On land, the Philippines campaign continued until the end of the war. In January 1945, the Americans landed at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, and embarked on the largest land campaign of the Pacific War. Yamashita, the Japanese commander, like MacArthur in 1942, dispersed his units into the mountains – though unlike MacArthur, he also chose to defend Manila. To avoid needless violence, Japanese Imperial Army General Tomoyuki Yamashita had ordered a withdrawal of Japanese troops from Manila. However, 19,000 soldiers under Vice Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi were encircled within the city. The city was finally taken in February, after fighting that left it in ruins, with 100,000 Filipino civilians killed. From February 3 to March 3, 1945, after the climactic battle at Intramuros ended, the thoroughly devastated city of Manila was officially liberated.

Bataan, Corregidor and Mindanao were all recaptured. Elsewhere, contrary to his ‘leap frogging’ tactic, MacArthur also deployed sizeable forces to re-take the other Philippine Islands, though they were strategically unimportant. On Luzon, Japanese resistance persisted to the bitter end, with Yamashita fighting a skilful delaying campaign. After months of hard fighting and at a cost of 50,000 American casualties and 400,000 Japanese dead. The Filipino Resistance emerged to play a significant supporting role, particularly in the southern islands. Despite communist involvement, MacArthur, unlike American generals in Europe or the British in Burma and Malaya, welcomed its help.

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