1.
Battle of Leyte Gulf
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The Battle of Leyte Gulf is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history. It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar and Luzon, from 23–26 October 1944, between combined American and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Imperial Japanese Navy mobilized nearly all of its major naval vessels in an attempt to defeat the Allied invasion but was repulsed by the U. S. Navys 3rd. The IJN failed to achieve its objective, suffered heavy losses. The majority of its surviving ships, deprived of fuel, remained in their bases for the rest of the Pacific War. It was the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carried out organized kamikaze attacks, by the time of the battle, Japan had fewer aircraft than the Allied forces had sea vessels, demonstrating the difference in power of the two sides at this point of the war. S. 5th Fleets Fast Carrier Task Force captured most of the Mariana Islands and this offensive breached Japans strategic inner defense ring and gave the Americans a base from which long-range Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers could attack the Japanese home islands. The Japanese counterattacked in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the U. S. Navy destroyed three Japanese aircraft carriers and approximately 600 Japanese aircraft, leaving the IJN with virtually no carrier-borne air power or any experienced pilots. For subsequent operations, Admiral Ernest J. U. S. Army General Douglas MacArthur championed an invasion of the Philippines, which also lay across the supply lines to Japan. Leaving the Philippines in Japanese hands would be a blow to American prestige and an affront to MacArthur. However, Nimitz and MacArthur initially had opposing plans, with Nimitzs plan centered on an invasion of Formosa, Formosa could also serve as a base for an invasion of mainland China, which MacArthur felt was unnecessary. Nimitz eventually changed his mind and agreed to MacArthurs plan and it was also estimated that an invasion of Formosa would require about 12 divisions of U. S. Army soldiers and Marines. It was eventually decided that MacArthurs forces would invade the island of Leyte in the central Philippines, amphibious forces and close naval support would be provided by the 7th Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Thomas C. The 7th Fleet at this time contained units of the U. S. Navy, the U. S. 3rd Fleet—commanded by Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. with Task Force 38 as its main component—would provide more distant cover and support for the invasion. A fundamental defect in this plan was there would be no single American naval admiral in overall command, Kinkaid and his 7th Fleet fell under MacArthur as Supreme Allied Commander Southwest Pacific, whereas Halseys 3rd Fleet reported to Nimitz as C-in-C Pacific Ocean Areas. This lack of unity of command, along with failures in communication, was to produce a crisis, by coincidence, the Japanese plan, using three separate fleets, also lacked an overall commander. The American options were apparent to the IJN, the plans were for complex offensive operations committing nearly all available forces to a decisive battle, despite this substantially depleting Japans slender reserves of fuel oil. The Japanese command therefore put Shō-Gō2 into action, launching waves of air attacks against 3rd Fleets carriers, following the American invasion of the Philippines, the Japanese Navy made the transition to Shō-Gō1
2.
Pacific War
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The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in the Pacific and East Asia. It was fought over a vast area that included the Pacific Ocean and islands, the South West Pacific, South-East Asia, and in China. The Pacific War saw the Allied powers pitted against the Empire of Japan, the formal and official surrender of Japan took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. In Allied countries during the war, The Pacific War was not usually distinguished from World War II in general, or was known simply as the War against Japan. Japan used the name Greater East Asia War, as chosen by a decision on 10 December 1941. Japanese officials integrated what they called the Japan–China Incident into the Greater East Asia War, in Japan, the Fifteen Years War is also used, referring to the period from the Mukden Incident of 1931 through 1945. The Phayap Army sent troops to invade and occupy northeastern Burma, also involved were the Japanese puppet states of Manchukuo and Mengjiang, and the collaborationist Wang Jingwei regime. The official policy of the U. S. Government is that Thailand was not an ally of the Axis, Japan conscripted many soldiers from its colonies of Korea and Formosa. To a small extent, some Vichy French, Indian National Army, Germany and Italy both had limited involvement in the Pacific War. The German and the Italian navies operated submarines and raiding ships in the Indian, the Italians had access to concession territory naval bases in China, while the Germans did not. After Japans attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declarations of war, mexico, Free France and many other countries also took part, especially forces from other British colonies. Between 1942 and 1945, there were four main areas of conflict in the Pacific War, China, the Central Pacific, South East Asia, U. S. sources refer to two theaters within the Pacific War, the Pacific theater and the China Burma India Theater. However these were not operational commands, in the Pacific, the Allies divided operational control of their forces between two supreme commands, known as Pacific Ocean Areas and Southwest Pacific Area. In 1945, for a period just before the Japanese surrender. By 1937, Japan controlled Manchuria and was ready to move deeper into China, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 7 July 1937 provoked full-scale war between China and Japan. In August 1937, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to fight about 300,000 Japanese troops in Shanghai, the Japanese continued to push the Chinese forces back, capturing the capital Nanking in December 1937 and committed which was known as Nanking Massacre. In March 1938, Nationalist forces won their first victory at Taierzhuang, but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by Japanese in May. In June 1938, Japan deployed about 350,000 troops to invade Wuhan, the Japanese achieved major military victories, but world opinion—in particular in the United States—condemned Japan, especially after the Panay incident
3.
Douglas MacArthur
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Douglas MacArthur was an American five-star general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and he received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign, which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur, Jr. the first father and son to be awarded the medal. He was one of five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the US Army. During the 1914 United States occupation of Veracruz, he conducted a reconnaissance mission, in 1917, he was promoted from major to colonel and became chief of staff of the 42nd Division. From 1919 to 1922, MacArthur served as Superintendent of the U. S, Military Academy at West Point, where he attempted a series of reforms. His next assignment was in the Philippines, where in 1924 he was instrumental in quelling the Philippine Scout Mutiny, in 1925, he became the Armys youngest major general. He served on the martial of Brigadier General Billy Mitchell and was president of the American Olympic Committee during the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. In 1930, he became Chief of Staff of the United States Army, as such, he was involved in the expulsion of the Bonus Army protesters from Washington, D. C. in 1932, and the establishment and organization of the Civilian Conservation Corps. He retired from the US Army in 1937 to become Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines, MacArthur was recalled to active duty in 1941 as commander of United States Army Forces in the Far East. A series of disasters followed, starting with the destruction of his air forces on 8 December 1941, MacArthurs forces were soon compelled to withdraw to Bataan, where they held out until May 1942. In March 1942, MacArthur, his family and his staff left nearby Corregidor Island in PT boats and escaped to Australia, upon his arrival in Australia, MacArthur gave a speech in which he famously promised I shall return to the Philippines. For his defense of the Philippines, MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor, after more than two years of fighting in the Pacific, he fulfilled a promise to return to the Philippines. He officially accepted Japans surrender on 2 September 1945, aboard USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay, as the effective ruler of Japan, he oversaw sweeping economic, political and social changes. He led the United Nations Command in the Korean War until he was removed from command by President Harry S. Truman on 11 April 1951 and he later became Chairman of the Board of Remington Rand. A military brat, Douglas MacArthur was born 26 January 1880, at Little Rock Barracks, Little Rock, Arkansas, to Arthur MacArthur, Jr. a U. S. Army captain, Pinkney came from a prominent Norfolk, Virginia, family. Two of her brothers had fought for the South in the Civil War, Arthur and Pinky had three sons, of whom Douglas was the youngest, following Arthur III, born on 1 August 1876, and Malcolm, born on 17 October 1878. The family lived on a succession of Army posts in the American Old West, conditions were primitive, and Malcolm died of measles in 1883. In his memoir, Reminiscences, MacArthur wrote I learned to ride and shoot even before I could read or write—indeed and this time on the frontier ended in July 1889 when the family moved to Washington, D. C. where Douglas attended the Force Public School
4.
Leyte Island
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Leyte /ˈleɪtɛ/ is an island in the Visayas group of the Philippines. Politically, the island is divided into two provinces, Leyte and Southern Leyte, territorially, Southern Leyte includes the island of Panaon to its south. To the north of Leyte is the province of Biliran. The major cities of Leyte are Tacloban, on the shore at the northwest corner of Leyte Gulf. The island was once the location of Mairete, a community which was ruled by Datu Ete. Before being colonized by Spain, the island was home to indigenous animist Warays to the east. Leyte today is notable for the electric power plants near Ormoc. However, Leyte is most famous for its role in the reconquest of the Philippines in World War II. On 20 October 1944, General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore on Leyte, saying, I have returned, the convergence of naval forces resulted in the four-day Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history. The island measures about 180 kilometres north-south and about 65 kilometres at its widest point, in the north it nearly joins the island of Samar, separated by the San Juanico Strait, which becomes as narrow as 2 kilometres in some places. The island province of Biliran is also to the north of Leyte and is joined to Leyte island by a bridge across the narrow Biliran Strait, to the south, Leyte is separated from Mindanao by the Surigao Strait. To the east, Leyte is somewhat set back from the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, Samar to the northeast, to the west is the Camotes Sea. Leyte is mostly forested and mountainous, but the Leyte Valley in the northeast has much agriculture. The Leyte Provincial capital is the seat of the government where there is a historic mural depicting the First Mass of Limasawa in the Orient. The MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park in Red Beach, Palo and it also has a lagoon where a life-size statue of Gen. MacArthur stands. MacArthurs true landing took place at Dulag, Leyte, lake Danao is a violin-shaped lake hemmed by cloud-capped mountain ranges. Kalanggaman Island in Palompon, Leyte is an island with pure white sand. The ecological atmosphere of the island had been preserved by the municipality, nino Shrine and Heritage Museum boasts the painting of the fourteen stations of the cross done by Filipino artists and a bas-relief of the legend of the first Filipino man and woman
5.
