page_title: Philippines campaign (1941–1942)
section_title: Initial landings
hierarchical_section_title: Philippines campaign (1941–1942) / Invasion / Initial landings
caption_attribution_description: Map of Luzon, Philippines showing Japanese landings and advances from 8 December 1941 to 8 January 1942.
context_page_description: The Philippines campaign, also known as the Battle of the Philippines or the Fall of the Philippines, from 8 December 1941 – 8 May 1942, was the invasion of the Philippines by Imperial Japan and the defense of the islands by United States and Philippine forces during the Second World War.
  The Japanese launched the invasion by sea from Formosa, over 200 miles north of the Philippines. The defending forces outnumbered the Japanese by 3 to 2, but were a mixed force of non-combat experienced regular, national guard, constabulary and newly created Commonwealth units. The Japanese used first-line troops at the outset of the campaign, and by concentrating their forces swiftly overran most of Luzon during the first month.
  The Japanese high command, believing they had won the campaign, made a strategic decision to advance by a month their timetable of operations in Borneo and Indonesia, withdrawing their best division and the bulk of their airpower in early January 1942. This, coupled with the defenders' decision to withdraw into a defensive holding position in the Bataan Peninsula, enabled the Americans and Filipinos to successfully hold out for four more months.
context_section_description: The 14th Army began its invasion with a landing on Batan Island (not to be confused with Bataan Peninsula), 120 miles (190 km) off the north coast of Luzon, on 8 December 1941, by selected naval infantry units. Landings on Camiguin Island and at Vigan, Aparri, and Gonzaga in northern Luzon followed two days later.
  Two B-17s attacked the Japanese ships offloading at Gonzaga. Other B-17s with fighter escort attacked the landings at Vigan. In this last coordinated action of the Far East Air Force, U.S. planes damaged two Japanese transports (Oigawa Maru and Takao Maru), the cruiser Naka, and the destroyer Murasame, and sank minesweeper W-10.
  Early on the morning of 12 December, the Japanese landed 2,500 men of the 16th Division at Legazpi on southern Luzon, 150 miles (240 km) from the nearest American and Philippine forces. The attack on Mindanao followed on 19 December, using elements of the 16th Army temporarily attached to the invasion force to permit the 14th Army to use all its troops on Luzon.
  Meanwhile, Admiral Thomas C. Hart withdrew most of his U.S. Asiatic Fleet from Philippine waters following Japanese air strikes that inflicted heavy damage on U.S. naval facilities at Cavite on 10 December. Only submarines were left to contest Japanese naval superiority, and the commanders of these, conditioned by prewar doctrine that held the fleet submarine to be a scouting vessel more vulnerable to air and anti-submarine attack than it actually was, proved unequal to the task.
  In a book A Different Kind of Victory: A Biography of Admiral Thomas C. Hart (Naval Institute Press, 1981), James Leutze wrote:
  "He had 27 subs submerged in Manila Bay,... it was Washington, not the Asiatic Fleet Commander that directed the fleet to withdraw from Manila... Hart was directed by Washington to send US Navy surface forces and submarines southeast toward Australia... Douglas MacArthur and Henry Stimson (United States Secretary of War) feuding with Admiral Hart over lack of US Navy submarine action. MacArthur asked Admiral Hart: "What in the world is the matter with your submarines?".. MacArthur complained that Hart's inactivity allowed Japan's navy freedom of action... According to Stimson, MacArthur felt that Hart's ships and submarines were ineffectual, but because Admiral Hart had lost his courage. Admiral Hart's reaction to MacArthur's brickbats: "He (MacArthur) is inclined to cut my throat and perhaps the Navy in general.""
caption: A map of Luzon Island showing Japanese landings and advances from 8 December 1941 to 8 January 1942
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