United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific
Leyte: The Return to the Philippines
by M. Hamlin Cannon
. . . to Those Who Served
Table of Contents
The Author
Preliminary Discussion – Plans Agreed Upon
Chapter 2: The Nature of the Target
Geography of Leyte – The Resistance Movement on Leyte – Liaison Between Leyte and Australia
Chapter 3: Plans Are Made and Forces Are Readied
Estimate of the Enemy Situation – The Tactical Plan – The Logistical Plan
The Convoy Forms – Softening the Target – Japanese Plan of Defense – Securing the Channel Approaches – The Convoy Enters Leyte Gulf
Chapter 5: A Day: 20 October 1944
Bombardment of the Shores of Leyte – X Corps Goes Ashore – XXIV Corps Goes Ashore – Bringing in Supplies
Chapter 6: The Japanese Reaction
The Air Forces – The Battle of Leyte Gulf – The Japanese Reinforce the Leyte Garrison
Chapter 7: Southern Leyte Valley: Part One
The SHÕ Operations – Enlarging the 96th Division Beachhead – Catmon Hill Area
Chapter 8: Southern Leyte Valley: Part Two
The Dulag-Burauen Road – Securing the XXIV Corps Beachhead Line
Chapter 9: Northern Leyte Valley: Part One
San Juanico Strait – Leyte Valley Entrance
Chapter 10: Northern Leyte Valley: Part Two
Drive up Leyte Valley – Capture of Carigara
Chapter 11: Logistics and Civil Affairs
Logistics – Medical Support – Civil Affairs – Relations With Filipino Refugees
Chapter 12: The Mountain Barrier: Part One
The Coastal Corridor – Battle of Breakneck Ridge
Chapter 13: The Mountain Barrier: Part Two
Reinforcements – 32nd Division Assumes the Offensive – Battle of Kilay Ridge – Central Mountain Range
Chapter 14: Measure of the Fighting
The American Ground Forces – Japanese Warfare
Chapter 15: Battle of the Ridges
American Plans and Preparations – Battle of Shoestring Ridge – Battle of the Hills
Plan for Amphibious Movement – The Movement Overwater – Drive Toward Ormoc – Two Sevens Are Rolled in Ormoc
Chapter 17: Battle of the Airstrips
The American Dispositions – First Japanese Effort – Battle of Buri Airstrip – Attack From the Sky
Construction – Supplies
Chapter 19: The Entrances to Ormoc Valley
Southern Entrance to Ormoc Valley – The Mountain Passage – The Drive South
Chapter 20: Seizure of Ormoc Valley
Drive From the South to the Libongao Area – The 32nd Division Resumes the Offensive – Debouchment From the Mountains
Chapter 21: Westward to the Sea
The 77th Division Goes West – X Corps Goes West – The Japanese Retreat
Chapter 22: Leyte is Liberated
The Eighth Army Assumes Control – The Road Ends
Appendix A: GHQ Operations Instructions No. 70, 21 September 1944
Basic Military Map Symbols
Tables
1. Sixth Army Daily Strength Reports, 12 November-25 December 1944
2. Shipping Tonnage Discharged in Leyte-Samar Area, 28 October-25 December 1944
3. Airdrops by 11th Air Cargo Resupply Squadron, 11 November-25 December 1944
4. U.S. Army Battle Casualties at Leyte, 20 October 1944–8 May 1945
5. Sixth Army Battle Casualties by Arm or Service, 20 October-25 December 1944
Charts
1. Operational Organization for the Leyte Campaign
2. Organization of the Central Philippine Attack Force
3. Japanese Army Organization of Major Units for the Leyte Operation
Maps
1. Sixth Army Plan, 23 September 1944
2. Situation in the Pacific, Mid-October 1944
3. X Corps Landings, 20 October 1944
4. XXIV Corps Landings, 20 October 1944
5. 96th Division Advance, 21–30 October 1944
6. 7th Division Advance to Dagami, 21–30 October 1944
7. Securing the Tacloban Area, 21–23 October 1944
8. Fight for Entrance to Northern Leyte Valley, 21–25 October 1944
9. Drive to Jaro, 26–29 October 1944
10. Advance to Carigara, 30 October-2 November 1944
11. Battle for Northern Entrance to Ormoc Valley, 3–15 November 1944
12. Battle for Northern Entrance to Ormoc Valley, 16 November-14 December 1944
13. Shoestring Ridge, 23–25 November 1944
14. Shoestring Ridge, 26–27 November 1944
15. Battle of the Ridges, 5–12 December 1944
