The Philippines

Japanese forces landed at Aparri on December 10, 1941, at Legazpi on the 12th, and at Lingayen Gulf on the 22nd. They then began an advance on Manila. General Douglas MacArthur, commanding American and Filipino forces, abandoned Manila on January 2, 1942, and fell back onto the Bataan peninsula. Repeated Japanese attacks were repulsed and MacArthur's counterattacks regained lost ground.

In January General Homma Masaharu began an attack that gradually pushed back the Americans and Filipinos, whose supplies were running low. The Bataan fight ended on April 9. Corregidor, an island fort in Manila Bay, held out until May 6, when it was surrendered by Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright, MacArthur's successor. MacArthur, who had been ordered to Australia, left the Philippines with the promise, "I shall return."