The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 1945. LUZON LIBERATED.

Evening Star, Issue 25523, 29 June 1945, Page 4

The Evening Star FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 1945. LUZON LIBERATED.

With the liberation of Luzon, the main island of the group, the Philippines campaign is virtually ended,, there being little more than scattered and disorganised resistance remaining in Mindanao, the second largest island. The overcoming of opposition in the Cagaj T an Valley—" no terrain ever provided an adversary with more naturally impregnable positions " —followed a surprise air-borne operation against Aparri, the solo remaining enemy escape port on Luzon. ' General MacArthur has at last completely avenged Bataan and Corregidor. The Philippines campaign has been long and protracted, although it was never expected to he otherwise. The first landing was on October 19 last, when 150,000 men were put ashore on Leyte Island iii the biggest amphibious operation of the Pacific war till then; in December General MacArthur leapfrogged to Mindoro, immediately south of Luzon, and on January 9 lie took the enemy by surprise by invading that island well north in the Lingayen Gulf area. Early in February his forces entered Manila, which, in his own wordls, marked the end of one phase in the Pacific struggle and set the stage for another. Fulfilment of those words was not long in coming. He himself directed forces under his command against the remaining principal islands of Papauy, Cubu, Negros, Palawan, and Mindanao, gradually paving the way for direct assault against the oil island of Tarakan oh May 1, and the landings on the Borneo mainland this month. North of the Philippines Admiral Chester Nimitz went into action against Iwojima and Okinawa, effectively cutting off all prospect of Japanese reinforcement of their garrisons in the Philippines, and bringing the war so much nearer the Japanese mainland, which to-day is in the throes of invasion fever.

The Japanese fought hard and well in the Philippines, showing, as usual, no disposition to surrender even when the odds were heavily weighted against them. . Their losses on, Luzon were enormous—ll3,s93 being killed, with thousands of dead still uncounted and thousands more prisoners, against total American losses of 15,178, including 3,793 killed. Eight million people on the island, subjected to the grimmest aspects'of Japanese "co-prosperity" in action, have been freed. That is only one chapter of a story that is being played out all over the Far East. Now cut off by 6ea and land from contact with the homeland, the Japanese in the attacked areas face-'eventual annihilation, and the sphere of conflict extends as far distant as Burma, where Lord Louis Mount-batten's men are gradually clearing this great State, driving the remaining enemy before them towards Thailand. The Allies' major problems in these operations pertain to logistics. Everything has to be transported thousands of miles and then built up at bases necessarily distant from the main goal of all these various attacks —Japan itself. The reconquest of the Philippines and the capture of Iwojima and Okinawa give splendid accumulating bases, but before assembling can take place there is the initial transport from America, Australia, and Britain. The complete loss of Luzon and the Philippines so soon after the fall of Okinawa must be highly unpalatable to the Japanese, now devoting their immediate energies to preparing for action in the event of mainland invasion. At the same time the Chinese are clearing hundreds of miles of the China coast, opening gateways for landings on their mainland, and it may well be, as we have argued in previous articles, that there will be a landing in China before Japan, for Japan has large armies on the Asiatic mainland that have to be met and defeated—a task that is too great for China alone. Most of the recent Chinese gains have been the result of Japanese withdrawals to strong defensive positions further north.