The World War II Multimedia Database

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MacArthur reiterates his intention to return to the Philippines. Movie

Americans land on Leyte Gulf. October 20, 1944. Movie

Japanese Troops abandon plans to defend Manila and move forces to meet the Americans on Leyte. October 1944. Movie

The Philippines had suffered under the Japanese occupation. A highly effective guerilla campaign controlled sixty percent of the islands, mostly jungle and mountain areas. MacArthur had supplied them by submarine, and sent reinforcements and officers. Filipinos remained loyal to the United States, partly because of the American guarantee of independence, and also because the Japanese had pressed large numbers of Filipinos into work details and even put young Filipino women into brothels.

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Japan attacks the Philippines the first day of the war. December 8, 1941. Movie

Holding out longer than any other Allied garrison attacked on December 7, 1941, the Philippines were an important target for the Imperial Japanese High Command. Navy and Army bombers from Formosa attacked in the late morning, and achieved the same success their comrades were enjoying over Pearl Harbor.

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Peleliu causes many casualties among the Americans, and annihilation for the Japanese. September 1944. Movie

MacArthur planned to prevent attacks in his rear area during the reconquest of the Philippines by taking the Morotais and the Palaus. The most heavily defended island in the Palaus was Peleliu. He felt that he need to hold Peleliu before he could move on the Philippines. Vice Admiral William Halsey argued against the operation, arguing that the Philippines were lightly defended. The Palaus, especially, were not required to take the Philippines, enough distance away to be isolated and left to die on the vine.

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The cabinet of Prince Funimaro Konoe was soon replaced with a war cabinet under Hideki Tojo. 1940. Movie

In April 1940, obsolescent British Swordfish biplanes, nicknamed "stringbags" for their flimsy construction, struck the Italian fleet at Taranto. Within minutes significant damage was done to Italy’s Mediterranean Fleet. To get around the inability to operate torpedoes in the shallow waters of the harbor, the British attached fins to the tail.

The Normandy Breakout had smashed the German Seventh Army, and the Allies advanced on Paris.

The French capital had been occupied for four years, and most Americans associated German occupation with a romantic picture of Parisians struggling against German oppression. In reality, the Vichy Government helped the Germans to send thousands of Jews to concentration camps, and hundreds of thousands of laborers to Germany to work in war production as slave labor. By 1945 most slave laborers were French; the Poles had died out.

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Kamikaze suicide planes attack the US Fleet off Okinawa, April 1945. Movie