2-WWII+Philippines+OT

The United States was in control of the Philippines until 1941. The Japanese invaded the Philippines on December 8, 1941, 10 hours after bombing Pearl Harbor. Due to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States was unable to send reinforcements. Hence, General MacArthur was forced to surrender. He declared Manila to be an open city (in order to prevent its destruction) and left to Australia. The 80,000 men defending Manila and Corregidor were captured and forced to take the Bataan Death March. An estimated 10,000 men died during the march. By May of 1942, the Japanese had complete control of the Philippines. General MacArthur returned to the Philippines 174,000 troops on October 20, 1944. The last battle in the Philippines took place on the same day as the official surrender of Japan in WWII, September 2, 1945. The casutalties are estimated to be: 60, 628 Americans; 300,000+ Japanese; and 1,000,000+ Filipinos.
 * Summary of the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines:**



The Japanese mostly tried to politically appease the population in the Philippines. They originally tried to win over the Philippine commonwealth government by promising to maintain its structure and practices as well as eventually granting independence. The Japanese saw the war as mainly a fight with the United States and not with the Filipinos. For this reason, they wanted to gain the support of the Filipino population. They also used religion by creating a religious sector of their military and forcing cooperation between Japanese and Philippine churches. However, while their political policies may have been acts of appeasement, their other policies were not effective enough to garner support. Economic policies harmed the Philippine economy. The Philippines had large amounts of crops that came under Japanese control when they occupied them. Japanese policies tried to reform the crops in the Philippines but failed. The United States placed many sanctions on Japan during the war, including sanctions on oil and cotton. The oil embargo hurt the ability of Japan to transport goods and the cotton embargo severely crippled its textile industry. Japan tried convert sugar cane to fuel but failed. The circumstance that led the Japanese to restructure the Filipino crops was the vast amount of land and the crops that had been planted. The Philippines had cultivated most of its land to grow sugar cane that was exported to the United States. However, because it could not be made into fuel, the Japanese had no use for sugar cane. That led them to force the farmers to grow cotton to help their textile industry. The attempt was unsuccessful and ultimately harmed the future of the Filipino economy. Other economic sectors were also harmed in the same way when the Japanese tried to use them to support the war effort, including the mining and rice industries.
 * What were the circumstances in the Occupied Territory that compelled the policies implemented by the occupying power there? How was policy shaped to address these circumstances? **

The war in the Philippines was an important part of the War in the Pacific and ultimately detrimental to the Japanese war effort. Japan had wanted to expand its empire across all of Asia, but the resistance in the Philippines slowed down their efforts. Japan was able to take the Philippines with a relatively small number of men, but trying to defend them cost over 300,000 soldiers. The United States had trouble defending the Philippines because of its structure: hundred of islands spread out made total defense incredibly difficult. Some islands could be used as weak points and were easy to exploit. The Japanese, in turn, had difficulty holding its new territory for the same reason. The Philippines became an important part of the Pacific Theater that ultimately led to defeat for Japan. The effect of the occupation on the soldiers is mixed. In some way, it decreased their motivation. The attitude towards the general Philippine population was negative and the same was true the other way around. A driving factor for the Japanese was that they were the superior Asian race and should control all of Asia. However, the difficulty they found in controlling the Philippines led to doubts in that belief. Imperial Japan was still incredibly nationalistic. One soldier, Hiroo Onoda, refused to believe that Japan lost the war and continued to fight guerrilla warfare against the Philippines until his commanding officer, by then retired, was found and sent to personally relieve him of duty. The overall mindset of the Japanese army and people was extremely proud until the very end.
 * What were the effects of the occupation of your territory on the occupying power's war effort? **** This should include basic data such as numbers of troops diverted to the occupation and so forth, but should also take into account less logistical factors such as the psychological effect of occupation on the occupying power, issues of morale, attitudes of occupation forces toward the local population (and vice versa) and the degree to which that sharpened or dulled the occupiers' resolve, etc. **

