<P> The Japanese launched the invasion by sea from Formosa over 200 miles to the north of the Philippines . The defending forces outnumbered the Japanese invaders by 3 to 2, however they were a mixed force of non-combat experienced regular, national guard, constabulary and newly created Commonwealth units . The Japanese used first - line troops at the outset of the campaign, and concentrating their forces, enabling a swift overrun of most of Luzon during the first month . </P> <P> The Japanese high command, believing they had won the campaign, made a strategic decision to advance by a month their timetable of operations in Borneo and Indonesia, withdrawing their best division and the bulk of their airpower in early January 1942 . This, coupled with the decision of the defenders to withdraw into a defensive holding position in the Bataan Peninsula, enabled the Americans and Filipinos to successfully hold out for four more months . </P> <P> The conquest of the Philippines by Japan is often considered the worst military defeat in United States history . Twenty - three thousand American military personnel were killed or captured and Filipino soldiers killed or captured totaled around 100,000 . </P> <P> The Japanese planned to occupy the Philippines as part of their plan for a "Greater East Asia War" in which their Southern Expeditionary Army Group seized sources of raw materials in Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies while the Combined Fleet neutralized the United States Pacific Fleet . </P>

What happened to us forces in the philippines
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