Philippines
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The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
6.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
7.
Allies of World War II
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The Allies of World War II, called the United Nations from the 1 January 1942 declaration, were the countries that together opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War. The Allies promoted the alliance as seeking to stop German, Japanese, at the start of the war on 1 September 1939, the Allies consisted of France, Poland and the United Kingdom, and dependent states, such as the British India. Within days they were joined by the independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Poland was a minor factor after its defeat in 1939, France was a minor factor after its defeat in 1940. China had already been into a war with Japan since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937. The alliance was formalised by the Declaration by United Nations, from 1 January 1942, however, the name United Nations was rarely used to describe the Allies during the war. The leaders of the Big Three – the UK, the Soviet Union, in 1945, the Allied nations became the basis of the United Nations. The origins of the Allied powers stem from the Allies of World War I, Germany resented signing Treaty of Versailles. The new Weimar republics legitimacy became shaken, by the early 1930s, the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler became the dominant revanchist movement in Germany and Hitler and the Nazis gained power in 1933. The Nazi regime demanded the cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles and made claims to German-populated Austria. The likelihood of war was high, and the question was whether it could be avoided through strategies such as appeasement, in Asia, when Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, the League of Nations condemned it for aggression against China. Japan responded by leaving the League of Nations in March 1933, after four quiet years, the Sino-Japanese War erupted in 1937 with Japanese forces invading China. The League of Nations condemned Japans actions and initiated sanctions on Japan, the United States, in particular, was angered at Japan and sought to support China. In March 1939, Germany took over Czechoslovakia, violating the Munich Agreement signed six months before, Britain and France decided that Hitler had no intention to uphold diplomatic agreements and responded by preparing for war. On 31 March 1939, Britain formed the Anglo-Polish military alliance in an effort to avert a German attack on the country, also, the French had a long-standing alliance with Poland since 1921. The Soviet Union sought an alliance with the powers. The agreement secretly divided the independent nations of eastern Europe between the two powers and assured adequate oil supplies for the German war machine, on 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany. Then, on 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, a Polish government-in-exile was set up and it continued to be one of the Allies, a model followed by other occupied countries. After a quiet winter, Germany in April 1940 invaded and quickly defeated Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Britain and its Empire stood alone against Hitler and Mussolini
8.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
9.
Commonwealth of the Philippines
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It replaced the Insular Government, a United States territorial government, and was established by the Tydings–McDuffie Act. The Commonwealth was designed as an administration in preparation for the countrys full achievement of independence. During its more than a decade of existence, the Commonwealth had a strong executive and its legislature, dominated by the Nacionalista Party, was at first unicameral, but later bicameral. In 1937, the government selected Tagalog–the language of Manila and its surrounding provinces–as the basis of the national language, womens suffrage was adopted and the economy recovered to its pre-Depression level before the Japanese occupation in 1942. The Commonwealth government went into exile from 1942 to 1945, when the Philippines was under Japanese occupation, in 1946, the Commonwealth ended and the Philippines claimed full sovereignty as provided for in Article XVIII of the 1935 Constitution. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was also known as the Philippine Commonwealth and it had official names in Tagalog, Kómonwélt ng Pilipinas and Spanish, Mancomunidad de Filipinas. The 1935 constitution specifies the Philippines as the short form name and uses the Philippine Islands only to refer to pre-1935 status. Under the Insular Government, both terms had official status, the pre-1935 U. S. territorial administration, or Insular Government, was headed by a governor general who was appointed by the president of the United States. In December 1932, the U. S. Congress passed the Hare–Hawes–Cutting Act with the premise of granting Filipinos independence, provisions of the bill included reserving several military and naval bases for the United States, as well as imposing tariffs and quotas on Philippine exports. The bill, however, was opposed by the then Philippine Senate President Manuel L. Quezon and was rejected by the Philippine Senate. A Constitutional Convention was convened in Manila on July 30,1934, on February 8,1935, the 1935 Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines was approved by the convention by a vote of 177 to 1. The constitution was approved by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 23,1935, on 17 September 1935, presidential elections were held. Candidates included former president Emilio Aguinaldo, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente leader Gregorio Aglipay, Manuel L. Quezon and Sergio Osmeña of the Nacionalista Party were proclaimed the winners, winning the seats of president and vice-president, respectively. The Commonwealth Government was inaugurated on the morning of November 15,1935, the event was attended by a crowd of around 300,000 people. The new government embarked on ambitious nation-building policies in preparation for economic, a proper evaluation of the policies effectiveness or failure is difficult due to Japanese invasion and occupation during World War II. Japan launched an attack on the Philippines on December 8,1941. The Commonwealth government drafted the Philippine Army into the U. S. Army Forces Far East, Manila was declared an open city to prevent its destruction, and it was occupied by the Japanese on January 2,1942. Meanwhile, battles against the Japanese continued on the Bataan Peninsula, Corregidor and this government participated in the Pacific War Council as well as the Declaration by United Nations
10.
Axis Powers
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The Axis powers, also known as the Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, were the nations that fought in World War II against the Allied Powers. The Axis agreed on their opposition to the Allies, but did not completely coordinate their activity, the Axis grew out of the diplomatic efforts of Germany, Italy, and Japan to secure their own specific expansionist interests in the mid-1930s. The first step was the treaty signed by Germany and Italy in October 1936, Mussolini declared on 1 November that all other European countries would from then on rotate on the Rome–Berlin axis, thus creating the term Axis. The almost simultaneous second step was the signing in November 1936 of the Anti-Comintern Pact, Italy joined the Pact in 1937. At its zenith during World War II, the Axis presided over territories that occupied parts of Europe, North Africa. There were no three-way summit meetings and cooperation and coordination was minimal, the war ended in 1945 with the defeat of the Axis powers and the dissolution of their alliance. As in the case of the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, at the time he was seeking an alliance with the Weimar Republic against Yugoslavia and France in the dispute over the Free State of Fiume. The term was used by Hungarys prime minister Gyula Gömbös when advocating an alliance of Hungary with Germany, when Mussolini publicly announced the signing on 1 November, he proclaimed the creation of a Rome–Berlin axis. Italy under Duce Benito Mussolini had pursued an alliance of Italy with Germany against France since the early 1920s. He believed that Italy could expand its influence in Europe by allying with Germany against France, in early 1923, as a goodwill gesture to Germany, Italy secretly delivered weapons for the German Army, which had faced major disarmament under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. General Hans von Seeckt supported an alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union to invade and partition Poland between them and restore the German-Russian border of 1914. The discussions concluded that Germans still wanted a war of revenge against France but were short on weapons, however at this time Mussolini stressed one important condition that Italy must pursue in an alliance with Germany, that Italy must. Tow them, not be towed by them, the French government warned Italy that it had to choose whether to be on the side of the pro-Versailles powers or that of the anti-Versailles revanchists. Grandi responded that Italy would be willing to offer France support against Germany if France gave Italy its mandate over Cameroon, France refused Italys proposed exchange for support, as it believed Italys demands were unacceptable and the threat from Germany was not yet immediate. In 1932, Gyula Gömbös and the Party of National Unity rose to power in Hungary, Gömbös sought to alter Hungarys post–Treaty of Trianon borders by forming an alliance with Austria and Italy, knowing that Hungary alone was not capable of challenging the Little Entente powers. At the meeting between Gömbös and Mussolini in Rome on 10 November 1932, the question came up of the sovereignty of Austria in relation to the rise to power in Germany of the Nazi Party. Mussolini was worried about Nazi ambitions towards Austria, and indicated that at least in the term he was committed to maintaining Austria as a sovereign state. Italy had concerns over a Germany which included Austria laying land claims to German-populated territories of the South Tyrol within Italy, Mussolini said he hoped the Anschluss could be postponed as long as possible until the breakout of a European war that he estimated would begin in 1938
11.
