Philippines campaign of 1944–1945 — campaign which started on October 20, 1944 during WWII
The 1944–1945 Philippines campaign expelled Japanese occupiers and restored Philippine Commonwealth sovereignty after over two years of occupation.
Key Facts
- Campaign start date
- 20 October 1944, amphibious landings on Leyte
- Japanese surrender order
- 15 August 1945, ordered by Tokyo
- Codenamed
- Operation Musketeer I, II, and III
- Key allied participants
- USA, Philippine Commonwealth, Australia, Mexico
- Japanese occupation began
- First half of 1942
- Manila liberation
- Early 1945, after intense urban combat
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Imperial Japanese forces overran the Philippines during the first half of 1942, establishing a full occupation. By late 1944, Allied forces had built sufficient strength to mount a large-scale amphibious counteroffensive aimed at recovering the archipelago and removing Japan's strategic foothold in the western Pacific.
Beginning on 20 October 1944 with landings on Leyte, American, Filipino, Australian, and Mexican forces conducted a sustained campaign across the Philippine islands. Manila was liberated in early 1945 following fierce urban combat, while operations across the wider archipelago continued until Tokyo ordered Japanese forces to surrender on 15 August 1945.
Japanese forces in the Philippines surrendered following Tokyo's order in August 1945, driven by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Soviet entry into the Pacific war. The campaign restored the Philippine Commonwealth and ended Japanese occupation, setting the stage for Philippine independence, formally granted in 1946.
Work
Liberation of the Philippines (Philippines Campaign 1944–1945)
The campaign became a defining event in Philippine national identity, commemorated as a liberation struggle that involved multinational Allied forces and led directly to the restoration of Philippine sovereignty and eventual independence.