Additionally, it should be added that a POW taken at the fall of the Philippines and a survivor of the death march stated flatly that, should the Allies have invaded, all, ALL...the POW’s would have been murdered.
Nobody discounts the Burma prison camps, the Chinese plight, the forced labor or the civilian deaths. Unlike Nazi Germany, most of that was a known before the end of the war. It was the utter and complete brutality that was underestimated.
I have no doubt they would all have been murdered. My uncle, for whom I am named, did not survive the Death March. I consider the Philippines to be my adopted country, and plan to retire there soon.