Japanese invasion of Cebu

Japanese Invasion of Cebu
Date April 16, 1942 – May 12, 1942 Location Cebu Island, Visayas, Philippines Result Japanese victory Territorial changes Cebu captured by the Japanese
Belligerents
Empire of Japan	United States of America  Commonwealth of the Philippines
Commanders and leaders
Kawaguchi Kiyotake	Bradford Chynoweth Irvine Scudder Howard Edmands Rufus Rogers Arthur Grimes Cornelius Byrd John D. Cook Emigdio David Fortunato Borbon
Units involved
Ground units: Japanese Fourteenth Army Kawaguchi detachment 35th Infantry Brigade 124th Infantry Regiment Armored Detachment Artillery Batteries 10th Independent Garrison	"Ground units": USFIP – Visayan Force Cebu Brigade Cebu Military Police Regiment US Army Transport Service Philippine Commonwealth Army 82nd Infantry Regiment 83rd Infantry Regiment Philippine Constabulary Cebu PC Battalion
Strength
4,500	6,500
Casualties and losses
500	1,000

On April 14, 1942 Kawaguchi Detachment who just landed in Lingayen, Pangasinan intended as reinforcement of the 14th Imperial Japanese Army to finally subdue Philippine-American forces in Bataan. However, General King surrendered days earlier before they arrived. Instead, General Homma Masaharu commander of 14th Army ordered them south to secure Cebu island in the Visayas intended as launching place for invasion of Mindanao after it is secured.^[1]

The island garrison was neutralized after a few days of fighting as they lacked artillery guns, no anti-aircraft guns, no antitank guns, and limited ammunition. The forces retreated but did not surrender until ordered to do so by General Sharp on May 10, 1942.^[1]