16. Situation on Leyte, 7 December 1944
17. Securing the Southern Entrance to Ormoc Valley, 7–15 December 1944
18. Japanese Attack on Burauen Airfields, 6 December 1944
19. Mountain Passage, 25 November-22 December 1944
20. Seizure of Ormoc Valley, 15–21 December 1944
21. Opening the Palompon Road, 22–31 December 1944
Illustrations
Conference at Pearl Harbor – Guerrillas Prepare for Inspection at Consuegra – Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita – Lt. Gen. Sosaku Suzuki – Patrol of Company F, 6th Rangers – Convoy Off Leyte – Landing Beaches – Troops of the 1st Cavalry Division – 75-mm. M8 Self-Propelled Howitzers – Maj. Gen. Franklin C. Sibert – Beach Area – Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger and Col. Ruperto K. Kangleon – Unloading Supplies at Dulag – Japanese Air Attacks – Air Strikes Against Japanese Installations – Antiaircraft Gun – Lockheed P-38 – Japanese Convoy Under Attack – Landing Areas and Leyte Valley – Crew of a Light Armored Car M8 – Filipino Civilian Guides U.S. Tank – San Vicente Hill – 105-mm. Self-Propelled Howitzer M7 Firing – Dulag and Bayug Airstrips – Maj. Gen. John R. Hodge – Disabled M4 Tank – Burauen – Engineer Troops – A Patrol From the 7th Cavalry – Maj. Gen. Verne D. Mudge – 8-inch Howitzers Readied for Action – General MacArthur – Proclamation to the People of the Philippine Islands – Tacloban – Tank-Supported Infantrymen of the 34th Regiment – Palo – Pastrana – U.S. Antitank Platoon – 155-mm. Guns Firing on Carigara – U. S. Patrol Crossing the Canomontag River – Access Road From WHITE Beach – Tanauan Airstrip – LSTs Unloading at Tacloban Airfield – Road Conditions – A Litter Squad Evacuates a Casualty – A Casualty Receives Treatment – An Operating Room at the Station Hospital, Tanauan – A Casualty is Evacuated by Ship to a Rear Area – An Officer of a Civil Affairs Unit – Refugee Area on ORANGE Beach Near Dulag – Engineers Remove Land Mines – View From the Ridges Looking North up the Limon Valley – American Troops in Limon – Lt. Col. Thomas E. Clifford, Jr. – Filipino Carriers Haul Supplies – Foothills of Central Mountain Range – General MacArthur and Maj. Gen. Archibald V. Arnold – Troops of the 77th Division Board LCIs at Tarragona – Convoy Carrying 77th Division Approaches Deposito – A Patrol of the 307th Infantry – Aerial View of Ormoc – Buri Airstrip – San Pablo Airstrip – Operational Losses at the Burauen Airfields – Approach Road to Quartermaster Service Center – Heavy Machine Guns Cover Crossing – U.S. and Japanese Tanks – Japanese Dug-in Positions Along Highway Banks – Japanese Light Tank – Palompon After Allied Bombings
All illustrations but one are from Department of Defense files. The photograph of Lt. Gen. Sosaku Suzuki on page 51 was contributed by Lt. Roger Pineau (USNR).
Office of the Chief of Military History
Department of the Army
Washington, D.C.
United States Army in World War II
Kent Roberts Greenfield, General Editor
Advisory Committee (As of 1 May 1953)
James P. Baxter, President, Williams College
Brig. Gen. Verdi B. Barnes, Army War College
John D. Hicks, University of California
Brig. Gen. Leonard J. Greeley, Industrial College of the Armed Forces
William T. Hutchinson, University of Chicago
Brig. Gen. Elwyn D. Post, Army Field Forces
S. L. A. Marshall, Detroit News
Col. Thomas D. Stamps, United States Military Academy
Charles S. Sydnor, Duke University
Col. C. E. Beauchamp, Command and General Staff College
Charles H. Taylor, Harvard University
Office of the Chief of Military History, Maj. Gen. Albert C. Smith, Chief*
Chief Historian, Kent Roberts Greenfield
Chief, War Histories Division, Col. G. G. O’Connor
Chief, Editorial and Publication Division, Col. B. A. Day
Chief, Editorial Branch, Joseph R. Friedman
Chief, Cartographic Branch, Wsevolod Aglaimoff
Chief, Photographic Branch, Maj. Arthur T. Lawry
*Maj. Gen. Orlando Ward was succeeded by General Smith on 1 February 1953.