The Battle of Maguindanao or Cotabato and Maguindanao Campaign (

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

: ''Labanan sa Maguindanao o Kampanya sa Cotabato at Maguindanao'') was one of the final battles of the Philippines Campaign of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The battle was fought in advance of U.S. landings by

Philippine Commonwealth The Commonwealth of the Philippines ( es, Commonwealth de Filipinas or ; tl, Komonwelt ng Pilipinas) was the administrative body that governed the Philippines from 1935 to 1946, aside from a period of exile in the Second World War from 1942 ...

military forces and the recognized Christian and Muslim guerrilla fighters against

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

troops. Japanese forces, numbering about 1,500 men of the 166th Independent Infantry Battalion, in the Malabang-Cotabato area were part of the 100th Division garrison troops, approximately one third Koreans, that were demoralized by poor officers and a defeatist attitude. The guerrillas had been destroying supplies, blowing bridges and making even small truck convoys or small patrols impossible for months even before their direct offensive operations began in April. Beginning in early March 1945 part of Colonel

Wendell Fertig Wendell Fertig (December 16, 1900 – March 24, 1975)Brooks 2003, p. 37. was an American civil engineer, in the American-administered Commonwealth of the Philippines, who organized and commanded an American-Filipino guerrilla force on the Jap ...

10th Military District 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

guerrilla force, the guerrilla 108th Division began attacking the Japanese garrison at Malabang with some air support from U.S. Marine Corps and

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

aircraft. The 108th was commanded by Lt. Col. Charles W. Hedges, an unsurrendered U.S. Army officer, with forces at Malabang commanded by an Australian officer who had escaped from Borneo, Maj. Rex Blow. The elements of the 108th directly involved were the Expeditionary Battalion, part of the 105th Infantry and the Moro Maranao Militia Force that was under the operational control of the 108th. In late March progress was such that Stinson L-5 Sentinel liaison planes could use the Malabang strip and on 5 April Marine Corps aircraft were using the strip. By the 11 April, the Japanese had fled toward Parang and on 13 April Colonel Fertig notified Eighth Army that U.S. forces could land unopposed at Malabang and Parang with indication the Japanese had probably evacuated the Cotabato area. The reoccupation effort cost the guerrillas 17 dead and 21 wounded with perhaps 250 Japanese losses with an estimated fewer than 100 escaping. After confirmation by Marine air reconnaissance previous plans were changed so that one battalion of the 24th Division assault forces of Task Group 78.2 would go ashore at Malabang with the rest going directly to Parang. Despite Fertig's assertion no shore bombardment would be necessary a bombardment preceded the landings beginning shortly after 0730 on 17 April.

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* {{coord, 7.13333, 124.3, display=title 1945 in the Philippines Maguindanao Maguindanao History of Maguindanao

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