In July 1944, Suzuki was appointed commander of the IJA 35th Army. This army was raised in the Japanese-occupied Philippines in anticipation of Allied attempts to invade and retake Mindanao and the Visayan islands in central and southern Philippines. It was under the overall command of the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army and headquartered in Cebu. Initially intended as a garrison force to withstand a long-term war of attrition, as the war situation on the Pacific front grew increasingly desperate for Japan, Imperial General Headquarters ordered the bulk of the IJA 35th Army to Leyte as reinforcement to Japanese forces in the Battle of Leyte. At the time of the American landings at Leyte from 20 October 1944 Suzuki had 45,000 soldiers; however, the Allies decimated the Japanese forces by the end of December. As the battle was lost, surviving units were given independent command authority, and were ordered to go to ground and wage a guerrilla campaign on their respective islands for as long as possible. On 24 March 1945 Suzuki escaped to Cebu City, and when the American forces landed on Cebu on 26 March 1945, he retreated into the hills, and from there attempted to withdraw to Mindanao. On 8 April, he received a telegram that his aide, Major Rijome Kawahara, was killed and that Cebu City had fallen. Nevertheless, he continued his trip to escape, however, as he attempted to do so, his boats were attacked by aircraft and Suzuki was killed in action on 19 April 1945. He was posthumously promoted to full general.