| Japanese Invasion of Davao | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of thePhilippines campaign (1941–1942),Pacific Theater | |||||||
 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Japan | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Muira Toshio |
 Luis Jakosalem | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
Ground units:
Naval units:
| Ground units:
Air units:
| ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 6,500 | 2,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 700 | 1,000 2PBY Seaplanes | ||||||
TheJapanese Invasion of Davao (Filipino:Paglusob ng mga Hapones sa Davao, Jolo at Arkipelago ng Sulu,Cebuano:Pagsulong sa Hapon sa Davao, Jolo ug Kapuloan sa Sulu) and onJolo in theSulu Archipelago on 19 December 1941 was one in a series of advance landings made by Imperial Japanese forces as first step in theirinvasion of the Philippines. The purpose was to cut off the possibility of reinforcements reachingLuzon from the south and to complete the encirclement of American forces there, with the secondary purpose of establishing a base from which theIJA 16th Army could launch an invasion ofBritish North Borneo and theNetherlands Indies . The first invasion of the Philippines was atBatan Island on 8 December 1941. This was followed byVigan,Aparri,Legaspi, Davao, and Jolo over the next few days[1]
Davao City is the economic center of southernMindanao, and before the start of the war was the hub of Japanese settlement and economic activity in the Philippines. For the invasion of Davao, Major GeneralShizuo SakaguchiIJA 56th Division organized two detachments totaling 5000 men. The Miura Detachment, led by Lt Col Toshio Miura consisted of the 1st Battalion of the 33rd Infantry Regiment, and the Sakaguchi Detachment, led by Sakaguchi himself, consisted of the146th Infantry Regiment, as well as an armored and an artillery battalion. Whereas theIJA 14th Army was in charge of the invasion of the Philippines, Sakaguchi's forces were under the IJA 16th Army and were scheduled to continue to advance south toTarakan in the Netherlands Indies via Jolo in the Sulu islands after Davao was secured. For the Jolo portion of the mission,Sakaguchi was to be assisted by theKure SNLF, who has just completed their mission to secure Legaspi.[1]
The area of Davao was in theory defended by 2,000 men of thePhilippine Commonwealth Army’s 2nd Battalion101st Infantry, 2nd Battalion82nd Infantry, and PC Battalion of Davao commanded by Lt Col Roger B. Hilsman. As with other units in the Philippine Army, the force was only partially trained, and suffered from a serious shortage of equipment, no artillery pieces, and limited ammunition.
Davao was of concern to theImperial Japanese Navy, as it had an American naval base and was only 500 miles from the major Japanese military center in the western Pacific,Palau. However, at the start of the war, only theseaplane tenderUSS William B. Preston, with three operationalConsolidated PBYs were in the harbor. Unaware of this, on 8 December the Japanese launched an attack on Davao, with 13B5N1 bombers and 9A5M4 fighters launched from theaircraft carrierRyūjō, with the destroyersHayashio,Kuroshio,Oyashio andNatsushio making a high speed run for the entrance to Davao harbor to catch any escaping vessels. The raid was somewhat of a fiasco, as the Japanese pilots did not even recognizeWilliam B. Preston as a warship and only managed to destroy two of her PBY-4s (the other was away on a mission at the time).[2]
The Japanese invasion force under the overall command of admiralRaizo Tanaka departed Palau on 17 December in 5 transports, escorted by the light cruiserJintsu and six destroyers (Amatsukaze,Hatsukaze,Kuroshio,Oyashio,Hayashio andNatsushio), with the aircraft carrierRyūjō and the seaplane carrierChitose, and the cruisersNachi,Haguro andMyōkō providing distant cover.[2] On the afternoon of 19 December,Ryūjō launched aircraft to destroy the radio station at Cape San Augustin, and theChitose launched reconnaissance aircraft, which flew over Davao.
The Japanese transports arrived at Davao by midnight, and landing commenced from 0400 hours, with theMiura Detachment landing to the north, and theSakaguchi Detachment landing to the southwest of the city. The only opposition was a single machine gun squad, which attacked the Miura Detachment before it was destroyed by a direct hit by a shell fired from a Japanese destroyer. However, since the Miura Detachment suffered casualties, Sakaguchi was forced to commit reserve forces he was holding back for the Jolo portion of the operation. By 1030, Col Hilsmen pulled his men out of the city northwest into the hills. By 1500 hours, the city and airfield were in Japanese hands, and by evening a seaplane base was established to the south of the urban area.On 20 December, as Sakaguchi was reorganizing his forces into nine transports for the landing on Jolo Island, he was attacked by a force of nineUSAAFBoeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers which had launched fromDarwin, Australia. Visibility was poor, and the bombers caused little damage. The Jolo invasion force departed Davao of 23 December, reaching its destination on the afternoon 24 December.[1]
Jolo, the capital of the formerSultanate of Sulu, was defended by only 300 members of thePhilippine Constabulary. The Japanese landed on the morning of 25 December with no resistance.
The advance landings by the Japanese in southern Mindanao and the Sulu island marked further success for them in the overall campaign in the Philippines, and helped secure the region for theirinvasion of Borneo and further expansions in 1942 such as to theNetherlands East Indies.[1] Davao Force retreated towards Bukidnon on Jungle trails for 14 days before reaching Malaybalay with just eating monkey meat and vegetables.
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