Battle of Baguio
{{Short description|Battle in the Philippines during World War II}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Capture of Baguio
| image = Surrender of Japanese Forces in the Philippines 1945.jpg
| caption = General Yamashita (center, on the near side of the table) at the surrender ceremony at Camp John Hay on 3 September 1945
| partof = World War II and the Allied Liberation of the Philippines
| place = Baguio, Mountain Province, Luzon, Philippines
| result = Allied victory
| territory = Allied forces liberate Baguio from Japanese occupiers
| combatant1 = {{flag|United States|1912}}
- {{flag|Commonwealth of the Philippines}}
| combatant2 = {{flagcountry|Empire of Japan}}
- {{flag|Second Philippine Republic}}
| commander1 = {{flagicon|United States|1912}} Walter Krueger
{{flagicon|United States|1912}} Innis P. Swift
{{flagicon|United States|1912}} Percy W. Clarkson{{cite web |url=http://www.usarpac.army.mil/history2/dcgClarkson.asp |title=Maj. Gen. Percy W. Clarkson |author= |website=U.S. Army Pacific |publisher=United States Army |access-date=24 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903141836/http://www.usarpac.army.mil/history2/dcgClarkson.asp |archive-date=3 September 2014 |url-status=dead }}
{{flagicon|United States|1912}} Robert S. Beightler{{cite web |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/cbtchron/cc/037id.htm |title=37th Infantry Division |author= |date=20 May 2011 |website=U.S. Army Center of Military History |publisher=U.S. Army |access-date=24 September 2014 |archive-date=30 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530190913/http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/cbtchron/cc/037id.htm |url-status=dead }}
{{nowrap|{{flagicon|United States|1912}} Russell W. Volckmann}}
{{flagdeco|Commonwealth of the Philippines}} Calixto Duque
| commander2 = {{flagicon|Empire of Japan|army}} Tomoyuki Yamashita
{{flagicon|Empire of Japan|army}} Fukutaro Nishiyama
{{nowrap|{{flagicon|Empire of Japan|army}} Noakata Utsunomiya}}
{{flagicon|Empire of Japan|army}} Bunzo Sato
| units1 = {{flagicon|United States|1912}} Sixth Army{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Robert Ross |date=1993 |title=Triumph in the Philippines |chapter=Chapter XXV: The Collapse of the Baguio Front |chapter-url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Triumph/USA-P-Triumph-25.html |publisher=Department of the Army |pages=468–490 |isbn=978-0-16-023810-9 |access-date=23 September 2014 |url=http://history.army.mil/html/books/005/5-10-1/CMH_Pub_5-10-1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927073909/http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/005/5-10-1/CMH_Pub_5-10-1.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 September 2012 }}{{cite book |last=Salecker |first=Gene Eric |date=2008 |title=Rolling Thunder Against The Rising Sun |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VlfMQk-wekkC&q=Battle+of+Baguio+1945+37th+33rd&pg=RA1-PT260 |location=Mechanicsburg, PA |publisher=Stackpole Books |page=260 |isbn=978-0-8117-0314-7 |access-date=23 September 2014 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.33rdinfantrydivision.org/document_baguio.htm |title=Toward Baguio |author= |date=2008 |publisher=33rd Infantry Division Association |access-date=23 September 2014 }}{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Mary H. |date=1999 |title=Special Studies, Chronology, 1941–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0jKaqSLP5QC&q=Battle+of+Baguio+1945&pg=PA501 |publisher=Government Printing Office |page=501 |isbn=978-0-16-001876-3 |access-date=23 February 2014 }}
{{flagicon|United States|1912}} {{flagicon|Philippine Commonwealth}} United States Army Forces in the Philippines – Northern Luzon
| units2 = {{flagicon|Empire of Japan|army}} Fourteenth Area Army
- 23rd Infantry Division
- 58th Mixed Brigade
| strength1 =
| strength2 =
| casualties1 =
| casualties2 = Over 2,000 killed
}}
{{Campaignbox Philippines 1944–1945}}
The Battle of Baguio (Filipino: Labanan sa Baguio; Ilocano: Gubat ti Baguio) occurred between 21 February and 26 April 1945 and was part of the greater Luzon campaign during the Allied liberation of the Philippines at the end of World War II. During the battle, American and Philippine forces recaptured the city of Baguio on the island of Luzon from a Japanese occupation force. One of the last tank engagements of the Philippine campaign took place during the battle. Baguio later became the scene of the final surrender of Japanese forces in the Philippines in September 1945.
