With the situation in the Philippines against the United States in the Pacific War becoming ever more precarious, the 23rd Division was reassigned to Luzon. While en route, under control of the Japanese 14th Area Army, it suffered heavy losses when Convoy HI-81 was attacked in mid-November 1944. The division arrived just in time to engage in combat against the Americans during the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf. At this battle and in subsequent combat against the combined American and Philippine Commonwealth armed forces, during the Battle of Luzon to March 1945, the 23rd Division suffered 24,508 killed in combat out of a total strength of 29,636 men. By March, the division had run out of food, which resulted in mass starvation. The 23rd Division ceased to exist after the Battle of Luzon, and survivors had retreated to Bokod by the time of the surrender of Japan 15 August 1945.