After returning to Mindoro, the 503rd was alerted for another combat jump, this time in the central Philippines to reinforce the 40th Infantry Division in its fight on Negros island. However the jump was canceled and the combat team landed amphibiously on 7 April 1945. It would spend the remainder of the war conducting mopping up operations on the island, often against fanatical enemy resistance; notably, one of the Japanese units the 503rd fought was the remnants of the battered 2nd Raiding Brigade of Japanese paratroopers. After Japan's surrender in August 1945, over 6,150 Japanese soldiers surrendered to the 503rd, although some continued to hold out until October.