established an air base that would reinforce their campaign to liberate Luzon Island primarily, Manila.
I prepared a graph that shows the data of casualties both US and Japan incurred.
I hope there will never be another world war.
Image and data:
Wikipedia contributors. Philippines Campaign (1944–45). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. October 12, 2010, 09:08 UTC. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philippines_Campaign_(1944%E2%80%9345)&oldid=390237939. Accessed October 20, 2010.
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