ABSTRACT
Japanese defense of the Philippines was complicated by the islands' geographic expanse. They expected the Americans to strike first at the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, as it was closest to MacArthur's forces. But aircraft carrier raids carried out under Admiral Halsey's command in September 1944 exposed the relatively weak state of Japanese air power in the Philippines, and the Combined Chiefs of Staff ordered Mindanao bypassed and set the combined MacArthur-Nimitz invasion of the central Philippine island of Leyte for October 20, 1944. 1