Empire of Japan
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The Empire of Japan was the historical Japanese nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan. Imperial Japans rapid industrialization and militarization under the slogan Fukoku Kyōhei led to its emergence as a world power, after several large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the Empire also gained notoriety for its war crimes against the peoples it conquered. A period of occupation by the Allies followed the surrender, Occupation and reconstruction continued well into the 1950s, eventually forming the current nation-state whose full title is the State of Japan or simply rendered Japan in English. The historical state is referred to as the Empire of Japan or the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan in English. In Japanese it is referred to as Dai Nippon Teikoku, which translates to Greater Japanese Empire and this is analogous to Großdeutsches Reich, a term that translates to Greater German Empire in English and Dai Doitsu Teikoku in Japanese. This meaning is significant in terms of geography, encompassing Japan, due to its name in kanji characters and its flag, it was also given the exonym Empire of the Sun. After two centuries, the policy, or Sakoku, under the shoguns of the Edo period came to an end when the country was forced open to trade by the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The following years saw increased trade and interaction, commercial treaties between the Tokugawa shogunate and Western countries were signed. In large part due to the terms of these Unequal Treaties, the Shogunate soon faced internal hostility, which materialized into a radical, xenophobic movement. In March 1863, the Emperor issued the order to expel barbarians, although the Shogunate had no intention of enforcing the order, it nevertheless inspired attacks against the Shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan. The Namamugi Incident during 1862 led to the murder of an Englishman, Charles Lennox Richardson, the British demanded reparations but were denied. While attempting to exact payment, the Royal Navy was fired on from coastal batteries near the town of Kagoshima and they responded by bombarding the port of Kagoshima in 1863. For Richardsons death, the Tokugawa government agreed to pay an indemnity, shelling of foreign shipping in Shimonoseki and attacks against foreign property led to the Bombardment of Shimonoseki by a multinational force in 1864. The Chōshū clan also launched the coup known as the Kinmon incident. The Satsuma-Chōshū alliance was established in 1866 to combine their efforts to overthrow the Tokugawa bakufu, in early 1867, Emperor Kōmei died of smallpox and was replaced by his son, Crown Prince Mutsuhito. On November 9,1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned from his post and authorities to the Emperor, however, while Yoshinobus resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. On January 3,1868, Satsuma-Chōshū forces seized the palace in Kyoto. On January 17,1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the proclamation of the Restoration, on January 24, Yoshinobu decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces
12.
Second Philippine Republic
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President Manuel L. Quezon declared the national capital Manila an open city, and left it under the rule of Jorge B. The Japanese entered the city on January 2,1942, japan fully captured the Philippines on May 6,1942, after the Battle of Corregidor. Its first director-general was Benigno Aquino, Sr, the pro-Japanese Ganap Party, which saw the Japanese as the saviours of the archipelago, was absorbed into the KALIBAPI. However, the Philippine Executive Commission refused this option and chose to make the Philippines a republic instead, during his first visit to the Philippines on May 6,1943, Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō promised to return independence to the Philippines as part of its propaganda of Pan-Asianism. This prompted the KALIBAPI to create the Preparatory Committee for Philippine Independence on June 19,1943, a draft constitution was formed by the Preparatory Commission for Independence, consisting of 20 members from the KALIBAPI. The Preparatory Commission, led by José P. Laurel, presented its draft Constitution on September 4,1943, former President Emilio Aguinaldo and General Artemio Ricarte raised the Philippine flag, the same one used during the Philippine–American War, during the inauguration. On the same day, a Pact of Alliance was signed between the new Republic and the Japanese government that was ratified two days later by the National Assembly, the event was also referred to as the Tokyo Conference. However, the Conference marked a point in Japanese foreign policy. It was also the start of efforts to create a framework that would allow for form of diplomatic compromise should the military solution fail altogether. However these moves came too late to save the Empire, which surrendered to the Allies less than two years after the conference. During his term in office, Laurel was faced with problems that the country was experiencing, such as the following, Shortages of food, clothing, oil. Heavy Japanese military presence throughout the entire region, Japanese control of transportation, media, and communications. Laurel attempted to show that the independence of the republic was genuine by rectifying these problems, prioritizing the shortages of food, he organized an agency to distribute rice, even though most of the rice was confiscated by Japanese soldiers. Manila was one of the places in the country that suffered from severe shortages. The people were forced to cultivate private plots which produced root crops like kangkong, the Japanese, in order to raise rice production in the country, brought a quick-maturing horai rice, which was first used in Taiwan. Horai rice was expected to make the Philippines self-sufficient in rice by 1943, the first issue in 1942 consisted of denominations of 1,5,10 and 50 centavos and 1,5, and 10 Pesos. The next year brought replacement notes of the 1,5 and 10 Pesos while 1944 ushered in a 100 Peso note, in 1945, the Japanese issued a 1,000 Pesos note. This set of new money, which was printed even before the war, anti-Japanese newspapers portrayed stories of going to the market laden with suitcases or bayong overflowing with the Japanese-issued bills
13.
Walter Krueger
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Walter Krueger was an American soldier and general officer in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his command of the Sixth United States Army in the South West Pacific Area during World War II and he rose from the rank of private to general in the United States Army. Born in Flatow, West Prussia, Krueger migrated to the United States as a boy and he enlisted for service in the Spanish–American War and served in Cuba, and then re-enlisted for service in the Philippine–American War. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1901. In 1914 he was posted to the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and his regiment was mobilized on 23 June 1916 and served along the Mexican border. After the United States commenced hostilities with Germany in April 1917, Krueger was assigned to the 84th Infantry Division as its Assistant Chief of Staff G-3, and then its chief of staff. In February 1918, he was sent to Langres to attend the American Expeditionary Force General Staff School, between the wars, Krueger served in a number of command and staff positions, and attended the Naval War College at his own request. In 1941, he assumed command of the Third Army, which he led in the Louisiana Maneuvers, as an army commander, Krueger had to grapple with the problems imposed by vast distances, inhospitable terrain, unfavorable climate, and an indefatigable and dangerous enemy. In the Battle of Luzon in 1945, his largest, longest and last battle, Krueger retired to San Antonio, Texas, where he bought a house and wrote From Down Under to Nippon, an account of his campaigns in the Southwest Pacific. His retirement was marred by family tragedies and his son James was dismissed from the Army in 1947 for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. His wifes health deteriorated, and she died of cancer in 1956 and his daughter Dorothy stabbed her husband to death in 1952. She was sentenced to imprisonment by a court-martial, but was freed by the Supreme Court in 1957. Walter Krueger was born in Flatow, West Prussia, then part of the German Empire and he was the son of Julius Krüger, a Prussian landowner who had served as an officer in the Franco-Prussian War, and his wife, Anna, formerly Hasse. Following Juliuss death, Anna and her three children emigrated to the United States to be near her uncle in St. Louis, Walter was then eight years old. In St. Louis, Anna married Emil Carl Schmidt, a Lutheran minister, the family subsequently settled in Madison, Indiana. Krueger was educated at the Upper Seminary School in Madison, as a teenager, he wanted to become a naval officer, but when his mother objected he decided to become a blacksmith instead. On 17 June 1898, Krueger, along many of his fellow high-school students. He reached Santiago de Cuba a few weeks after the Battle of San Juan Hill, mustered out of the volunteers in February 1899, he returned home to Ohio, planning to become a civil engineer
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Robert L. Eichelberger
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Robert Lawrence Eichelberger was a general officer in the United States Army who commanded the Eighth United States Army in the Southwest Pacific Area during World War II. A1909 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he saw service in Panama and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for repeated acts of bravery in Siberia. After the war, he transferred to the Adjutant Generals Corps, in 1940, Eichelberger became the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He acquired Stewart Field as a facility, which gave cadets a chance to qualify as pilots while still at West Point. He became commander of the 77th Infantry Division in March 1942, in August 1942, Eichelberger was abruptly sent to the Southwest Pacific Area, where he led American and Australian troops in the bloody Battle of Buna–Gona. In 1944, he had victories at Hollandia and the Battle of Biak. As Commanding General of the newly formed Eighth Army, Eichelberger led the invasion of the Southern Philippines clearing the islands of Mindoro, Marinduque, Panay, Negros, Cebu, by July 1945, his forces had defeated the Japanese on Mindanao. In August 1945, Eichelbergers Eighth Army began a stint as part of the Occupation of Japan. He retired from the Army at the end of 1948, Robert Lawrence Eichelberger was born at Urbana, Ohio on 9 March 1886, the youngest of five children of George Maley Eichelberger, a farmer and lawyer, and Emma Ring Eichelberger. He grew up on the 235-acre family farm that had established by his grandfather. He graduated from Urbana High School in 1903, and entered Ohio State University and he entered West Point in June 1905. His class of 1909 was a distinguished one, some 28 of them ultimately wore the stars of general officers, including Jacob L. Devers, John C. H. Lee, Edwin F. Harding, George S. Patton and William H. Simpson. Eichelberger was a student, as he had been at high school and Ohio State, but did become a cadet lieutenant. Eichelberger was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 25th Infantry on 11 June 1909. Then, in September, it was sent to the Panama Canal Zone and it was in Panama that Eichelberger met Emmaline Gudger, the daughter of Hezekiah A. Gudger, the Chief Justice of the Panama Canal Zone Supreme Court. After a brief courtship, they were married on 3 April 1913, on returning to the United States in March 1915, Eichelberger was posted to the 22nd Infantry at Fort Porter, New York. It too was sent to the Mexican border, and was based at Douglas, Arizona, in September, he became Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri. Following the American entry into World War I in April 1917, in June he was posted to the 20th Infantry at Fort Douglas, Utah, and commanded a battalion until September, when he was transferred to the newly formed 43rd Infantry at Camp Pike, Arkansas
15.
