11th Airborne Division Campaign Map

In the Pacific, the 11th Airborne Division's route brought airborne training, amphibious movement, and jungle fighting into the same campaign. After training in New Guinea, the division moved to Leyte in November 1944 and entered the campaign to secure the island. Its early operations included the difficult movement inland from Bito Beach, fighting near Burauen, and defense of the San Pablo, Bayug, and Buri airfields after Japanese parachutists struck the area in December.

The division then pushed west through difficult terrain toward Ormoc Bay, helping compress Japanese forces on Leyte before preparing for the Luzon campaign. In January 1945, it landed at Nasugbu on western Luzon while the 511th Parachute Infantry dropped on Tagaytay Ridge. From there, the division drove toward Manila, fought around Nichols Field and Fort McKinley, and helped open the southern approaches to the city.

One of its most dramatic operations came on February 23, when combined airborne, amphibious, and ground elements helped liberate prisoners at Los Banos. The campaign continued through southern Luzon, including fighting around Lake Taal, Batangas, and mountain strongpoints. Seen together, these movements show a division using several forms of warfare in quick succession: landing, marching, parachuting, assaulting airfields, and clearing rugged inland positions.

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