Question: In Battle of Leyte and the Battle of Saipan American forces fought the?
Context: The Battle of Leyte in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the amphibious invasion of the Gulf of Leyte in the Philippines by American forces and Filipino guerrillas under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita from 17 October - 26 December 1944.  The operation code named "King Two" launched the Philippines campaign of 1944–45 for the recapture and liberation of the entire Philippine Archipelago and to end almost three years of Japanese occupation. The Battle of Shawali Kowt took place near the Arghandab River in Afghanistan during the Invasion of Afghanistan.  On December 2, 2001, after a pitched street-by-street battle, the Green Berets and Afghan Freedom Fighters captured the town of Shawali Kowt, but could not gain control over a bridge over the Arghandab River, a gateway to the Taliban spiritual center of Kandahar.  That night, the Taliban forces launched a major counterattack, triggering a retreat by the Afghans.  Over the next eight hours, the American forces fought defended against the retreat.  U.S. Air Force Sergeant Alex Yoshimoto, the combat controller, orchestrated numerous air strikes from a variety of fighters and bombers, thwarting the Taliban charge and forcing the enemy to retreat. The Battle of Bataan (7 January – 9 April 1942) represented the most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II.  In January 1942, forces of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy invaded Luzon along with several islands in the Philippine Archipelago after the bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor.  The commander-in-chief of all Filipino and American forces in the islands, General Douglas MacArthur, consolidated all of his Luzon-based units on the Bataan Peninsula to fight against the Japanese invaders.  By this time, the Japanese controlled nearly all of Southeast Asia.  The Bataan peninsula and the island of Corregidor were the only remaining Allied strongholds in the region.  Despite a lack of supplies, Filipino and American forces managed to fight the Japanese for three months, engaging them initially in a fighting retreat southward.  As the combined Filipino and American forces made a last stand, the delay cost the Japanese valuable time and prevented immediate victory across the Pacific.  The surrender at Bataan, with 76,000 soldiers surrendering in the Philippines altogether, was the largest in American and Filipino military histories, and was the largest United States surrender since the American Civil War's Battle of Harper's Ferry.  Soon afterwards, Filipino and American prisoners of war were forced into the Bataan Death March. Thunder on South Mountain is a board wargame that simulates the American Civil War battle of South Mountain Maryland, fought on September 14, 1862.  In this battle, Union forces fought under the command of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan and Confederate forces were under the command of Maj. Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill.  Players play the role of these commanders in this tactical, brigade-level simulation.  The game has low complexity and an emphasis on command and control. The Battle of Luzon, fought 9 January – 15 August 1945, was a land battle of the Pacific Theater of Operations of World War II by the Allied forces of the U.S., its colony the Philippines, and allies against forces of the Empire of Japan.  The battle resulted in a U.S. and Filipino victory.  The Allies had taken control of all strategically and economically important locations of Luzon by March 1945, although pockets of Japanese resistance held out in the mountains until the unconditional surrender of Japan.  While not the highest in U.S. casualties, it is the highest net casualty battle U.S. forces fought in World War II, with 192,000 to 205,000 Japanese combatants dead (mostly from starvation and disease), 10,000 American combatants killed, and between 120,000 to 140,000 Filipino civilians and combatants killed. The Battle of Saipan was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from 15 June to 9 July 1944.  The Allied invasion fleet embarking the expeditionary forces left Pearl Harbor on 5 June 1944, the day before Operation Overlord in Europe was launched.  The U.S. 2nd Marine Division, 4th Marine Division, and the Army's 27th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Holland Smith, defeated the 43rd Infantry Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito. The Battle of Pensacola was a battle in the War of 1812 in which American forces fought against forces from the kingdoms of Britain and Spain, along with Creek Native Americans and African-American slaves allied with the British.  The American commander, General Andrew Jackson, led his infantry against British and Spanish forces controlling the city of Pensacola in Spanish Florida.  The British abandoned the city and it was surrendered to Jackson by the Spanish. The Battle of Kellogg's Grove is either of two minor battles, or skirmishes, fought during the Black Hawk War in U.S. state of Illinois, in present-day Stephenson County at and near Kellogg's Grove.  In the first skirmish, also known as the Battle of Burr Oak Grove, on June 16, 1832, Illinois militia forces fought against a band of at least 80 of Native Americans.  During the battle three militia men under the command of Adam W. Snyder were killed in action.  The second battle occurred nine days later when a larger Sauk and Fox band, under the command of Black Hawk, attacked Major John Dement's detachment and killed five militia men. The Japanese 20mm Cannon Blockhouse is one of many relics of World War II on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands.  It is a concrete blockhouse, semi-circular in shape with a diameter of about 6 m .  Its walls are 1.22 m thick with four firing ports large enough to accommodate 20mm cannons, originally equipped with steel sliding shutters.  A steel door 25 mm thick provides access to the structure at the rear, sheltered by a concrete wall and covered defensively by a machine gun port.  The blockhouse is located near the center of what is locally called Big Agingan Beach (Unai Dankulo Agingan), on the south coast of the island, about 20 m from the shore.  It was built in some haste by the Japanese forces defending Saipan in 1944, and was captured by Allied forces early in the Battle of Saipan. The Battle of Attu, which took place from 11–30 May 1943, was a battle fought between forces of the United States, aided by Canadian reconnaissance and fighter-bomber support, and the Empire of Japan on Attu Island off the coast of the Territory of Alaska as part of the Aleutian Islands Campaign during the American Theater and the Pacific Theater and was the only land battle of World War II fought on incorporated territory of the United States.  It is also the only land battle in which Japanese and American forces fought in Arctic conditions.
Answer: Imperial Japanese Army