Franklin C. Sibert
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Franklin Cummings Sibert was a United States Army general. During World War II, Sibert was originally the commander of the 6th Infantry Division but was promoted to command the X Corps of General Walter Kruegers US Sixth Army and his Corps took part in the landing operations of the Battle of Leyte in the Philippines. Sibert was born on January 3,1891, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, as a son of future Major general, William L. Sibert and he attended the United States Military Academy and graduated on June 12,1912. He was commissioned a Second lieutenant in the infantry on the same date, one year later, Sibert married Helen Mildred Rogers on March 4,1913. During World War I, Sibert served with American Expeditionary Force in France, after the War, Sibert attended the Infantry School at Fort Benning in 1924, the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in 1925 and Army War College in 1929. In 1939, Sibert spent some time in Michigan as a Commanding officer of Fort Wayne or Camp Custer. In September 1941 Sibert was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and was appointed to the staff of Lieutenant general Joseph W. Stilwell, Sibert accompanied Stillwell in the retreat from Burma in 1942. Sibert was then appointed the Commanding officer of the 6th Infantry Division and he replaced major general Durward S. Wilson in this capacity. He was also promoted to the rank of Major General on March 11,1942 and he participated in the New Guinea and Philippines campaigns. After commanding the 6th Infantry Division, he commanded the US X Corps, after his retirement, he and his wife lived in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, until his death on June 24,1980. Franklin Cummings Sibert at Arling Cemetery site 6th Infantry Division History Battle of Leyte
16.
John R. Hodge
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John Reed Hodge was a highly decorated officer of the United States Army with the rank of general. His final assignment before retiring was as Chief of Army Field Services, born in Golconda, Illinois, Hodge attended Southern Illinois Teachers College and the University of Illinois. After completing U. S. Army Officer Candidate School at Fort Sheridan and he served in World War I in France and Luxembourg. Remaining in the Army following the end of the war, he taught science at Mississippi State University from 1921–1925. After a posting to Hawaii, he graduated from the Command and General Staff School, the Army War College, the 25th Division was sent overseas to Guadalcanal in November 1942. Hester, who was exhausted from combat, Hodge commanded the 43rd Division during the combats in Northern Solomons and was decorated with Army Distinguished Service Medal for his service. After three months of service with 43rd Division, Hodge was given command of the 23rd Americal Infantry Division on Fiji Islands and he subsequently commanded the Americal Division during the Bougainville campaign. Hodge was appointed commanding officer of the newly activated XXIV Corps in Hawaii and participated in the Battle of Leyte within Philippines Campaign and he received Army Distinguished Service Medals for each of this campaigns. Hodge was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in June 1945. From 1945 to 1948, Hodge was the governor of South Korea under the United States Army Military Government in Korea. He took his corps to Korea under orders of General MacArthur and he was the commanding officer receiving the surrender of all Japanese forces in Korea south of the 38th parallel. Hodge then returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to command V US Corps from 1948 to 1950. After the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, he was named the general of the US Third Army, based in the United States of America. Hodge received a promotion to general on 5 July 1952, and his final assignment before retiring was as Chief of Army Field Services, Hodge retired from military service in June 30,1953 and died in Washington, D. C. in 1963. List of Korea-related topics History of South Korea Military history of the United States Jang Il-soon, who opposed Hodges appointment to lead the United States Army Military Government in Korea
17.
Tomoyuki Yamashita
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Tomoyuki Yamashita was an Imperial Japanese Army general during World War II. The accomplishment earned Yamashita the sobriquet The Tiger of Malaya, after the war, following a trial in Manila, he was found guilty of war crimes and executed by hanging for his troops conduct during the Japanese defense of the occupied Philippines in 1944. Yamashita was the son of a local doctor in Osugi. He attended military schools in his youth. In November 1905 Yamashita graduated from the 18th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and he was ranked 16th out of 920 cadets. In December 1908 he was promoted to lieutenant and fought against the German Empire in Shantung, in May 1916 he was promoted to captain. He attended the 28th class of the Army War College, graduating sixth in his class in 1916 and he married Hisako Nagayama, the daughter of retired Gen. Nagayama, in 1916. Yamashita became an expert on Germany, serving as assistant military attaché at Bern, Switzerland, in February 1922 he was promoted to major. In 1922, on his return to Japan, Maj. Yamashita served in the Imperial Headquarters, while posted to the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, Yamashita unsuccessfully promoted a military reduction plan. Despite his ability, Yamashita fell into disfavor as a result of his involvement with political factions within the Japanese military, as a leading member of the Imperial Way group, he became a rival to Hideki Tōjō and other members of the Control Faction. In 1927 Yamashita was posted to Vienna, Austria, as a military attaché until 1930 and he was then promoted to the rank of Colonel. In 1930 Col. Yamashita was given command of the elite 3rd Imperial Infantry Regiment and he was promoted to major-general in August 1934. After the February 26 Incident of 1936, he fell into disfavor with Emperor Hirohito due to his appeal for leniency toward rebel officers involved in the attempted coup. He realized that he had lost the trust of the Emperor and he was eventually relegated to a post in Korea, being given command of a brigade. Yamashita was promoted to lieutenant-general in November 1937, from 1938-40 he was assigned to command the IJA 4th Division which saw some action in northern China against insurgents fighting the occupying Japanese armies. In December 1940 Yamashita was sent on a clandestine military mission to Germany and Italy. Such strategies caused much friction between himself and Gen. Hideki Tojo, the War Minister, who was not keen on implementing these proposals, on 6 November 1941 Lt. Gen. Yamashita was put in command of the Twenty-Fifth Army. On 8 December he launched an invasion of Malaya from bases in French Indochina, Yamashita remarked that only a driving charge would ensure victory in Malaya
18.
Sixth Army (United States)
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Sixth Army is a field army of the United States Army. It is headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, the Sixth Army saw extensive service in the South Pacific during World War II, including in New Britain, New Guinea, and the Philippines. Postwar it served stateside training army forces till its inactivation during force reduction in 1995, the army was reactivated in 2007. The Sixth United States Army was activated in January 1943, commanded by Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, following the completion of Cartwheel, Sixth Army joined Australian Army and other US forces on the north coast of New Guinea. In September 1944, Sixth Army was relieved from operations in New Guinea by the Eighth United States Army, on 20 October 1944, X Corps and XXIV Corps, under Sixth Army, invaded Leyte in the Philippines. By December, Leyte was secured, and the Sixth Army was relieved again by Eighth Army to prepare for the invasion of Luzon. As a prelude to invasion, the island of Mindoro was invaded by the Western Visayan Task Force comprising the 19th. Sixth Army took part in the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf on 9 January 1945 with the units of I. Sixth Army units fought south until they met up those of Eighth Army advancing from around Manila, Sixth Army then continued to clear the north of Luzon until the end of the war. Sixth Army was to have provided the forces for the first phase of the invasion of Japan. Occupation duty then followed for a short while until Sixth Army returned to the United States, Sixth Army then took responsibility for training of Army forces from part of the continental United States, until it was inactivated as part of force reductions in June 1995. In 2007 it was decided that US Army South will be redesignated as US Army South under the Army modularization program and it is garrisoned at the Old Brooke Army Medical Center building at Fort Sam Houston. The Sixth U. S. Army is portrayed prominently in the 1953 film War of the Worlds, in the film, the 6th Army Commander is portrayed by actor Les Tremayne. In the TV Show, One Day at a time, Schneiders uniform has a 6th US Army Patch - indicating wartime service. List of former commanders of 6th United States Army and United States Army South at United States Army South website Sixth U. S. Army Fort Ord California Born of War. Dedicated to Peace The short film Big Picture, This is Sixth Army is available for download at the Internet Archive A film clip AIR ASSAULT TACTICS is available at the Internet Archive
19.
