When the Pacific War began in 1941 Japanese troops moved into the Philippines swiftly after the Pearl Harbor airstrike. This was just one of the targets that they had pinpointed in the Pacific. The Philippines was a potential source of oil which was in increasingly short supply for the Japanese Empire due to the Allied economic blockade. The Philippines Campaign began when thousands of Japanese troops landed at Luzon. The Japanese swiftly established a beachhead at Luzon with the Allied divisions dispersed. The Allies also lacked naval and artillery support which ensured that the Japanese soon consolidated their positions. Eventually the U. S. troops withdrew to Bataan. Although roughly equal in numbers the U. S. divisions could not hold Bataan either. The Japanese had heavy losses but not as many as the U. S. divisions stationed there. Further Japanese air and artillery strikes ensured the fall of Bataan. The U. S. Army fell further back to Corregidor. It was here that the last remnants of the U. S. Army in the Philippines remained. Corregidor guarded the entrance to Manila Bay and was fortified with a variety of coastal batteries. It was also the location of the last Allied headquarters in the Philippines. As such the Japanese army had to take Corregidor to win the campaign. The U. S. troops were outnumbered by the Japanese. Although Corregidor did have fairly extensive fortifications that gave them something of an advantage. There were four forts located around Manila Bay which included mortar batteries coastal guns and artillery. An extensive tunnel network had also been established at Corregidor. To take Corregidor the Japanese army firstly besieged the island. The bombardment primarily consisted of Japanese air and artillery strikes. This bombardment preceded the main Japanese landings at the island. When the Japanese troops landed they eventually pushed the Allies off the beaches and established a beachhead at North Point on the eastern side of Corregidor. Further battalions of Japanese troops did not make sufficient headway in Corregidor until reinforcements arrived. When the Japanese were supported by additional tanks the Allies withdrew from Denver Battery. In May 1942 Allied officers were sent forward with a white flag to bring the battle to an end. The Battle of Corregidor ended as a victory for the Japanese army. When they occupied Corregidor the Philippines Campaign was all but over. They had won a vital harbor at Manila Bay and as they occupied the rest of the Philippines the Japanese oil supplies were replenished. Even though this was the last battle in the Philippines in 1942 the campaign was not exactly over. MacArthur vowed to return and when 1944 came the U. S. Marines landed in the Philippines to retake the islands. A second campaign in the Philippines began in 1944 and continued up until 1945 as the Allies steadily retook the territory in the Philippines that they had previously lost to the Japanese Empire in 1942.

• published: 09 May 2015
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