Just as the Battle of Ardennes was launched, the Allied Southwest Pacific War Zone was not idle. Starting from December 24, the Allied Air Force launched a large-scale air strike on Luzon with Leyte and Mindulo as bases.

At the same time, the Allied fleets took the initiative to land on the southern coast of the island to lure the enemy into division of heavy troops to defend the south.

The commander of the 14th Front of Japan, Yamashita Tomomoto, who was stationed in the Philippines, originally had 9 divisions and 4 brigades, with a total force of about 400,000 people, more than 1,200 aircraft and more than 1,400 tanks.

Among them, there are as many as 300,000 troops in Luzon Island, which focus on defense. Coupled with the defensive system and vast strategic space that have been hard-working for many years, Luzon Island is undoubtedly a very difficult and hard bone to crack.

However, under a series of operations such as the Landing Campaign of Leyte, the Japanese defenders of the Philippines have been weakened to a considerable extent, and the air force has been exhausted.

But even so, the Allies did not underestimate the enemy. Before launching a landing battle against Luzon, they still adopted the same formula and prepared for high-intensity artillery fire for half a month.

Until January 9, 1945, Kruger led 4 divisions of the US Sixth Army, supported by about 600 warships of the US Seventh Fleet, landed in Renyain Bay in northern Luzon Island, and provided air support from the US Third Fleet and the Fifth and Thirteenth Air Forces.

The Japanese army once again dispatched a large-scale Kamifeng Special Attack Team to attack the landing formation. Under the crazy suicide attack, 8 US ships were sunk and 7 ships suffered serious damage.

But for the huge landing fleet, this is completely a mantis arm to block the chariot, and the Japanese army's crazy suicide attacks cannot save the defeat at all.

That night, the US military landed forces reached 68,000, and opened up a beachhead position that was 17 kilometers long and 12 kilometers wide.

After a week of battle, the US troops broke through the Japanese defense line in the Agno River and advanced towards Manila. An unprecedented tank battle broke out between the two sides near Clark Airport.

In this battle, the Japanese army used the latest successfully developed four-type medium tank on the Pacific battlefield for the first time.

The Type 4 medium tank is a medium tank developed by Japan at the end of World War II. Its total combat weight is 30.8 tons, which has made a qualitative leap compared to Japan's "medium tank" with only more than 10 tons.

It is a new tank with a new design and a major tank battle. Its main purpose is tank battles, and its performance is superior to that of the US M4 medium tank. The four-type tank has a total length of 6.343 meters, a crew of 5 people, a total width of 2.865 meters, a total height of 2.772 meters, and a width of 2.61 meters, which is much larger than the third-type tank.

The main weapon on the Type 4 medium tank is the Type 4 75mm anti-aircraft gun, which uses an automatic loader, which can fire a type of armor-piercing projectile and a type 4 grenade.

When firing a type of armor-piercing projectile, it can penetrate 75 mm thick steel armor at a shooting distance of 1,000 meters.

In order to improve the power of armor-piercing, while strengthening the material of the elastic body, 65 grams of high-violent explosives were also installed in the warhead, and the thickness of 100 meters of armor-piercing reached 146 mm.

The auxiliary weapons are 2 7.7mm machine guns, 1 is a side-by-side machine gun, and 1 is a front machine gun, with a base of 5    400 rounds.

The defensive armor is a new alloy armor that is up to 75 mm thick, with strong defense.

Therefore, the Type 4 medium tank has strong bulletproof capabilities. The US military's m4 medium tank must fire at a very close distance to threaten the Type 4 medium tank.

The four-type medium tank basically represents the highest technical level of the current Japanese combat vehicles, but it was developed too late.

So far, the total number of Japanese army equipment is only more than 1,200.

In order to resist the Allied forces' capture of Luzon Island, the Japanese army urgently transported more than 400 Type 4 medium tanks to strengthen their defense.

Without sea and air control, Yamashita Tomoto was wise to use these new tanks in the beach landing war without the Allied forces.

