December 1944

Philippines

Gen MacArthur transfers operational control of Leyte and Samar to 8th Army. American troops will continue to fight scattered groups of Japanese until May of 1945.

The campaign on Leyte has cost the Japanese heavily. The Japanese leadership had believed this was the decisive battle to be fought and this was where the Americans could be stopped. The commancers threw the bulk of the air, land, and seapower that was available into the battle at Leyte and have lost. Japanese casualties on Leyte amount to 49,000 men, not including the losses of ship crews and pilots. Without air or naval support, the remaining Japanese forces on Luzon and other smaller islands in the Philippines are isolated and can fight only to delay and make the cost to the Americans as heavy as possible. American casualties number 15,584 with over 3,500 killed.

Leyte is not what MacArthur desired the island to be--an airbase for future operations against Luzon. The ground is unsuitable for airfields that can handle large aircraft. Tacloban airfield cannot be suitably expanded, and, although an airfield is constructed at Tanauan on the east side of the island by the end of the campaign, it is never heavily used. High winds and heavy rains that mark the weather on the island wash away roads and delay other important construction.