Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945 (The Pacific War Trilogy Book 3)

by Ian W. Toll

Capture of Mindoro’s two small airfields changed the complexion of the entire Philippines campaign, as it put nearby Manila and its environs into the crosshairs for General Kenney’s USAAF fighters and bombers. The island’s capture also left Leyte in the position of a strategic backwater. On the eighteenth, General Yamashita radioed General Suzuki to advise that Leyte would receive no further reinforcements or material support. As Yamashita had feared, the fight for that island had consumed a major portion of Japanese strength in the Philippines, darkening the outlook for the pending fight for Luzon. Based on a methodical attempt to count bodies during the last week of December, the Americans estimated that 60,809 Japanese troops had perished on the island. Just 434 had been taken prisoner.82 U.S. Sixth Army losses were just 2,888 killed and 9,858 wounded.