*
World War II Pacific Theater -- the Philippines liberation Luzon Manila
Liberating Luzon: Resistance in the North (January-September 1945)
Figure 1.-- After the American invasion (January 1945), Hen. Yamasgita wiithdrew his ougunned forces into the mountainns of north-central Luzon. This lightly populted area was the homeland of the Igorot/Cordilleran peoples. They fought the Japanese during the occupation and joined guerrilla groups. With the return of the Americans, they actively assisted the American against the Japanese. The press caption here read, "Help Allies in the Philippines: Native Igorot women and childrencarry stones to repair a bad break in a road in northrn Luzon. Yhese people are giving invluable aid to Yanks cleabing up pockets of resistance in the Philippines This crew is protected from Jap snopers by Pvt. Walter Willcox, of the 32nd Infantry Division." The photograph was dated ugust 4, 1945. Source: Signal Corps.
Gen. Yamashita, the Tiger of Malaya, commanded the Japabese Army in the Philippines. After taking a beeating in Leyte abd then Luzon he decided to resist the cAnericans in Luzon's rygged interior. He ordered the Japanese Marines in Manila to evacuate Manila and join forces with him. They chose to die and take as many Fiilipinos and American with them as possible. They proceeded to murder some 100,000 Filipino civilians--the Rape of Manila (February 1945). The Americans had control of all strategically and economically important locations of Luzon including Mania (early March). Yamashita was left with a still sizeable force of about 50,000-65,000 soldiers, but only limited supplies. He set out establishing a redoubt in the Sierra Madre mountains of northern Luzon and the Cordillera Mountains of central Luzon. There he established three mountainous strongholds. Battles ensued and Yamashita withdrew into the more remote areas. MacArthur pursued him, but less aggresively as Yamashita withdrew into increasingly remote areas because of the casualties that would have resulted with no real stratehic hain. And in the remote mountain areas with limited supplies the Japanese were not a significant threat. Rather like Rabaul it became a essential a POW camp the Japanese themselves controlled. Except for Yamashita's mountanous retreat in north-central Luzon, Japanese resistance in Luzon was overcome (end of May 1945). While Yamashita did not surrender, without supplies and by withdrawing to remote mountaneous areas, he was no longer a factor in the War. MacArthur declared the Philippines secure (June 30, 1945). Yamashita's lightly populated mountain stronghold was the homeland for the Igorot/Cordillerans. They were an Austronesian ethnic group inhabiting the mountains of Luzon. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines the Igorots fought the Japanese. Donald Blackburn's World War II guerrilla force had a strong Igorot core. [Harkins, pp. 148-65.] A comined force od American and Filipino soldiers including the former guerrillas including many Igorot pressed the Japanesen into Kiangan (Ifugao Province). Yamashita continued to hold out there even after the Emperor ended the War (August 15). Yanashita finally surrendered his army (September 2). British General Arthur Percival and American General Jonathan Wainwright who had surrendered to Yamashita and had been rescued from brutal Manchurian prison camps were present for his surrender. Yamashita is generally consiudered the most competent Japanese field commander of the War. While he had held out until the end of the War, over 0.2 million Japanese soldiers died in the campaign, shocking high ratio of over 20 to 1 in terms of American deaths.
Sources
Harkins, P. Blackburn's Headhunters (London: Cassell & Co., 1956).
