LEYTE LANDING: LIBERATION AND

INDEPENDENCE
Lesson 22
 LESSON OBJECTIVES

To know the events that transpired in the Leyte Landing

OBJECTIVES To understand what were the reasons and implications of such event.

Leyte Landing
Lesson 21
 LEYTE
LANDING
Source: Presidential Museum and Leyte
http://malacanang.gov.ph/leyte-landing/

Leyte Landing
Lesson 21
• On the morning of October 20, 1944, American forces
landed on Red Beach in the municipality of Palo,
roughly 14 kilometers from the Leyte capital Tacloban.

• Landing triumphantly on the beachhead that day were

Filipino and American leaders, notably General
Douglas MacArthur, President Sergio Osmeña,
and Brigadier General Carlos P. Romulo.

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Lesson 21
• The invasion of Leyte began the campaign for the
liberation of the Philippines from the Imperial
Japanese forces, fulfilling MacArthur’s pledge of
returning to the islands he was forced to leave more
than two years prior.

• It also marked the re-establishment of the

Commonwealth Government on Philippine soil after
years of government-in-exile in Washington D.C.

• Re-elected Vice President in 1941, Osmeña had

assumed the Presidency following the demise
of President Manuel L. Quezon on August 1, 1944.

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Lesson 21
• Meanwhile, the Filipino leader of the resistance
movement in Leyte, Ruperto Kangleon, rallied his
troops in support of the Americans.

• He was appointed military governor of Leyte on

October 23, 1944, and went on to further serve the
country, first as Secretary of National Defense under
the administration of President Manuel Roxas, and
then as a Senator.

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Lesson 21
• The Battle of Leyte was waged from
October 20 to December 31,
1944, resulting in a decisive victory
for the Allied forces.

• The campaign involved the Battle of

Leyte Gulf, which was fought from
October 23 to 26.

Leyte Landing
Lesson 21
• It was the largest naval battle in
history and the first instance of the
Japanese deploying kamikaze pilots.

• The Battle of Leyte was a watershed

moment in the Pacific war theatre,
culminating in the end of almost
three years of Japanese occupation of
the Philippines and the loss of
Japan’s strategic vice grip on
Southeast Asia.

Leyte Landing
Lesson 21
 LIBERATION AND
“INDEPENDENCE”

Source: Mateo, G. (2001). The Philippines: A Story of a Nation

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Lesson 21
 • The Americans returned to the Philippines to
liberate the Filipinos from Japanese occupation.

1945 • While the arrival of the Americans in the

archipelago fifty years ago – ostensibly to
liberate the Filipinos from the Spaniards – had
met with intense resistance and even a war, in
1945, the Americans were welcomed now as
liberators.

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Lesson 21
1945
• Their shared war experiences forged stronger
ties between the Philippines and the United
States.

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 LIBERATION

• After three dark years, the country was "liberated" from the Japanese by the
Americans.

• The irony is that it was not a "liberation," but a replacement of former colonial
rulers.

Leyte Landing
Lesson 21
 • On October 20,1944, after defeating the Japanese in the Battle
of Leyte, General Douglas MacArthur together with 200,000
troops landed in Palo, Leyte.

• MacArthur returned not simply as a liberator but as a redeemer.

• The combined American and Filipino forces under General

MacArthur won battles in Surigao Strait, Samar and Cape
Engano.

“I SHALL RETURN”

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Lesson 21
 FAKE NEWS?
CEBU AND THE KOGA DOCUMENTS

• “In 1944, a Japanese sea plane crashed near Cebu.

• According to Japanese military officials who were captured, and later released, they
were accompanying Gen. Koga, Commander in Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet.
Gen.
• Koga died in the crash. A little later, Filipino fisherman recovered some Japanese
documents.
• They delivered the documents to US Intelligence.
• The documents revealed that Leyte was lightly defended.
• As a result, the Americans shifted their invasion target to Leyte instead of Cotabato
Bay in Mindanao. ”

Leyte Landing
Lesson 21
 FAKE NEWS?
CEBU AND THE KOGA DOCUMENTS

• “On October 17, 1944 the invasion of Leyte went underway.

• Leyte was lightly defended as the Koga papers have indicated.
• But it was during the invasion of Leyte when the Japanese navy launched their last
offensive strike against the US fleet, with the objective of obliterating it once and for
all.
• They nearly succeeded.
• After this near-tragic event, the Koga papers were considered by some military
strategists as spurious and could have been manufactured by the Japanese to mislead
the American navy into thinking that Leyte was a defenceless island.
• That Leyte was a trap. And the Americans nearly fell into it.”

Leyte Landing
Lesson 21