X Corps (United States)
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X Corps was a corps of the United States Army in World War II and the Korean War. The X Corps was activated in May 1942 at Sherman, Texas, X Corps took part in the following campaigns, New Guinea, Leyte, and Southern Philippines. For its involvement, the X Corps received the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation with a streamer embroidered 17 October 1944 –4 July 1945, X Corps became inactive in 1946. During the Korean War, it took part in Operation Chromite, the landings at Inchon, where it had the 1st Marine Division, the 7th Infantry Division and other US Army units under its command. As the organization grew, due to bureaucratic entanglements supply orders were rejected because Force X was not referenced as a proper organization anywhere in Army manuals, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur asked his Chief of Staff, Major General Ned Almond, to suggest a new name. Force Xs Roman numeral ten reminded Almond of a corps which had fought under MacArthur in the last war—why not call it the X Corps, MacArthur was delighted and approved of the name. General Almond was subsequently chosen by MacArthur as X Corps new commander, the Marines first captured an island offshore of Inchon as a prelude to the assault and at the next tide, the main attack went in. Despite the noise of the attack on the island, it completely surprised the North Korean forces. The Marines then moved on to the city of Seoul. The US Armys 7th Infantry Division, which had landed later at Inchon, engaged the enemy on the outskirts of Seoul, Inchon had a very large tidal range, and was thus very risky to use as a landing site. Nonetheless, the proved to be an enormous success. It is by far the largest amphibious assault to have taken place since World War II, the X Corps planned amphibious landing on the east coast of North Korea is amended by UNC OPORD No.4 culminating in a withdrawal to the sea. The Battle of Chosin Reservoir After the landing at Inchon, X Corps attacked up the Korean peninsula on the flank of Eighth Army. However, it was withdrawn to prepare for another amphibious assault and this action proved to be a mistake on two counts. First, forces of the Eighth Army moving by land reached Wonsan before the assault went in, second, it proved to be too far for UN forces to go. The US 7th Infantry Division was in the center and the US 1st Marine Division on the southern or left flank of the X Corps attack, 3d Infantry Division was initially in reserve. As elements of the I ROK Corps and 7th Infantry Division closed on the Manchurian border, the Chinese Communist Forces choose this moment to intervene en masse in the war. They crossed the Yalu into northern Korea and engaged 8th Army, the Marines were on both left and right sides of the Changjin reservoir
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1st Cavalry Division (United States)
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The 1st Cavalry Division is a combined arms division and is one of the most decorated combat divisions of the United States Army, as well as the other four branches of the U. S. military. It is based at Fort Hood, Texas, as of 2013, the 1st Cavalry Division is subordinate to III Corps and is commanded by Major General John C. Thomson III. The history of the 1st Cavalry Division began in 1921 after the established a permanent cavalry division table of organization. Since 1st Cavalry Division was to assemble from existing units, it was able to go active in September 1921, even though the subordinate units did not arrive completely until as late as 1922. 1st Cavalry Division was assigned to the VIII Corps Area, with its headquarters and 2d Brigade located at Fort Bliss, Texas. The 1st Cavalry Division’s assembled at Douglas, Arizona, the 1st, 7th, and 8th Cavalry Regiments had previously been assigned to the wartime 15th Cavalry Division until they were returned to the VIII Corps Area troop list on 12 May 1918. 1st Cavalry Regiment remained assigned until it was transferred to 1st Cavalry Division on 20 August 1921 and this controversy continued until 18 December 1922, when the 5th Cavalry Regiment, then on the VIII Corps Area Troop List, swapped places with the 10th Cavalry Regiment. In 1923 the 1st Cavalry Division held division maneuvers for the first time, however, financial constraints made that impossible. Only in 1927, through the generosity of a few ranchers who provided land, was the division able to conduct such exercises again. In 1928 Major General Herbert B, crosby, Chief of Cavalry, faced with personnel cuts, reorganized the cavalry regiments, which in turn reduced the size of the 1st Cavalry Division. Crosbys goal was to decrease overhead while maintaining or increasing firepower in the regiment, the cavalry brigades machine gun squadrons were inactivated, while the responsibility for training and employing machine guns fell to the regimental commanders, as in the infantry. The new structure increased the size of the troop, expanded the medical unit to a squadron. A divisional aviation section, an armored car squadron, and tank company were added, the artillery battalion was expanded to a regiment. With the arrival of the 1930s, serious work started on the testing and refining of new equipment, to facilitate this, 1st Cavalry Division traded 1st Cavalry Regiment for 12th Cavalry Regiment on 3 January 1933. Like the 1937 infantry division test, the maneuvers concentrated on the cavalry regiments around which all other units were to be organized. The latter configuration allowed the division to deploy easily in two columns, which was accepted standard cavalry tactics, one headquarters would assume responsibility for the administration and disciplinary control for these forces. The special troops remained as structured in 1928, and no observation squadron or chemical detachment found a place in the division, with the paper changes in the cavalry divisions and other minor adjustments, the strength of a wartime divisional rose to 10,680. In order to prepare for war service, 1st Cavalry Division participated in the maneuvers, Toyahvale
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24th Infantry Division (United States)
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The 24th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army. It was inactivated in October 1996, it was based at Fort Stewart, Georgia and later reactivated at Fort Riley, Kansas. Following the end of the war, the participated in occupation duties in Japan. For the first 18 months of the war, the division was engaged on the front lines with North Korean and Chinese forces. It was withdrawn from the front lines to the force for the remainder of the war. A few years after that conflict, it was inactivated as part of the post-Cold War U. S. military drawdown of the 1990s. The division was reactivated in October 1999 as a formation for training and deploying U. S. Army National Guard units before its deactivation in October 2006, the 24th Infantry Division traces its lineage to Army units activated in Hawaii. It was activated under the Square Division Table of Organization and Equipment on 1 March 1921 as the Hawaiian Division at Schofield Barracks, the division insignia is based on the taro leaf, emblematic of Hawaii. The division was assigned the 21st Infantry Regiment and the 22nd Infantry Regiment, the entire Hawaiian Division was concentrated at a single location during the next few years, allowing it to conduct more effective combined arms training. It was also manned at higher levels than other divisions. Between August and September 1941, the Hawaiian Divisions assets were reorganized to two divisions under the new Triangular Division TO&E. Its brigade headquarters were disbanded and the 27th and 35th Infantry regiments were assigned to the new 25th Infantry Division, Hawaiian Division headquarters was redesignated as Headquarters, 24th Infantry Division on 1 October 1941. The 24th Infantry Division also received the Hawaiian Divisions Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, the 24th Infantry Division was among the first US Army divisions to see combat in World War II and among the last to stop fighting. Walter R. French, Pfc. Conrad Kujawa, Pvt, the division was then charged with the defense of northern Oahu, where it built an elaborate system of coastal defenses throughout 1942. In July 1942, the 299th Infantry Regiment was replaced by the 298th Infantry Regiment, one year later, this regiment was replaced by the 34th Infantry Regiment from the Hawaiian Department Reserve. The 34th Infantry remained with the 24th Infantry Division until the end of the war, as an active component unit, the 34th was easier to deploy than the reserve component units, which were less trained. In May 1943, the 24th Infantry Division was alerted for movement to Australia, once deployed, it began intensive combat training. After training, the moved to Goodenough Island on 31 January 1944, to prepare for Operation Reckless
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7th Infantry Division (United States)
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The 7th Infantry Division is an infantry division of the United States Army. Today, it exists as a unique 250-man deployable headquarters based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord overseeing several units, the division was first activated in December 1917 in World War I, and based at Fort Ord, California for most of its history. Following the Japanese surrender in 1945, the division was stationed in Japan and South Korea and it took part in the Inchon Landings and the advance north until Chinese forces counter-attacked and almost overwhelmed the scattered division. The 7th later would fight in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill, from 1953 to 1971, the 7th Infantry Division defended the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Its main garrison was Camp Casey, South Korea, during these occupation duties, the division saw a complete reorganization in compliance with the Reorganization Objective Army Divisions plan. The divisions former headquarters company grew into the 1st Brigade, 7th Infantry Division while the 13th Infantry Brigade was reactivated as the 2nd Brigade, the 14th Infantry Brigade was reactivated as the 3rd Brigade, 7th Infantry Division. In 1965 the division received its distinctive insignia, which alluded to its history during the Korean War. On 2 April 1971, the returned to the United States and was inactivated at Fort Lewis. In October 1974 the 7th reactivated at its former garrison, Fort Ord, in the late 1980s, it briefly saw action overseas in Operation Golden Pheasant in Honduras and Operation Just Cause in Panama. In the early 1990s, it provided support to the civil authorities in Operation Green Sweep. In 1994, the division was inactivated at Ft. Ord and Ft Ord was closed, as per BRAC rulings. Reactivated in 1999 at Ft Carson, Colorado, where the final role was as a training and evaluation unit for Army National Guard brigades. On 26 April 2012, the Department of Defense announced the 7th Infantry Division headquarters would be reactivated as an administrative unit and this was done on 10 October 2012 at Joint Base Lewis McChord. The 7th Infantry Division was activated on 6 December 1917, exactly eight months after the American entry into World War I, as the 7th Division of the Regular Army at Camp Wheeler, Georgia. One month later, it prepared to deploy to Europe as a part of the American Expeditionary Force, two brigades were assigned to the division, the 13th Infantry Brigade and 14th Infantry Brigade, together with supporting units. Most of the division sailed to Europe aboard the SS Leviathan, while on the Western Front, the 7th Division did not see action at full divisional strength, though its infantry and reconnaissance elements did engage German forces. On 11 October 1918, it first came under fire and later, at Saint-Mihiel. Elements of the 7th probed up toward Prény near the Moselle River, capturing positions and it was at this time that the division first received its shoulder sleeve insignia
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96th Infantry Division (United States)
