THE MARCH OF WAR WARFARE IX THE PHLLIPPIXES (October 77, 1944, to }'ebruar!J 10, 1945) H, LEYTE for by Japanese naval forces which. after penetra.ting into Leyte Gulf through Surigao N October Ii, 1944, US forces put into Strait, wrought havoc among the a'· f'mbll'd Leytc Gulf; but bad weather prevented enemy fleet. O immediate landing maneuvers. As the The Japanese brought up troop reinforce­ storm abau,'(\, carrier·based air sq uadrons ments .ia Ormoc, and on ~ovembcr S l:enerlll of the invaders attacked the island, and on Tomoyuki Yamashita was appointed Cornman· October 19 the first disembarkation took place del' in Chief, replacing General.'higenori Kuroda. at 9 a.m. at Cabalian. Thus the first US troop The enemy divisions initially landed, belong. contingents set foot again on the Philippines ing to the 6th US Arm.)" lUlder Lieutenant almost two and a half years a.fter the ca.pitula. General Walter Krueger, had meanwhile been tion of Corregidor. The Cabs-Han landing was strengthened, and another landing was effectC'd followed by another at Tacloban, only to be early in No,-ember at Abuyoc. Having gain('(1 repulsed despite a heavy artillery barrage from n. foothold in the eastern plain of the illiand­ US naval forces. The attempt was repeated which is separated from the western part b~' on the following day, and this time part of mountains and jungles-the American com· the invaders managed t.o reach shore 8nd mand aimed at gaining access to the we tc'ru establish a bridgehead, to which they added coast by way of the corridor leading from another one at Dulag on October 21. Pouring Carigara Bay to Ormoc, with un exc('Uent road reinforcements into the beachheads of Tacloblln to count on. But the 24th US Divi.:sion, ad'·anc· and Dulag, the Americans pushed from here ing along the road from Carigara, met wit h northwestward>! toward Carigara Bay and due extremely fierce resistance and, moreo,-er. fOllnd west toward BUrllUcn and the airfields in the itself in a precarious position when Japllne::4c vicinity of that place. formations succeeded b)" means of infiltration While ,Japanese ground forces battled against tactics in cutting it off. Reinforcements, in· the some three S divisions that had been eluding the 32nd US Di,·ision, were hastily landed. ,Ja.pa,nc·se air formations attacked the landed by way of Carigara. enemy transport fleet and the escorting war· The advance from Abuyoc across thE' island ships. The real counterblow wal! begun on to Baybay and thence northward was !IL.,o October 24, when tho ::lpecial at,tack corps of checked; but here the US command could out· the Japane"e air force went into action agaiJlst Hank the defenders by landing operations fur­ three US ta.sk forces in waters ther north. Disem bnrkat iOll~ east of the Philippines. to be were carried out at Albuern and joined on October 2:3 by Japa.ncse further to the northwest enrh' na.val forces. In thill "Sea Battle in December for the purpose r;r off the Philippines," which lasted capturing the Japanese supply until October :W, and in repeated base of Ormoc anrl ~llilJilJl.( engagements ill Le)"t.o Gulf (Octo­ access to the corridor leading t(, ber 19 to 25), the Amcrican Navy Carigara Bay. After >IIrong ("e:;ist­ lost 8 aircraft carriers, 5 cruisers, ance, Ormoc finnlh· ft'll 011 3 destroyers, \} transports, and December 12. The bnWe now numerous lanning barges sunk; went on further to the north lind 500 planes destroyed; and 4 west where, during the sceolJd battleships, 9 airoraft carriel's, 2 half of December, the Ameri· cruisers, and 3 destroyers dam. cans landed at PalolDpon undo aged. The Japanese 10llSes on January 1, just south of amounted to 1 battleship, I Villaba. aircraft carrier, 2 cruisers, 2 de· 1n the Burauen sector the de· ­ stroyer, and 126 planes, I ad· fenders took the initiati,-e early ditional aircraft carrier being in December. In a series of da.maged. The greater part of the well co·oruinated ground anJ American los. ('Ii WIIS accounted air.ll'nc.ling operation:! they reo THE MARCH OF WAR 1-19 captured three airfields and lashed out in the big blow against the Philippines. direct,ion of Dulag and against positions in Which coastal area had been chosen by the the Tolosa sector. Although General Mac· Americans for their landing /x>carne obvious on Arthur claimed at the end of December January G when a large convoy including 70 that the Leyte campaign was te'rminated, the to SO large landing vessels entered Lingayen Burauen airfields were in Japanese hands on Gulf on the northwest coast of Luzon and .January 5. and at the time of writing