October 19, 1944: The Fifteenth War Patrol and the Submarine Supply Operations That Supported the Liberation of the Philippines
By October 1944, the liberation of the Philippines was no longer a distant strategic objective. American forces were preparing to return to the islands they had been forced to abandon more than two years earlier. General Douglas MacArthur’s promised return would begin with the landings on Leyte on October 20, but the success of that invasion depended upon more than the soldiers, sailors, and airmen assembling for the assault. Throughout the occupied archipelago, Filipino guerrillas and American intelligence operatives had been fighting a largely unseen war, gathering information, harassing Japanese forces, and preparing the ground for liberation.