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The 96th Sustainment Brigade, is a unit of the United States Army that inherited the lineage of the 96th Infantry Division that served in World War II. Effective 17 September 2008, the became the 96th Sustainment Brigade, with its headquarters located at Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City. The division was first organized on 20 October 1918, during the U. S. mobilization for World War I, based at Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina, the 96th was one of the last divisions activated and the war ended before it could be sent overseas. It was thus demobilized on 7 January 1919, the 96th Division was reconstituted in the United States Army Reserve, then called the Organized Reserves, on 24 June 1921. The 96th was located in Portland, Oregon, the 96th Division was put back into the active US Army on 15 August 1942, just eight months after the Attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II. Okinawa, Ryukyus Presidential Unit Citation,1, awards, MH-5, DSC-12, DSM-1, SS-232, LM-4, SM-73, BSM-4,588, AM-84. Commanders, Maj. Gen. James L. Bradley commanded the division throughout its life in World War II. Beauford T. Anderson, Technical sergeant - 381st Infantry Regiment Clarence B, craft, Private first class - 382nd Infantry Regiment Ova A. Kelley, Private - 382nd Infantry Regiment, KIA Edward J. Moskala, Private first class - 383rd Infantry Regiment, KIA Seymour W. After initial training at Camp White in southern Oregon, the 96th Infantry Division participation in the Oregon Maneuver combat exercise in the fall of 1943. The division trained in Hawaiian Islands from July to September 1944 before entering combat in a landing in Leyte Gulf, Philippine Islands. Enemy resistance in the area was quickly broken and the division had advanced to. The division continued to wipe out resistance on the island, engaging in small actions, patrolling, probing. Chalk Ridge was taken 12 December 1944, and major organized resistance was at an end by Christmas Day, the next three months were spent in mopping up, security duty, training, and loading for the coming invasion of Okinawa. The division left the Philippines 27 March 1945 for Okinawa, making a landing on the island on 1 April. The landing was unopposed and a beachhead was established, between 1 and 3 April 1945, resistance stiffened considerably as the division advanced to Kakazu Ridge, where fighting was fierce, from 7 to 16 April 1945. Heavy rains the following week slowed down the advance, the division patrolled an area from Chan to Ogusuku until 30 June. After resting in July, the division left Okinawa for Mindoro, in the Philippines, the division left the Philippines,17 January 1946, for the United States. The division was in combat for 200 days and sustained 8,812 casualties, the division commenced its Army Reserve role in December 1946, commanded by Colonel Ross J. Wilson of Kalispell, Montana
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6th Ranger Battalion (United States)
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The 6th Ranger Battalion was a United States Army Ranger Battalion which saw action in the Pacific during World War II. The battalion is best known for its role in the Raid at Cabanatuan in the Philippines in January 1945, the 6th Rangers history begins with a mule-drawn pack artillery unit, the 98th Field Artillery Battalion. The 98th Field Artillery was formed at Camp Carson, Colorado in 1942 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James M. Callicutt, the Battalion spent the next 12 months in training, but saw no combat. In February 1943, US Sixth Army decided that the battalion was obsolete, and removed the units 800 mules, as well as its commander, the battalions new commander was Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Mucci. Mucci had led a camp in Hawaii which used Ranger training techniques. He announced that the battalion was being converted from field artillery to Rangers, some of the artillery officers were transferred out and replaced by infantry and engineer officers. The task of conversion and training took over a year, the battalion was transferred to Finschhafen, New Guinea, where it was reorganized as a Ranger battalion and redesignated as the 6th Ranger Battalion. The 6th Rangers were to lead the invasion of the Philippines, the battalion left Finchhaven for Leyte in the Philippines on 10 October 1944. It was to secure the islands of Dinagat, Homonhon and Suluan and these islands had the potential to disrupt Sixth Armys landing operations if they remained in Japanese hands. After initial delays due to bad weather, the operation went ahead on 18 October, the 6th Rangers on Dinagat raised the first American flag on Philippine soil as part of General Douglas MacArthurs Return to the Philippines. After the success of this mission, the invasion of Leyte got underway on 20 October 1944, the 6th Rangers were moved to Tacloban on Leyte, where they were mostly used for patrolling actions. Late in the year, the order came through for the battalion to prepare to part in the landings in Lingayen Gulf. On 1 January 1945, the Rangers were transported by sea from Tacloban to Lingayen Gulf, elements of the battalion were sent to Santiago Island to secure the entrance to the Gulf and prevent the enemy outflanking the landing area. Sixth Army Intelligence indicated that the Japanese were holding a number of American POWs in Cabanatuan,60 miles north of Manila. An incident at a camp on Palawan led intelligence to believe that the POWs would be executed as the Imperial Japanese Army retreated, General Walter Krueger, Sixth Army commander, ordered 6th Rangers to bring the prisoners out alive. C Company, under Capt. Robert Prince, reinforced with a platoon from F Company, alamo Scouts and Filipino guerrillas accompanied the 6th Ranger force, and provided reconnaissance and flank protection. The attack went ahead at dusk on 30 January, during the battle, the Rangers rescued 511 POWs and killed or wounded 523 enemy troops. Two Rangers were killed and two died during the evacuation, and 21 Filipino guerrillas were wounded
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Fifth Air Force
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The Fifth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces. It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan and it is the U. S. Air Forces oldest continuously serving Numbered Air Force. The organization has provided 70 years of air power to the Pacific since its establishment in September 1941. Fifth Air Force is the Headquarters Pacific Air Forces forward element in Japan, in addition,5 AF is the air component to United States Forces Japan. First, it plans, conducts, controls, and coordinates air operations assigned by the PACAF Commander, Fifth Air Force maintains a level of readiness necessary for successful completion of directed military operations. To achieve this mission, Fifth Air Force maintains its deterrent force posture to protect both U. S. and Japanese interests, and conducts appropriate air operations should deterrence fail, Fifth Air Force is commanded by Lieutenant General Jerry P. Martinez. With its origins going back over a century to 1912, the command was established on 6 May 1941 as the Philippine Department Air Force at Nichols Field, Luzon. Fifth Air Force was a United States Army Air Forces combat air force in the Pacific Theater of World War II, engaging in combat operations primarily in the Southwest Pacific AOR. During World War II, Fifth Air Force units first engaged the Japanese during the Philippines Campaign, rearmed, it engaged the Japanese in New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies and then as part of the liberating forces in the Philippines Campaign. In the postwar era, Fifth Air Force was the primary USAF occupation force in Japan, the United States Army Philippine Department was established on 11 January 1911 in the Unincorporated Philippine Territory. Fifth Air Force traces its roots to the Philippines with the activation of the Air Office of the Philippine Department in March 1912, the First Company, 2d Aero Squadron, was activated at Fort William McKinley, Luzon, on 3 February 1916. This unit was a school, operating Martin S Hydro seaplanes. The unit operated under the Air Office until 15 October 1917, in 1917 outside Fort Stotsenburg, Luzon, construction began on a half-mile long dirt runway, hangars and other support facilities to bring the local army units into the air age. A permanent Army Air Service presence in the Philippines began in December 1919 with the activation of the 3d Aero Squadron at the facility, the unit was initially equipped with de Havilland DH-4 medium bombers. The next year it moved to the new Clark Field on 15 October 1920 where, combined with support units. Clark Field became the Army Air Corps headquarters overseas, and was the only American air base west of Hawaii, when workmen at Rockwell Field outside San Diego, California opened one of the crates, they found a motor with a remarkable history. Built in Detroit, it went to France, back to the United States, then to the Philippines, with that, the 1st Observation Group at Clark was re-designated as the 4th Observation, and later the 4th Composite Group. The 4th Composite would be the mainstay of United States air power in the Philippines until 1941, in addition to Clark Field, additional airfields at Kindley Field on Corregidor in Manila Bay, and one at Camp Nichols were constructed
26.
United States Third Fleet
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The Third Fleet is one of the numbered fleets in the United States Navy. Major oil and trade sea lines of communication within this area are important to the economic health of the United States. The Third Fleet plans and executes operations in the Pacific Ocean. The fleet provides maritime homeland defense, regional security, and humanitarian support through integrated naval. The Third Fleet ensures realistic, relevant training to our people so they have the skills to promote peace. The Third Fleet is a power in control of ships, submarines, and aircraft stationed in California, Washington. The Third Fleets sea-going force includes five aircraft carrier groups, each consisting of a combination of cruisers, destroyers. They also have more than 30 submarines and a dozen ships to support the strike groups. Third Fleets air forces comprises more than 400 Navy aircraft, including F/A-18 Super Hornets, E-2C Hawkeyes, AV-8B Harriers, AH-1Z SuperCobras, first established in 1943, the Third Fleet conducted extensive operations against Japanese forces in the Central Pacific during World War II. Deactivated in 1945, the fleet remained inactive until 1973, when it was reactivated and assumed its current responsibilities, the Third Fleet was originally formed during World War II on 15 March 1943 under the command of Admiral William F. Halsey. Its on-shore headquarters in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was established on 15 June 1944. The ships of the Third Fleet also formed the basis of the Fifth Fleet, formed on 26 April 1944, Spruance and Halsey alternated command of the fleet for major operations, allowing the other admiral and his staff time to plan for subsequent operations. A secondary benefit was confusing the Japanese into thinking there were actually two separate fleets as the fleet designation flipped back and forth. The British Pacific Fleet was operating as Task Force 57 of the Fifth Fleet when Halsey relieved Spruance of command in May 1945, like the rest of the Fifth Fleets ships, the British ships were resubordinated from Spruances Fifth Fleet to Halseys Third Fleet. The British Pacific Fleet then constituted Task Force 37 under the Third Fleets operational command through the end of World War II on 15 August 1945, the end of the war made this operation unnecessary. Embarked aboard Missouri, Admiral Halsey led the Third Fleet into Tokyo Bay on 29 August 1945, on 2 September 1945, the documents of surrender of the Japanese Empire ending the war were signed on Missouris deck. The Third Fleet remained in Japanese waters until late September 1945, on 7 October 1945, the Third Fleet was designated a reserve fleet and decommissioned from active status. Third Fleets new duties were to train naval forces for overseas deployment, additionally, Third Fleet could deploy in the event of a major conflict
27.
