After establishing a base of operations on Leyte, American armed forces built-up and proceeded to invade Mindoro against relatively light opposition and ultimately landed on Luzon on January 9th, 1945. Secondary landings were carried out to prevent the main Japanese forces from retreating to more defensible positions such as Bataan. By July 5th General MacArthur declared the Philippines liberated. However, some remote areas remained under Japanese control until the end of the war.