Instead, he was holding back his ultimate move and patiently waited until the Allied landing troops entered the island and began to attack Clark Airport. Then, Yamashita Tomoto bite his teeth and ordered all the tanks, including 400 Type 4 medium tanks, to come out in full swing, and the infantry followed closely to launch a counterattack.

This was a 7-inch hit on the snake!

As soon as the Japanese four-type medium-sized tank group, which had already been full of energy and was determined to die, showed an extremely fierce momentum and rushed forward, fighting for his life regardless of the consequences.

Caught off guard, the US landing troops, which had been smooth sailing, suffered major casualties in an instant. One after another, Sherman tanks and amphibious tanks were directly exploded, and the army troops following behind were even slaughtered and crushed.

The US landing troops were directly stunned, and the US commanders watching the battle in the rear were also stunned. They never dreamed that the Japanese were so insidious and cunning that they actually hid such a powerful tank and armored force.

The US military commander, who was very worried, immediately Kruger issued an order to send a large number of air force troops to suppress the fire, and ordered the army armored troops in other directions to immediately go to support.

However, far-reaching water cannot quench near thirst. Moreover, the Japanese troops are already fighting with the US troops at this moment, and ground artillery and air force are difficult to provide precise and effective fire suppression.

This unprecedentedly tragic tank battle lasted for a whole day and night, and it did not gradually come to an end the next morning.

Although the Japanese army was very fierce and fierce, when they lost control of sea and air, they only made a relatively beautiful exchange ratio to delay the Allied offensive rhythm.

In the end, the Japanese army ended in a crushing defeat at the cost of losing more than 420 tanks and tanks and 4,780 people killed. Only more than 30 tanks and tanks were able to escape.

The US military lost more than 5,000 casualties from 322 tanks, and the price paid was quite heavy.

On January 29, MacArthur sent an army of the Eighth Army to land in Subic Bay on the west coast of Luzon to assist the Krugers in accelerating progress and prevent the Japanese troops from retreating to the Bataan Peninsula.

Two days later, the 11th Airborne Division of the US Army landed in Nasugbu, south of Manila, forming a clamp-shaped offensive against Manila. More than 20,000 Japanese troops fought desperately and launched fierce street fighting with the US army.

On 2                                                                                                                              

The Battle of Luzon is the largest battle between the Chinese and Japanese and American troops in the Pacific War. In this battle, the US lost 47,000 people, 17 ships, and 210,000 Japanese troops were killed.

Surrounded by the generals and officers, he climbed onto Luzon Island. MacArthur finally fulfilled his wish and fulfilled his oath and promise of "I will definitely come back" and came to Manila, the capital of the Philippines, which was completely destroyed by the war.

The moment he stepped onto the land, MacArthur was extremely excited.

I saw him holding a microphone in the heavy rain, giving a passionate speech to the people who were greeting him:

"I am 'Madness', the Filipino people, I'm back..."

The Filipino people, who were brutal rule and suppressed by Japanese fascists, responded to MacArthur's passionate speech with the warmest and most exciting cheers and applause.

Faced with this situation, MacArthur, who had always been "awe-inspiring", shed tears of excitement! On March 2, MacArthur, the commander of the Pacific War Zone of the US, invited those who fled from Cole Herod Island with him to take four patrol to Cole Herod Island along the route they left.

Unlike three years ago, he fled the island in the dark night, and this time, he returned triumphantly under the blue sky and sun with the joy of victory.

After landing, what MacArthur saw was that the parachutes hanging on the branches that were not long ago were everywhere.

The white barracks at the headquarters were only one shell left.

MacArthur couldn't help but sigh a lot. When Colonel Jones, the commander who captured the island, came forward to welcome him, he shouted to Jones: "I saw that old flagpole still standing there. Please tell your soldiers to hang the flag on the top of the flagpole, and never let the enemy tear it down!"
Chapter completed!