Japanese Fourteenth Area Army
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The Japanese Fourteenth Army was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. On July 281944 it was reinforced and upgraded to an army called the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army. The Japanese 14th Army was formed on November 6,1941 and it initially consisted of the IJA 16th Division, 48th Division, 56th Division, and 65th Independent Mixed Infantry Brigade. In January 1942, the 48th Division was detached and reassigned to the Japanese Sixteenth Army for the invasion of the Netherlands East Indies, as the army was still fighting in the Philippines, its commanding officer, Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma, requested more reinforcements. The 10th Independent Garrison was sent to the Philippines as was the 21st Division Infantry Group, the Fourth and Seventh Tank Regiments were part of the 14th Army as well as First, Eighth and 16th Field Artillery Regiments and the 9th Independent Field Artillery Battalion. This army was responsible for the Bataan Death March after the surrender of US and Filipino forces in Bataan, in August 1942, Homma was replaced by Lieutenant General Shizuichi Tanaka. In July,1942, the IJA Fourth Division came under control of the 14th Army, as did the IJA 30th Division, in March,1944, the 14th Army officially reverted to the control of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group. On July 28,1944, the Japanese 14th Army officially became the Japanese 14th Area Army, two more divisions arrived in August 1944 as reinforcements, and also in August, the Japanese 35th Army also came under its control. On October 10,1944, General Tomoyuki Yamashita assumed the command of the 14th Area Army to defend the Philippines, troops of the 14th Area Army were responsible for the Palawan Massacre of December 14,1944. Retaking The Philippines, Americas Return to Corregidor & Bataan, 1944–1945, Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937–1945. The Pacific War Companion, From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima, War in the Pacific, Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay, The Story of the Bitter Struggle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Japanese Army in World War II, The South Pacific and New Guinea, the Pacific War, Campaigns of World War II
28.
Thirty-Fifth Army (Japan)
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The Japanese 35th Army was an army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the final days of World War II. It was under the command of the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army. As the battle was lost, surviving units were given independent command authority, the IJA 35th Army was officially disbanded on April 19,1945. Some individual Japanese stragglers did not give up until the 1970s, Japanese 35th Army 16th Infantry Division 30th Infantry Division 100th Infantry Division 102nd Infantry Division IJA 54th Independent Mixed Brigade Drea, Edward J. Leyte, Unanswered Questions. In the Service of the Emperor, Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army, downfall, The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire. Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945, the Pacific War Companion, From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima
29.
1st Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
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The 1st Division was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its call sign was the Jade Division, the 1st Division was formed in Tokyo in January 1871 as the Tokyo Garrison, one of six regional commands created in the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army. The Tokyo Garrison had responsibility for the region of Honshū. As one of the oldest Divisions in the Imperial Japanese Army, the 1st Division saw combat in the First Sino-Japanese War, after the wars, the division returned to Tokyo, with permanent headquarters opened in Minami-Aoyama 15 June 1918. The February 26 Incident was an attempted coup détat staged by elements of the 1st Division in Tokyo in 1936, the division participated in a Kanchazu Island incident, successfully driving off Soviet invaders by 30 June 1937. 1 September 1937 a 101st division was created to garrison Tokyo instead of 1st Division, later, the parts of the 1st division have participated in disastrous Nonomhan Incident in 1939. Ordered to oppose the re-occupation of Leyte by the American and Filipino forces and their orders were to move up Leyte Highway Number 2 to Carigara and to secure the northern half of the island. However, American and Filipino forces had already seized Carigara, and American air strikes had deprived the Japanese 1st Division of its supply chain and reinforcements. By the time Battle of Leyte was won by American and Filipino forces, of the 11,000 Japanese soldiers, as result, the 1st Division ceased to exist as an operational unit. The remnants of division have participated in the Battle for Cebu City though, list of Japanese Infantry Divisions Madej, W. Victor, Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945, Allentown, Pennsylvania,1981 Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, vol.13, The Liberation of the Philippines—Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944-1945 University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0-252-07064-X Vego Milan N. Battle for Leyte,1944, Allied And Japanese Plans, Preparations, ISBN 1-55750-885-2 This article incorporates material from the Japanese Wikipedia page 第1師団, accessed 8 March 2016
30.
16th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)
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The 16th Division was an infantry division in the Imperial Japanese Army. Its tsūshōgō code name was the Wall Division, and its symbol was 16D. The 16th Division was one of four new infantry divisions raised by the Imperial Japanese Army in the stages of the Russo-Japanese War. With Japans limited resources towards the end of conflict, the entire IJA was committed to combat in Manchuria. The 16th Division was initially raised from men in the area surrounding Kyoto 18 July 1905 under the command of Lieutenant General Yamanaka Nobuyoshi. The 16th Division was immediately deployed to Manchuria, but the process was already underway since 6 August 1905. As a consequence, the 16th division could not see any combat, on 28 March 1907 the divisional headquarters was established in what is now the city of Takaishi, Osaka, but was relocated to Kyoto 30 October 1908. The divisions was send thrice to Manchuria to perform a garrison duties - in 1919,1929 and 1934, while in Kyoto, the division was called upon to provide emergency relief efforts during massive flooding of the Kamo River 28 June 1935. In July 1937, open hostilities broke out against China and the Second Sino-Japanese War commenced, the 16th Division, under the command of Lieutenant General Kesago Nakajima, was assigned to the Second Army, as part of the Northern China Area Army. The division participated in the Second Shanghai Incident, Beiping–Hankou Railway Operation, the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Xuzhou and it was thus one of the Japanese military units implicated in the Nanjing Massacre. In December 1938, the 16th division was incorporated into the 11th army, the division was demobilized and returned to Japan in August 1939. At that time, the division was re-organized into a triangular division, the reformed 16th division was mobilized and permanently re-located to Manchukuo in July 1940. The 16th Division was assigned to the 14th Area Army 6 November 1941, later it was based in Manila as a garrison force. The initial US attack on Tabontabon was repulsed 25 October 1944, disorganized and cut off survivors of the division have gathered together in a single battalion by 2 December 1944 in a mountains southwest of Dagami. That battalion has led the Battle of the Airfields 6 December 1944, an attack on abandoned US airstrips on Leyte east coast, after the capture of the Ormoc by US 77th division 10 December 1944, the survivors of the 16th division were ordered to disengage and retreat westward. Of the approximately 13,000 men in the 16th Division, list of Japanese Infantry Divisions Madej, W. Victor. Japanese Armed Forces Order of Battle, 1937-1945 Allentown, PA,1981 Yamamoto, greenwood Publishing, ISBN0275969045 Rottman, Gordon. Japanese Army in World War II, Conquest of the Pacific 1941-42, osprey Publishing ISBN1841767891 Cannon, M. Hamlin
31.
Guerrilla warfare
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The term, the diminutive form of war in Spanish, is usually translated as little war, and the word, guerrilla, has been used to refer to the concept since the 18th century, and perhaps earlier. In correct Spanish usage, a person who is a member of a guerrilla is a guerrillero if male, the term guerrilla was used in English as early as 1809, to refer to the fighters, and also to denote a group or band of such fighters. However, in most languages guerrilla still denotes the style of warfare. The use of the diminutive evokes the differences in number, scale, guerrillas usually carries positive connotations, and is often used by such fighters themselves and by their sympathizers, while their foes in many cases call them terrorists. Making an objective definition of the difference between a guerrilla and a terrorist has proven a difficult task, the strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare tend to focus around the use of a small, mobile force competing against a larger, more unwieldy one. The Guerrilla focuses on organizing in small units, depending on the support of the local population, tactically, the guerrilla army would avoid any confrontation with large units of enemy troops, but seek and eliminate small groups of soldiers to minimize losses and exhaust the opposing force. Not limiting their targets to personnel, enemy resources are preferred targets. All of that is to weaken the strength, to cause the enemy eventually to be unable to prosecute the war any longer. It is often misunderstood that guerrilla warfare must involve disguising as civilians to cause enemy troops to fail in telling friend from foe, however, this is not a primary feature of a guerrilla war. This type of war can be practiced anywhere there are places for combatants to cover themselves, at least one author credits the ancient Chinese work The Art of War with providing instruction in such tactics to Mao. The Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu, in his The Art of War or 600 BC to 501 BC, was the earliest to propose the use of guerrilla warfare and this directly inspired the development of modern guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla tactics were employed by prehistoric tribal warriors against enemy tribes. Evidence of conventional warfare, on the hand, did not emerge until 3100 BC in Egypt. Since the Enlightenment, ideologies such as nationalism, liberalism, socialism, because of the innovative tactics he used during his command, he made himself the name of Terror Romanorum. A counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency operation involves actions taken by the government of a nation to contain or quell an insurgency taken up against it. Counter-insurgency operations are common during war, occupation and armed rebellions, the two most influential of scholars of counter-insurgency have been Westerners whose job it had been to fight insurgents. Robert Thompson fought during the Malayan Emergency and David Galula fought during the Algerian War, together these officers advocated multi-pronged strategies to win over the civilian population to the side of the counter-insurgent. The widely distributed and influential work of Sir Robert Thompson, counter-insurgency expert of the Malayan Emergency, thompsons underlying assumption was that the counter-insurgent was committed to improving the rule of law and bettering local governance
32.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
33.