fighting started an intensive naval and air bombardment is continuing on the island in spite of the on the coast. Certain indications seem to supply difficulties confronting the defenders. point toO the fact t.hat a landing {Tom the first convoy had been planned for January . How­ SA~1AR A~D MINDORO ever, the stiJI Japanese resistance, and partic­ Around ~ovember,10 the Americans also ularly their special attack corps, forced the crdsSed the channel separating Tacloban from convoy to change its course on the morning of Samar Island and advanced to Hinabangan, 8th toward the we.st and to wait for the arrival ouly to be thrown back to Ca.lbiga. of the second convoy, wbioh lOlly have originally Of greater tactical significance was the ap· been intended a8 a second landing wave. Dis· pearance of an American task force in Surigao embarkations began on January 9 at 9.40 a.m. ~tra.jt on December 13. It pushed on into the If the American Commander in Chief General 'ulu Sea and began landing maneuvers on the MacArthur has delared in his communique southern part of Mindoro Island at San Jose, that the landing found the Japanese Wlpn~· where the Americans managed to gain a foot­ pared. this can, in \,;ew of the above facts, be hold and layout airfields in preparation for the dismissed &8 nonsense. invasion of Luzon. The American forces engaged in battle on Leyte and Samar, aggregating some seven livisions, suffered heavy casualties. Moreover, the US Navy ustailled serious losses in war­ ships and t,rallsports in addition to those al· ready mentioned. They were largely inflicted by tbe "body crashing" tactic of the special attack corps of the Arm~' and Navy-the famed Kamikaze (KllVY) and Banda, .Fugaku, Yasu­ kllni, Hakko Ichiu, Gokoku, ekicho, Teshin, and Kinno (Army) formations-the results /x>­ tween October 25 and December 22 totaling 11S units either sunk, damaged, 01' set ublaze. These special att.nck corps oro composed of airmen who, after intense physical a.nd spiritual training, go Ollt on their mi ion of dt' troying enemy target. from which there will be no return, Cra!lhing into their objecti\'e, they can­ not fail to hit it; amI in t1lt'ir spirit of self­ sacrifice they demonstrate their nat,ion's Sll preme will to win ill l.lpitt> of any materiul superiority of tbe enemy, Wlint were the reasons leading tho Amcricall:! to the ohoice of Lingl\ycn GIlIf? The !lame LUZO~ which caused tile Japa.nesc on December 22, The ent,ire cO!ltl,r Leyte enterprise could only 1941. to la nd the bulk of their troops for the hay a meaning for the Americans if it was ellptllre of Luzon there too, The Gulf, which regarded a a first 'tep t.oward till' conquest of i only 1 '0 kilometers from )1anila has (I) nil· Luzon, Lcytc itself being of littl \'aluc to the merOIl lIlall harbors; (2) u road system leading American. as lon).( lUI it WIUI surrounded by towflrd MUllila; (3) the railway Dalllork~/ islandR oc upied by the Japanese. Tarlac,')'fanila; (4) fiat country favoring motor­ Since December 3, Luwl.\ was exposed to ized troops. heavy American bombing attacks Ilnd since The landing took place in the innermost purt December 27 the Japa,nese pres continually of the Gulf between San l"uLian allu Linga.ven, reported the' mO\'ements of large American The Americans fir t o:;t.aLlished four bea~h. troop con \'(1."S. all of them ob,riously destined heads which they then proceedro to conllect. for Luzon. Jt may be remembered that. before On II th another la.nding was made at Damort,j,.; the landing at Le):te, the American TllSk .Force north of 'un Fabian. By the third day, some .is bad appearJd off Taiwan ill order to keep 100,000 Americans had di embarked Oil Luzoll, the Japane . fleet away from til<' Philippines. All in aU, a,bout 800 Allied ships of all types. And when another ta.. k force appeared again off including ten aircraft carrierll, participated Taiwan on January 3, thi also indicated a new direct.ly or indirectly in the landing. Th(' 150 THE XXlh CESTURY di\'i"ions that were lAnded belong t·o the 6t,h any length of time. A;o I\, result, the American n, Arm~' undcr Lif'utenant General Krueger, forces reached the olltl"kirt:s of ~1nllila three the participating air forces were under t,he com· and a half weeks after the first landing in mlUid of Gelltmtl J\cnny, while the 3rd and Lingayen Gulf. Here, howen'r, they {'Ilcoun· ith l S tleet.s taking part. are commanded by tered stiff resistanc('. Arlmirals Halsey and Kinkaid. Where are General Yamashita's divil:lion8~ .'\s Yf't there has been no large.scale Il\nd Although they have not yet made un uppe&r' hattlc.