a hard-liner in the Japanese navy, had toured the Philippines and other parts of the Southeast Asia, noting that these countries had raw materials Japan needed for its armed forces. This helped further increase their aspiration for colonizing the Philippines. The Southern Expeditionary Army was created on 6 November 1941, commanded by General Hisaichi Terauchi, who had previously been Minister of War. It was ordered to prepare for war in the event that negotiations with the United States did not succeed in peacefully meeting Japanese objectives. They also included the condition of America's acceptance of their position in the Pacific as a superior force, with the testament of their occupation of China, but they did not get what they wanted. Under Terauchi's command were four corps-equivalent armies, comprising ten divisions and three combined arms brigades, including the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army. Operations against the Philippines and Malaya were to be conducted simultaneously when Imperial General Headquarters ordered. The invasion of the Philippines had four objectives: To prevent the use of the Philippines as an advance base of operations by American forces To acquire staging areas and supply bases to enhance operations against the Dutch East Indies and Guam To secure the lines of communication between occupied areas in the south and the Japanese Home Islands To limit the Allied intervention when they attempt to launch an offensive campaign in Australia and the Solomon Islands via dispatching all the forces stationed in the country and other neighboring nations Invasion forces Terauchi assigned the Philippines invasion to the 14th Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma. Air support of ground operations was provided by the 5th Air Group, under Lieutenant General Hideyoshi Obata, which was transferred to Formosa from Manchuria. The amphibious invasion was conducted by the Philippines Force under Vice Admiral Ibō Takahashi, using the Imperial Japanese Navy Third Fleet, supported by the land-based aircraft of 11th Air Fleet of Vice Admiral Nishizo Tsukahara. The 14th Army had two first-line infantry divisions, the 16th (Susumu Morioka) and 48th Divisions (Yuitsu Tsuchihashi), to invade and conquer Luzon, and the 65th Brigade as a garrison force. The Formosa-based 48th Division, though without combat experience, was considered one of the Japanese Army's best units, was specially trained in amphibious operations, and was given the assignment of the main landing in Lingayen Gulf. The 16th Division, assigned to land at Lamon Bay, was