Background
Prior to World War II, Baguio was the summer capital of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, as well as the home of the Philippine Military Academy.{{cite book |last1=Sakakida |first1=Richard |author-link=Richard Sakakida |last2=Kiyosaki |first2=Wayne S. |date=3 July 1995 |title=A Spy in Their Midst: The World War II Struggle of a Japanese-American Hero |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MAMu80z3wvkC&q=Baguio%20summer%20capital%20Commonwealth%20Philippine%20Military%20Academy&pg=PA165 |publisher=Madison Books |page=165 |isbn=978-1-4616-6286-0 }} In 1939, the city had a population of 24,000 people, most of whom were Filipinos, along with other nationalities, including about 500 Japanese.{{cite news |title=Flowers, new song for 72nd year of Baguio war bombings |url=http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/543421/flowers-new-song-for-72nd-year-of-baguio-war-bombings |newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer |date=9 December 2013 |access-date=25 September 2014 }} Following the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941, the Japanese used Camp John Hay, an American installation in Baguio, as a military base. In October 1944, American soldiers landed on Leyte, beginning the liberation of the Philippines.{{cite web |url=https://www.defense.gov/home/features/Leyte/ |title=60th Anniversary Battle of Leyte Gulf |author= |date=20 October 2004 |publisher=United States Department of Defense |access-date=25 September 2014 }}
{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-forces-land-at-leyte-island-in-the-philippines |title=U.S. forces land at Leyte Island in the Philippines |author= |website=History Channel |publisher=A&E Television Networks, LLC. |access-date=25 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705055626/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/us-forces-land-at-leyte-island-in-the-philippines |archive-date=5 July 2014 |url-status=dead }}
General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the commander of the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army, transferred his headquarters to Baguio in December 1944, planning to fight a delaying action against the Americans to give time for Japan to defend itself.{{cite book |last=Morison |first=Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot |author-link1=Samuel Eliot Morison |date=2002 |title=History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: The Liberation of the Philippines – Luzon, Mindanao, The Visayas, 1944–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nICvzYNBKiUC&q=Yamashita%20evacuates%20Baguio&pg=PA196 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |page=196 |isbn=978-0-252-07064-8 }}
{{cite book |last=Barnett |first=Louise |date=21 January 2010 |title=Atrocity and American Military Justice in Southeast Asia: Trial by Army |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASyMAgAAQBAJ&q=Yamashita%20evacuates%20Baguio&pg=PA138 |publisher=Routledge |page=138 |isbn=978-1-135-17236-7 }} In early January 1945, American forces landed at Lingayen Gulf.{{cite book |last=MacArthur |first=General of the Army Douglas |author-link1=Douglas MacArthur |date=2006 |title=Reports of General MacArthur |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V2%20P2/index.htm#cont |chapter=Chapter XV: Battle on Luzon |chapter-url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V2%20P2/ch15.htm |publisher=Center of Military History |pages=467–527 |isbn=978-1-78266-037-8 |access-date=25 September 2014 |archive-date=7 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907044510/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V2%20P2/index.htm#cont |url-status=dead }} Thereafter, the American Sixth Army conducted two campaigns, one against the Japanese forces east of Manila, and the second against Yamashita's forces in northern Luzon.{{cite book |last=Leary |first=William M. |author-link=William M. Leary |date=1 May 2004 |title=We Shall Return!: MacArthur's Commanders and the Defeat of Japan, 1942–1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uoVjgw1zkCkC&q=Yamashita%20Baguio%20Shobu%20Group&pg=PA83 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |page=83 |isbn=978-0-8131-9105-8 }}
Campaign
