Battle of Maguindanao

Battle of Maguindanao
Date January to September 1945 Location Maguindanao Result Filipino commonwealth victory
Belligerents
Commonwealth of the Philippines	Imperial Japan  Second Philippine Republic
Commanders and leaders
Wendell Fertig Gumbay Piang Salipada K. Pendatun	Gyosaku Morozumi
Units involved
Philippine 108th Division: Expeditionary Battalion 105th Infantry Maranao Militia Force (a Moro force under operational control of 108th Division)	Japanese 166th Independent Infantry Battalion, 100th Division
Casualties and losses
17 killed 21 wounded	about 250 killed

 Imperial Japan

The Battle of Maguindanao or Cotabato and Maguindanao Campaign (Filipino: Labanan sa Maguindanao or Kampanya sa Cotabato at Maguindanao) was one of the final battles of the Philippines Campaign of World War II. The battle was fought in advance of U.S. landings by Philippine Commonwealth military forces and the recognized Christian and Muslim guerrilla fighters against Imperial Japanese Army 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's 10th Military District 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 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.

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