8. Luzon, the Philippines, January-August, 1945
The decision to invade the Philippines in 1944 was questioned by commanders in the Pacific and the Joint Chiefs in Washington as militarily unnecessary. It took the intercession of President Roosevelt to ensure that Douglas MacArthur would be able to fulfill his promise to return. MacArthur lobbied for an invasion of the Philippines as early as 1942, with the Navy arguing it lacked the strength to support one, and that the reduction of Japan through the island hopping campaign was sufficient to win the war, with Japan being forced to surrender in the Philippines as well. MacArthur got his way. After first securing Leyte and Mindoro, south of Luzon, MacArthur invaded the large island at Lingayen, to the north, which put him closer to the capital of Manila. The Americans landed on Luzon on January 9, 1945, opening the battle which would continue until the surrender of Japan in August, 1945.
A second landing was completed south of Manila on January 15. Manila itself was captured in February. Fighting continued throughout Luzon until early March, when MacArthur announced that all military objectives had been secured. But Luzon itself was not secure, and fighting between American and Filipino troops against the Japanese troops scattered on the island continued throughout the summer of 1945. By the time the battle ended with the announcement of the surrender of Japan (though some Japanese troops continued to fight for many years) the battle for Luzon had cost 10,380 Americans their lives as combat casualties. Another 260 died from disease during the battle. Stunningly it was not the highest loss of American life in battle during the Pacific War, which had occurred at Okinawa while the battle for Luzon was still raging.