Battle for Cebu City The Battle for Cebu City was a major engagement of World War II that occurred between March 26 and April 8 , 1945 , during the second Philippines Campaign . The battle resulted in an Allied victory over the occupying Japanese Army and the liberation of Cebu City . Prelude . After launching their campaign to recapture the Philippines at Leyte in October 1944 , the Allies followed up that victory by dispatching troops to Luzon in January 1945 . A month later , General Douglas MacArthur , overall commander of Allied forces in the Pacific , began planning to take the rest of the Philippines . General Robert L . Eichelberger ' s Eighth Army was then tasked with conducting a series of amphibious landings in the southern Philippines on islands between Mindanao and Luzon , including Cebu . Prior to the war , Cebu had been the Philippines second - most important industrial center , and it offered the Allies a harbor for future operations . The island was garrisoned by a force of between 14 , 500 and 15 , 000 Japanese troops . These were situated mainly in Cebu City and on the central east coast . Drawn from the 35th Army , the majority of these troops were support troops who had been supporting the evacuation of Luzon , and who were formed into combat units . The main Japanese combat units were the 102nd Infantry Division , which consisted of the 78th Infantry Brigade headquarters and the 173d Independent Infantry Battalion , and 1st Division , consisting of the 1st , 49th and 57th Infantry Regiments , which were down to battalion strength due to earlier fighting on Luzon . There were also several naval garrison units on the island , including the 33rd Special Base Force and the 36th Guard Unit . Battle . Following a preliminary bombardment , the battle began on March 26 , 1945 , when the Allies launched Operation Victor II . Staging out of Leyte , where they had conducted rehearsal landings two days earlier , a large flotilla of cruisers and destroyers from the Seventh Fleet Task Force 74 escorted the Cebu Attack Group to the island . Under the leadership of Major General William H . Arnold , the forces assigned to the operation consisted of the Americal Division ' s 132nd and 182nd Infantry Regiments , totaling about 5 , 000 men , were landed on Cebu island at Talisay Beach , southwest of Cebu City . The 182nd came ashore southwest of the city , while the 132nd landed at a wide gravel beach to the northeast opposite a palm grove . Meeting no Japanese opposition , the U . S . forces nevertheless suffered heavily from mines and booby trap s as they crossed the beach . It was the first time in the Philippines campaign that U . S . troops had encountered such weapons . As further waves landed , engineers and infantry began clearing lanes through the mine fields . The Americal Division slowly forced its way off the beach and moved inland against only small pockets of Japanese resistance that were carrying out delaying actions . The main body stopped for the night about from Cebu City . Patrols were sent out and the following day , the Americal Division continued its advance towards Cebu City , tasked with securing the harbor and nearby airfield , Lahug Airfield , positioned northeast of the city . On March 28 , more significant fighting broke out as the Americans captured the airfield , as well as Mactan Island in Cebu Harbor . Although the city had been officially liberated , Japanese forces remained in many parts , including the port area , and occupied several strongly defended positions in the hills to the city ' s north , where they came under the command of Major - General Takeo Manjome , who had previously commanded the 78th Infantry Brigade . At this time , Japanese resistance grew more determined and heavy fighting followed . Meanwhile , around 8 , 500 local Cebuano guerrilla and irregular forces , commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James M . Cushing , aided Filipino troops of the Philippine Commonwealth Army ' s 3rd , 8th , 81st , 82nd , 85th , 86th and 87th Infantry Division s and the Philippine Constabulary ' s 8th Infantry Regiment in their ongoing battle with the Japanese . Units fought on the outskirts of Cebu , capturing Pari - an on March 29 and liberating T . Padilla on April 7 . As Allied morale heightened and Japanese forces withdrew to the ports , the U . S . naval commander , Ferdinand Ernest Zuellig , directed naval bombardments on the ports , prompting the Japanese to withdraw to Fort San Pedro . Many did not make it and were trapped within Piers One and Two . Although the final operations around the ports were successful and forced many Japanese to surrender , the Japanese headquarters unit in charge of the area made a final stand near the border of Mandaue City . Led by Major Rijome Kawahara , after further fighting these forces were defeated , and after that the Allies gained control of the remaining areas of the city as Kawahara ' s remaining troops withdrew . Kawahara was killed while trying to cross the makeshift bridge towards Mandaue City . Reportedly , he was killed by a sniper after being incapacitated by mortar and tank fire . Kawahara was posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel . After the war , his body was returned to Japan where it was buried in