Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2025
In just nine months, the Philippines campaign isolated the Japanese homeland from its conquered empire to the south, made possible an air and sea blockade to prevent the resources of the Netherlands East Indies from reaching Japan, gained a base equivalent to the British Isles in preparation for the invasion of Japan, liberated the Philippines and its people from Japanese occupation, freed Allied prisoners of war and civilian detainees held in camps, destroyed the majority of the remaining Japanese fleet, and destroyed several thousand aircraft. SWPA undertook eighty-seven amphibious landings – more than in any other theater. SWPA logisticians performed legendary feats of improvisation on a shoestring budget. Air support was crucial to the effectiveness of operations in the Philippines. Japanese atrocities convinced MacArthur to charge Yamashita with war crimes on the basis of command responsibility, for which the Japanese general was tried and executed. Civil affairs units and engineers were crucial to rehabilitating the Philippines, which had been devastated by three years of Japanese occupation and nine months of combat operations.
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