Note 7 — Chapter I · The Strategic Plan

By the spring of 1944 the operations in the Pacific were going so well that the successes had exceeded even the most optimistic hopes of any of the planning officers. On 12 March the Joint Chiefs ordered General MacArthur to prepare plans for a return to Mindanao, southernmost island of the Philippines, with a target date of 15 November 1944.7 General MacArthur on 15 June issued a plan for his future operations. The entrance into the Philippines was to be accomplished in two phases. The first would be a preliminary operation on 25 October into the Sarangani Bay area in southern Mindanao in order to establish land-based air forces to augment the carrier-based air support for the principal effort. The major effort was to be an amphibious landing operation with forces mounted from New Guinea for the seizure on 15 November of airfields and bases on Leyte.8 The latter was to follow quickly on the heels of the first operation in order to take full advantage of the surprise tactics.