Battle of Luzon
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The battle resulted in a U. S. and Filipino victory. The Philippines were considered to be of strategic importance because their capture by Japan would pose a significant threat to the U. S. As a result,135,000 troops and 227 aircraft were stationed in the Philippines by October 1941, however, Luzon—the largest island in the Philippines—was captured by Imperial Japanese forces in 1942 during their campaign to capture the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur—who was in charge of the defense of the Philippines at the time—was ordered to Australia, a few months after this, MacArthur expressed his belief that an attempt to recapture the Philippines was necessary. Pacific Commander Admiral Chester Nimitz and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest King both opposed this idea, arguing that it must wait until victory was certain, MacArthur had to wait two years for his wish, it was 1944 before a campaign to recapture the Philippines was launched. The island of Leyte was the first objective of the campaign and this was followed by the attack on Mindoro, and later, Luzon. Before U. S. forces could launch the attack on Luzon, airbases in particular had to be established in order to provide the advancing troops with air support. Troops under Brigadier General William C, dunckel captured the island of Mindoro, with the assistance of the 7th Fleet. By 28 December, two airbases were controlled by the U. S. and were ready to assist in the attack on Luzon, with the capture of Mindoro, U. S. forces were positioned south of Luzon. However, MacArthur intended to land his forces at Lingayen, further north and this would place his troops close to several roads and railways on Luzon, which led to Manila—the main objective—through the plains in the center of the island. U. S. aircraft constantly made reconnaissance and bombing flights over southern Luzon, in addition, transport aircraft were used to make parachute drops with dummies. Minesweepers were used to clear the bays of Balayan, Batangas, and Tayabas, located to the south of Luzon, the assault on Luzon was launched, as planned, on 9 January 1945, codenamed S-day. The Japanese forces reported more than 70 Allied warships entering the Lingayen Gulf, pre-assault bombardment of Japanese shore positions from these ships began at 7,00. The landings were commenced an hour later, the landing forces faced strong opposition from Japanese kamikaze aircraft. The escort carrier Ommaney Bay was destroyed by an attack, while a destroyer. Aircraft from the 3rd Fleet assisted the landings with close air support, the landings at the Lingayen Gulf on 9 January were carried out by the 6th Army under the command of General Walter Krueger. Approximately 175,000 troops from the 6th Army landed along the 20-mile beachhead within a few days, XIV Corps under General Oscar Griswold then advanced south toward Manila, despite Kruegers concerns that his eastern flank was unprotected and vulnerable if the Japanese forces attacked. However, no attack occurred, and the U. S. forces did not meet much resistance until they reached the Clark Air Base on 23 January
34.
Invasion of Lingayen Gulf
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The Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, 6–9 January 1945, was an Allied amphibious operation in the Philippines during World War II. In the early morning of 6 January 1945, a large Allied force commanded by Admiral Jesse B, oldendorf began approaching the shores of Lingayen. U. S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy warships began bombarding suspected Japanese positions along the coast of Lingayen from their position in Lingayen Gulf for three days. On 9 January, the U. S. 6th Army landed on a 20 mi beachhead between the towns of Lingayen and San Fabian, during World War II, the Lingayen Gulf proved a strategically important theater of war between American and Japanese forces. Following the defeat, the next day General Douglas MacArthur issued the order to retreat from Luzon, for the next three years, the gulf remained under Japanese occupation prior to the Lingayen Gulf Landings. Beginning on 6 January 1945, a naval and air bombardment of suspected Japanese defenses on Lingayen began. Underwater demolitions began, but found no beach obstacles, and encountered sparse opposing forces, aircraft and naval artillery bombardment of the landing areas also occurred, with kamikazes attacking on the 7th. At 09,30 on 9 January 1945, about 68,000 GIs under General Walter Krueger of the U. S. 6th Army—following a devastating naval bombardment—landed at the coast of Lingayen Gulf meeting no opposition. A total of 203,608 soldiers were landed over the next few days, establishing a 20 mi beachhead, stretching from Sual, Lingayen and Dagupan to the west. The total number of troops under the command of MacArthur was reported to have exceeded the number that Dwight D. Eisenhower controlled in Europe. Within a few days, the forces had quickly captured the coastal towns and secured the 20-mile-long beachhead. Despite their success in driving out the Japanese forces stationed there, they suffered heavy losses, particularly to their convoys. Following the landings, the Lingayen Gulf was turned into a vast supply depot for the rest of the war to support the Battle of Luzon. On 9 January 2008, Gov. Amado Espino, Jr. the resolution named 9 January as Pangasinan Veterans Day. In the 63rd anniversary commemoration of the Lingayen Gulf Landing, President Fidel Ramos appealed to U. S. President George W. <
35.
Battle of Baguio (1945)
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The Battle of 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 surrender of Japanese forces in the Philippines in September 1945. Prior to World War II, Baguio was the capital of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. In 1939, the city had a population of 24,000 people, most of whom were Filipinos, along with other nationalities, including about 500 Japanese. Following the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in 1941, the Japanese used Camp John Hay, in October 1944, American soldiers landed on Leyte, beginning the liberation of the Philippines. In early January 1945, American forces landed at Lingayen Gulf, thereafter, the American Sixth Army conducted two campaigns, one against the Japanese forces east of Manila, and the second against Yamashitas forces in northern Luzon. By late March, the city was within range of American artillery, president José P. Yamashita and his staff relocated to Bambang. During the Allied drive towards Baguio from the west, a battle was fought at Irisan Gorge. In mid-April,7,000 civilians, including foreign nationals, among them were five cabinet members of the Second Republic, Brigadier General Manuel Roxas was freed, the other four were captured as collaborators. On 22 April, Major General Noakata Utsunomiya, who had left in command of the defense of Baguio by Yamashita. On 24 April, the first Allied forces – a patrol of the 129th Infantry Regiment – entered Baguio, Yamashita, along with 50,500 men of the Shobu Group, held out against the American advance in northern Luzon until 15 August 1945. U. S. Army footage of the battle of Baguio via Archive. org
36.
Battle of Kirang Pass
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Aritao is a second class municipality in the province of Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 37,115 people, the ethnic minority called Isinai were the original residents of this town. Aritao is politically subdivided into 22 barangays, in 1942, Japanese troops entered Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya. A monument to the gallantry of the Japanese and Filipino soldiers during World War II, located at Barangay Kirang, municipality of Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya. Built in 1978 by the Rakunsankai Society of Japan, it was rebuilt using a black glazed stone. Also offers a view of reforested mountains and hills. Aritao High School Immaculate Conception Academy Saint Teresitas Academy Nueva Vizcaya Institute Santa Clara High School Aritao also has a lot of schools for primary, and for the college level, the Colegio de Aritao is for vocational courses like caregiving. It is located at the Saint Teresitas Academy campus, Philippine Standard Geographic Code Philippine Census Information Local Governance Performance Management System
37.
Raid at Cabanatuan
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The Raid at Cabanatuan, also known as The Great Raid, was a rescue of Allied prisoners of war and civilians from a Japanese camp near Cabanatuan City, in the Philippines. On January 30,1945, during World War II, United States Army Rangers, Alamo Scouts, after the surrender of tens of thousands of American troops during the Battle of Bataan, many were sent to the Cabanatuan prison camp following the Bataan Death March. The Japanese transferred most of the prisoners to other areas, leaving just over 500 American and other Allied POWs, in late January 1945, a plan was developed by Sixth Army leaders and Filipino guerrillas to send a small force to rescue the prisoners. A group of over a hundred Rangers and Scouts and a couple hundred guerrillas traveled 30 miles behind Japanese lines to reach the camp. In a nighttime raid, under the cover of darkness and a distraction by a P-61 Black Widow, hundreds of Japanese troops were killed in the 30-minute coordinated attack, the Americans suffered minimal casualties. The Rangers, Scouts, and guerrillas escorted the POWs back to American lines, the rescue allowed the prisoners to tell of the death march and prison camp atrocities, which sparked a new rush of resolve for the war against Japan. The rescuers were awarded commendations by MacArthur, and were recognized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A memorial now sits on the site of the camp. After the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor on December 7,1941 by Japanese forces, it entered World War II to join the Allied forces in their fight against the Axis powers. On March 12,1942, General MacArthur and a few officers, on the orders of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, left the American forces. The Japanese had initially planned for only 10, 000–25,000 American, although they had organized two hospitals, ample food, and guards for this estimate, they were overwhelmed with over 72,000 prisoners. By the end of the 60-mile march, only 52,000 prisoners reached Camp ODonnell, with an estimated 20,000 having died from illness, hunger, torture, or murder. Later with the closure of Camp ODonnell most of the soldiers were transferred to the Cabanatuan prison camp to join the POWs from the Battle of Corregidor. One method of the execution was to round the prisoners up in one location, pour gasoline over them, the Cabanatuan prison camp was named after the nearby city of 50,000 people. The camp had first been used as an American Department of Agriculture station, when the Japanese invaded the Philippines, they used the camp to house American POWs. It was one of three camps in the Cabanatuan area and was designated for holding sick detainees, occupying about 100 acres, the rectangular-shaped camp was roughly 800 yards deep by 600 yards across, divided by a road that ran through its center. One side of the camp housed Japanese guards, while the other included bamboo barracks for the prisoners as well as a section for a hospital. Nicknamed the Zero Ward because zero was probability of getting out of it alive, eight-foot high barbed wire fences surrounded the camp, in addition to multiple pillbox bunkers and four-story guard towers
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Center of Military History document "The Leyte Campaign".
