The story of General Douglas MacArthur’s epic bloody year-long campaign to liberate the 7,000 islands of the Philippines from a quarter million Japanese troops and finally take down the Japanese imperial empire. 20,000 first printing.
"It had been two and a half difficult years since General Douglas MacArthur had reluctantly obeyed a presidential order to abandon his American and Filipino forces on the Bataan Peninsula and slip away to Australia to organize the Allied resistance. FromAustralia, he had famously vowed to return to liberate the Philippines. And the people had believed his vow, their faith in him almost spiritual. Believers snuck out at night to paint his words on city walls; resisters secretly printed them on matchbook covers and gum wrappers and carried the oath in their pockets. The Philippine Islands were among the most important strongholds for the preservation of the Japanese Empire. As consequential as New Guinea had been, the Empire faced inevitable defeat if thePhilippines were lost. The more than 7,000 islands of the archipelago dominated the shipping lanes that brought much needed oil to the home islands from the resource rich East Indies. The Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet said he was willing to sacrifice every ship in his fleet to prevent MacArthur from regaining control of the Philippines. The fleet would be useless, he said, without the East Indies fuel. Return to Victory is the story of MacArthur's liberation of the Philippines as toldfrom the perspectives of the three major combatants: the Americans, the Japanese, and the Filipinos themselves. It will examine the strategic and tactical aspects of the campaign through the participation of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen, as well as the experiences of leaders such as General MacArthur, Admiral Halsey, General Walter Krueger, General George Kenney, Admiral Kinkaid, Colonel Ruberto Kangleon, and General Yamashita"--
General Douglas MacArthur's bloody campaign to defeat die-hard Japanese forces and liberate the Philippines
&;I shall return,&; General Douglas MacArthur promised the Filipino people following the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Philippines in spring 1942. The people there believed MacArthur&;s vow&;and even Americans were stirred by his dramatic pledge. Now, two and half years later, MacArthur was ready to fulfill his promise--the liberation of the Philippines was about to begin.
It would not be an easy campaign. The more than 7,000 islands of the Philippine archipelago were the key to taking down the Japanese Empire&;and the Imperial forces were prepared to sacrifice every man and every ship to prevent MacArthur from regaining control of them.
Covering both the strategic and tactical aspects of the campaign through the participation of its soldiers, sailors, and airmen, as well as its commanders, James P. Duffy leads readers through a vivid account of the nearly year-long, bloody campaign to defeat over a quarter million die-hard Japanese defenders in the Pacific theater. Return to Victory is a wide-ranging, dramatic and stirring account of MacArthur&;s epic liberation of the Philippines.
