Battle of Bessang Pass

Battle of Bessang Pass
Date 1–15 June 1945 Location Ilocos Sur, Luzon, Philippines Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States  Commonwealth of the Philippines	Japan  Second Philippine Republic
Commanders and leaders
Walter Krueger Innis P. Swift Russell W. Volckmann Basilio J. Valdez	Tomoyuki Yamashita Yoshiharu Ozaki
Strength
United States Army Forces in the Philippines - Northern Luzon ~ 9,000 Filipino troops Philippine Commonwealth Army Philippine Constabulary ~ 12,500 Filipino troops	73rd and 76th Infantry, Japanese 14th Area Army ~ 2,250 Japanese troops
Casualties and losses
USAFIP-NL forces 119 killed 220 wounded Philippine Commmonwealth military 583 killed 1,250 wounded	Imperial Japanese military 2,600 killed

 United States

 Japan

The Battle of Bessang Pass (Filipino: Labanan sa Passong Bessang Ilocano: Gubat ti Paso Bessang) was fought from 9 January through 15 June 1945 in Cervantes, a municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, located 260 km north of Manila. The area serves as a gateway to the Cordillera mountains and the city of Baguio. Bessang Pass was a stronghold of the Japanese imperial forces under Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, known as the “Tiger of Malaya” and conqueror of Singapore. It was part of the triangular defense of General Yamashita in the north, namely the Balete Pass, Villaverde Trail and Bessang Pass, guarding the Ifugao-Benguet-Vizcaya borders. Its fall at the hands of the United States Army Forces in the Philippines - Northern Luzon (USAFP-NL) on June 14, 1945 paved the way for the entrapment of Yamashita’s forces in the Cordillera until the general’s surrender in September 1945.

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