Sapporo , the city of his birth . Aftermath . During the final stages of the battle , the mountainous parts of Cebu were also bombed and cleared . A series of battles were subsequently fought during this time , the most famous of which is the Battle of Gochan Hill , fought over three days from March 29 . Battling against a heavily entrenched force , the fighting proved costly for the 182d Infantry Regiment , with one company losing over 50 men killed when the Japanese blew up an ammunition dump , before the U . S . forces finally took the hill , having destroyed at least 85 pillboxes . Supported by naval gunfire , the Americal Division attempted to break through the Japanese line through a frontal assault , but their attempts resulted in slow progress , so plans were made to outflank them . In early April two battalions from the Americal Division ' s third regiment , the 164th , were dispatched to Cebu as reinforcements . These were moved in great secrecy around the Japanese lines and on 13 April , the Americans put in a two - pronged divisional level attack , which although initially checked , eventually forced the Japanese commander , Manjome , to withdraw further north into the mountains . Meanwhile , on April 20 the 164th Infantry ' s third battalion landed on the island of Bohol , and in concert with Filipino troops and guerillas began clearance operations , before being moved to Negros on April 20 ; they were subsequently joined by the regiment ' s other two battalions on 25 April . On Cebu , after a brief pause , the Allied forces began to follow up the retreating Japanese on April 20 . Filipino troops and Cebuano guerillas continued harassment operations . The Americal Division ceased operations on June 20 , when they with withdrawn back to Cebu City to began preparations for future operations . Meanwhile , the guerillas continued to keep pressure on the remaining Japanese . The entire Cebu campaign ended on July 2 , after Camp 8 had fallen . The Americans subsequently developed a large logistics base on the island , Base ' S ' , which was intended to be used by three infantry divisions as a staging base for the proposed invasion of Japan . Around 5 , 550 Japanese were killed during the fighting , while the Americal Division lost 410 men killed and 1 , 700 wounded ; a further 8 , 000 U . S . troops became sick during the battle . While the Filipino forces under the Philippine Commonwealth Army and Philippine Constabulary lost about 3 , 600 killed and 6 , 200 wounded . About 8 , 500 Japanese were able to escape into Cebu ' s north , where they remained until the war ended in August . Controversy . A number of controversies surround this battle . The most famous is why General Sosaku Suzuki , commander of the IJA 35th Army which was responsible for the forces on Cebu , was not in command of the Japanese troops in the city and where he was during the height of the battle . One theory that has developed is that during the liberation of the city on March 27 , Suzuki had already fled to the hills and mountains of Cebu City , hoping to make a last stand against the invading joint US and Philippine forces , resulting in the Battle of Gochan Hill . His orders for the defense of the city are believed to have been formulated earlier and the plan was made was given to Kawahara who , at that time , was the highest - ranking Japanese officer in the city , was entrusted with defending the city to the last man standing . As the mountainous parts of Cebu were being cleared by Allied forces , so too were the city outposts and barangays . When Suzuki transferred to the IJA garrison in the Candulawan - Tubod area around Minglanilla , after fleeing from the destroyed mountain camps , on April 8 , 1945 , he received a telegram that Kawahara had been killed while defending the city , and that the whole city , its ports and the nearby barangays had been captured by the Allies . Because of this , he began planning his escape . On April 14 , 1945 , the Allies began an assault on the Japanese bases in the Candulawan - Tubod area , as well the elimination of the defenses set up by the IJA in Pungtod , Calajo - an , and the Port of Tulay - Tungkop in what later became known as the " Battle Of Minglanilla " and the " Defense Of Calajo - an " . Spearheaded by US troops from ' G ' Company , 182nd Infantry Regiment and some local soldiers from the Philippine Commonwealth military and Cebuano guerrillas , the battle lasted for two days , clearing the IJA from Minglanilla . To care for the wounded , Allied forces set - up four wards , called Allied Service Stations and Mobile Allied Service hospitals , in the area and this is the reason why today there are barangays in Minglanilla named Poblacion Ward I to Ward 4 . The first stronghold , Camp 7 , was cleared on April 15 , but the bastion , Camp 8 , was not cleared until July 2 , marking the liberation of the entire Cebu from the Japanese . By the time the battle was at its height on April 10 , Suzuki fled south in an effort to avoid capture and rejoin the main part of his command on Mindanao , in the southern Philippines . On April 19 , while sailing in a convoy of small ships , Suzuki was killed when the ship he was in was attacked by U . S . aircraft between Sumilon Island Sound and Lio - an in Santander Bay .