PHILIPPINES CAMPAIGN

Japan needed to quickly occupy the Philippines to remove the threat of a US presence to their planned occupation of resource-rich territories in Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies. Air attacks, which were simultaneous with Pearl Harbor, quickly destroyed US air capabilities. General Honma’s 14th Army began landings from 10 December. By the end of the month, General MacArthur’s forces were retreating to the Bataan Peninsula, where they held out until May. The Philippines were finally in Japanese hands by 9 June.

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