Between late February and early April 1945, the Allied forces, primarily consisting of the United States Army's 33rd Infantry Division, with assistance from regiments of the Philippine guerrilla force United States Army Forces in the Philippines – Northern Luzon, advanced towards Baguio. By late March, the city was within range of American artillery. Between March 4 and 10, United States Fifth Air Force planes dropped 933 tons of bombs and 1,185 gallons of napalm on Baguio, reducing much of the city to rubble.{{Cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Angel Velasco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1v48DAAAQBAJ |title=Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream 1899-1999 |last2=Francia |first2=Luis H. |date=December 2002 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-9791-4 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1v48DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA219 219] |language=en}} President José P. Laurel of the collaborationist Second Philippine Republic, having moved to Baguio from Manila in December 1944, departed Baguio on 22 March, reaching Taiwan on 30 March;{{cite web |url=http://www.smc.org.ph/administrator/uploads/apmj_pdf/APMJ1999N1-2ART8.pdf |title=Government in Exile |last1=Jose |first1=Ricardo T. |website=Scalabrini Migration Center |access-date=24 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010081702/http://www.smc.org.ph/administrator/uploads/apmj_pdf/APMJ1999N1-2ART8.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2014 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} the remainder of the Second Republic government in the Philippines, along with Japanese civilians, were ordered to evacuate Baguio on 30 March. Yamashita and his staff relocated to Bambang.{{cite book |last=Zeiler |first=Thomas W. |date=2004 |title=Unconditional Defeat: Japan, America, and the End of World War II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gst1FpsWZQC&q=Yamashita%20evacuates%20Baguio&pg=PA134 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=134 |isbn=978-0-8420-2991-9 }} A major offensive to capture Baguio did not occur until mid-April, when United States Army's 37th Infantry Division, minus the 145th Infantry Regiment, was released from garrisoning Manila to launch a two-division assault into Baguio from the west and south.
During the Allied drive towards Baguio from the west, a six-day battle was fought at Irisan Gorge and the nearby Irisan River.{{cite book |last=Mathias |first=Frank F. |date=1999 |title=GI Jive: An Army Bandsman in World War II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGxGCxTsohkC&q=Irisan%20Gorge&pg=PA170 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |page=170 |isbn=978-0-8131-2785-9 }}
{{cite book |last=Spector |first=Ronald H. |date=11 December 2012 |title=Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ObzQvjrsPwC&q=Irisan%20Gorge&pg=PT561 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=561 |isbn=978-1-4767-2742-4 }}
{{cite book |last=Ohl |first=John Kennedy |date=2001 |title=Minuteman: The Military Career of General Robert S. Beightler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4F-qtvhO5ewC&q=Irisan%20Gorge&pg=PA202 |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |page=202 |isbn=978-1-55587-923-5 }}
{{cite news |last=Caluza |first=Desiree |date=28 April 2009 |title=Gratitude, roses for liberators of Baguio |url=http://services.inquirer.net/mobile/09/04/28/html_output/xmlhtml/20090427-201795-xml.html |newspaper=Inquirer Northern Luzon |access-date=24 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006135008/http://services.inquirer.net/mobile/09/04/28/html_output/xmlhtml/20090427-201795-xml.html |archive-date=6 October 2014 |url-status=dead }}
{{cite book |last=Nalty |first=Bernard C. |date=1999 |title=War in the Pacific: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay : the Story of the Bitter Struggle in the Pacific Theater of World War II, Featuring Commissioned Photographs of Artifacts from All the Major Combatants |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cd3fql_JoO4C&q=Irisan%20Gorge&pg=PA222 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |page=222 |isbn=978-0-8061-3199-3 }} This battle involved one of the last tank-versus-tank engagements of the Philippines campaign, between M4 Shermans of the U.S. Army's Company B, 775th Tank Battalion, and Type 97s of the IJA's 5th Tank Company, 10th Tank Regiment.{{cite book |last=Zaloga |first=Steven J. |date=2012 |title=M4 Sherman Vs Type 97 Chi-Ha: The Pacific 1945 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WDKkAwAAQBAJ&q=Irisan%20Gorge&pg=PA73 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |page=73 |isbn=978-1-84908-638-7 }}
In mid-April, 7,000 civilians, including foreign nationals, made their way from Baguio to American lines.{{cite news |author= |agency=Associated Press |date=18 April 1945 |title=M'Arthur Frees 7,000 Civilians In Luzon Drive: Troops Reach Edge of Baguio |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1945/04/18/page/5/article/marthur-frees-7-000-civilians-in-luzon-drive |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |location=Manila |access-date=3 October 2014 }} Among them were five cabinet members of the Second Republic; Brigadier General Manuel Roxas was "freed", the other four were captured as collaborators.{{cite news |last=Harris |first=Reg |date=19 April 1945 |title=Secret Trek Saves 7000 |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48967927 |newspaper=The Courier-Mail |location=Brisbane |access-date=3 October 2014 }}