The Filipino population was had divided loyalties during the occupation. The upper class supported the Japanese while the lower class resisted them. When the Japanese initially invaded, President Quezon encouraged General MacArthur to declare Manila an open city in order to prevent its destruction. Many of the upper class followed his example. The Filipino elite collaborated with the Japanese and supported their policies. On the contrary, the lower class that was being abused by the Japanese resisted. It is estimated that 260,000 Filipinos participated in guerrilla warfare against the Japanese and even more than that worked in the underground organizations. The largest guerrilla organization, the Hukbalahap, consisted of 30,000 people. The resistance was successful, as Japan controlled only 12 of 48 Filipino provinces. The biggest problem with the resistance was that it was so diverse. They failed to create a unified front against Japan and many of the insurgent groups were hostile towards each other. The lack of unified structure only harmed the effort to stop the Japanese. The province of Davao is a good example of the collaboration between the Japanese and the Filipino elite. There were rising tensions between Japan and the United States before, and the Philippines were caught in the middle of them. Yet, President Quezon was able to lead the Filipino elite, even after he left at which point he led by the example of opening Manila, in successfully working with the Japanese and preventing the total destruction of the Philippines. Prior to the war, Japanese and Filipino officials had worked extensively to improve relations. This set the background that led Quezon to encourage cooperation with Japan. In Davao, for example, Quezon met with Japanese Foreign Minister Nomura Kichisaburo privately in 1940. The positive relations led to the cooperation of the upper class, which helped support the new government. However, a long term social rift was created in the Philippines due to the differing levels of support for and opinions of the Japanese.
 * What were the motivations/methods/outcomes of resistance and collaboration? How did this affect the Occupied Territory after the war? Use case studies to illustrate. **

Unfortunately, a common practice by the Japanese in the Philippines is comfort women. It is the practice of forcing women into sex slavery. Between 100,000 and 250,000 Asian women were captured by the Japanese during World War II for the purpose of sexually pleasing the Imperial Army. Lila Pilipina is an organization that represents the Filipino comfort women in their search for an apology from the Japanese government. It began in 1992 with 174 members. The members of Lila Pilipina testify that they were kidnapped and forced into sex slavery by the Japanese in World War II. That was the greatest harm committed against women in the Philippines, and in some ways it still is a harm. The Japanese government has still not apologized for the practice and one Japanese politician recently stated that it was necessary for the army, although he later claimed he was misquoted. The Japanese attempted to indoctrinate some of the youth in the Philippines. They educated them in Japanese language and culture. The majority of the youth that were targeted were potential leaders. The effort attempted to increase support for the Japanese, but ultimately failed. In may 1944 the effort was restructured and 4 million youth were included in the program. However, due to the short time span of implementation, the program failed to have any long lasting impacts on the Philippine youth, other than continuing their schooling.
 * What were the effects of occupation ** ** on women & youth in the Occupied Territory? Use case studies to illustrate. **

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 * Bibliography**
 * 1) "60 years after the war ends, two soldiers emerge from the jungle." //the Guardian//. N.p., 27 May 2005. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. .
 * 1) Danquah, Francis K.. "Reports On Philippine Industrial Crops In World War II From Japan's English Language Press." //Agricultural History// 79.1 (2005): 74-96. Print.
 * 1) "Japanese Attempts at Indoctrination of Youth in Occupied Areas." //Office of Strategic Services, Research and Analysis Branch//. Central Intelligence Agency, 23 Mar. 1945. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. .
 * 1) "Philippine Islands." //US Army Center of Military History//. N.p., 3 Mar. 2003. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. .
 * 1) Prois, Jessica. "'Comfort Women,' WWII Sex Slaves, To Rally In Demand Of Apology." //The Huffington Post//. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 June 2013. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. .
 * 1) "World War II and Japanese Occupation 1941 - 1945." //University of Alberta//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. .