He therefore issued orders based upon these assumptions and also upon the assumption that the Japanese air and naval forces would be victorious. The 35th Army was to concentrate its reinforcements in the Carigara area. The principal elements of the 16th Division were to occupy Burauen and Dagami, and the rest of the division would occupy Catmon Hill and the western plateau of Tacloban. The 16th Division was to protect the concentration of the main force of the 35th Army. The 102d Division was to occupy the Jaro area and give direct protection to the 1st and 26th Divisions and the 68th Brigade. The 30th Division was to land at Ormoc Bay in the Albuera area and then advance to the Burauen area in coordination with the 16th Division and assist the main force of the 35th Army. The 1st Division was to land at Ormoc, the 26th Division and 68th Brigade were to land at Carigara. If the situation were favorable, however, the 68th Brigade was to land in the vicinity of Catmon Hill. After the main elements of the 35th Army had assembled at Carigara and the area southeast of it, they were to move down Leyte Valley and annihilate the American forces in the Tacloban area. All the important airfields, bases, and roads were also in the valley.
The part of Leyte Valley where the Americans hoped air and supply bases could be developed is a broad and level plain inside a quadrangle formed by the main roads linking Tanauan, Dulag, Burauen and Dagami. ([Map 7]) The region extending ten miles westward from the stretch of coast between Dulag and Tanauan to the foothills of the central range is an alluvial plain, interlaced by many streams, in which swamps and rice paddies predominate. Catmon Hill, about half way between Tanauan and Dulag, was the most prominent terrain feature near the shore line.
Catmon Hill is actually a series of hills with many spurs. This hill mass starts at the mouth of the Labiranan River above San Jose where Labiranan Head meets Highway 1, the coastal road, and extends in a general northwest direction to the vicinity of San Vicente and Pikas where it drops abruptly into the coastal plain. It is covered with cogon grass about six feet high, in the midst of which are found a few trees. The beach areas between the Calbasag River on the south and Tolosa on the north, together with much of southern Leyte Valley, are dominated by this hill mass.[2]
The 16th Division made use of the caves on Catmon Hill for shelters, artillery positions, and supply dumps, and established well-concealed coconut log pillboxes and observation posts at numerous vantage points on the hills. Some of these pillboxes, with good fields of fire and spider holes, were emplaced in positions to cover the roads.[3] A spider hole was dug about five feet deep, sometimes camouflaged with a removable cover, and was large enough to contain a man and his weapon.
The American prelanding naval bombardment destroyed a number of field pieces of the 22d Field Artillery Regiment, which was deployed in position along the first line of defense. The gunfire also disrupted the regiment’s radio service, and direct communication with the 35th Army and the 14th Area Army headquarters was temporarily broken.[4]
MAP 7 R. Johnstone
96TH DIVISION ADVANCE
21–30 October 1944
After the heavy naval bombardment on A Day and the subsequent landings by American forces in the Dulag area, General Makino moved the command post of the 16th Division to Dagami, a step which made communications very difficult and inadequate. The troops of the division were then disposed as follows: the 20th Infantry Regiment, though considerably diminished in number, was holding Julita, and one of its platoons patrolled the Daguitan River banks; the main part of the 9th Infantry Regiment was at Catmon Hill, while one of its battalions occupied Tabontabon.[5]