{{cite news |last=Dexter |first=Frank |date=19 April 1945 |title=7,000 Rescued From Baguio – "Puppet" Ministers Seized |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1093486 |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |access-date=3 October 2014 }}
{{cite book |last=Chapman |first=Abraham |chapter=Notes on the Philippine elections |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yookbQZ-0yUC&q=Baguio%201945%20Roxas&pg=PA376 |date=2001 |editor1-last=Krotaska |editor1-first=Paul H. |title=South East Asia, Colonial History: Peaceful transitions to independence (1945–1963) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yookbQZ-0yUC |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=376 |isbn=978-0-415-24784-9 }}
{{cite book |last=Rovere |first=Richard Halworth |date=1992 |title=General MacArthur and President Truman: The Struggle for Control of American Foreign Policy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vhN7MmdcGCsC&pg=PA83 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |page=83 |isbn=978-1-4128-2439-2 }}
{{cite book |last=Karnow |first=Stanley |date=24 November 2010 |title=In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VbwogbQ3l8UC&q=Roxas%20Baguio%201945&pg=PT626 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |page=626 |isbn=978-0-307-77543-6 }} On 22 April, Major General Noakata Utsunomiya, who had been left in command of the defense of Baguio by Yamashita, ordered a withdrawal from Baguio. On 24 April, the first Allied forces – a patrol of the 129th Infantry Regiment – entered Baguio.
Aftermath
File:Session_Road_Ruins.jpg destroyed by artillery fire during the Battle of Baguio. The building had been demolished in 2021 to pave way for a new building.]]
Yamashita, along with 50,500 men of the Shobu Group, held out against the American advance in northern Luzon until 15 August 1945.{{cite web |url=http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/luzon/72-28.htm |title=Luzon 1944–1945 |author= |date=3 October 2003 |website=Center of Military History |publisher=United States Army |access-date=25 September 2014 |archive-date=15 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081215091059/http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/luzon/72-28.htm |url-status=dead }} On 3 September 1945, one day after the official Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay, Yamashita formally surrendered Japanese forces in the Philippines at Camp John Hay's American Residence in the presence of lieutenant-generals Arthur Percival and Jonathan Wainwright.{{cite book |author=General Staff of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur |date=1966 |title=Reports of General MacArthur: The Campaign of MacArthur in the Pacific, Volume I |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V1/index.htm#contents |chapter=Chapter XIV: Japan's Surrender |chapter-url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V1/ch14.htm |publisher=United States Army |page=464 |isbn=978-1-78266-035-4 |access-date=25 September 2014 |archive-date=12 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212181053/http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V1/index.htm#contents |url-status=dead }}
{{cite web |url=http://manila.usembassy.gov/about-us/american-residence-in-baguio.html |title=The American Residence in Baguio |website=Embassy of the United States, Manila, Philippines |publisher=United States Department of State |access-date=25 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903065401/http://manila.usembassy.gov/about-us/american-residence-in-baguio.html |archive-date=3 September 2014 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}
{{cite book |last1=Farrell |first1=Brian |last2=Hunter |first2=Sandy |date=15 December 2009 |title=A Great Betrayal: The Fall of Singapore Revisited |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQWJAAAAQBAJ&q=Japanese%20Surrender%20Baguio%20Yamashita&pg=PA163 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd |page=163 |isbn=9789814435468 }}
{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer |date=21 November 2012 |title=Almanac of American Military History, Volume 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TO2mx314ST0C&q=Japanese%20Surrender%20Baguio%20Yamashita&pg=PA1727 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=1727 |isbn=978-1-59884-530-3 }}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://archive.org/details/ADC-4068b U.S. Army footage of the battle of Baguio] via Archive.org
{{coord missing|Philippines}}
Category:1945 in the Philippines
Category:Tank battles involving Japan
Category:Tank battles of World War II
Category:Philippines campaign (1944–1945)
Category:South West Pacific theatre of World War II
Category:Battles of World War II involving the United States
Category:Japan–United States military relations
Category:Japan–Philippines military relations
Category:Philippines–United States military relations
Category:Philippines in World War II