The 382d Infantry, under Colonel Dill, had made a successful landing on A Day. The 2d Battalion, on the right, had pushed inland 2,700 yards, while the 3d Battalion, on the left, had gained 1,300 yards; the 1st Battalion was in reserve. Contact had been established with the 32d Infantry, 7th Division, on the 382d Infantry’s left, and with the 383d Infantry on its right.[8]
Labiranan Head
During the night of 20–21 October the 361st Field Artillery Battalion fired upon Labiranan Head in support of the 1st Battalion, 383d Infantry.[9] In addition naval guns, supporting the 96th Division, fired harassing and interdicting missions against possible enemy positions and lines of communication.[10] At 0810 on 21 October an air strike was registered on Labiranan Head, followed by a three-hour naval and artillery barrage.
The 382d Infantry was to move inland, maintain contact with the 7th Division, and forestall any Japanese attempt to reach the beaches. Concurrently, the 1st Battalion, 383d Infantry, would advance on Catmon Hill from Labiranan Head while the 2d and 3d Battalions of the regiment would swing around the northwest end of Catmon Hill and squeeze the Japanese in a pincers.
At 1130 an assault force commanded by Capt. Hugh D. Young of the 1st Battalion, 383d Infantry, attacked the Japanese position on Labiranan Head. This assault force, a composite company, consisted of a platoon each from A, B, and C Companies, together with the weapons platoon from C Company. The troops moved up the ridge and within ten minutes after starting destroyed one machine gun and drove off the crew of another. Under cover of mortar fire, the Japanese retired to the next ridge.
In co-operation with the advance of Captain Young’s force, the 3d Platoon of Company C, which had established the roadblock at the Highway 1 crossing of Labiranan River on A Day, moved out just below Labiranan Head and hit the Japanese flank. The platoon met a strongly entrenched enemy position which consisted of seven pillboxes guarding ten 75-mm. guns. There were also six coastal guns but only two of these had been even partially assembled. When the men of the platoon got within twenty feet of the enemy position, they received fire from the two flanks and the front. After knocking out a machine gun nest the platoon withdrew.
Lt. Col. Edwin O. List, the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, then ordered Captain Young to advance northward up a covered draw and secure a small hill in the rear of the enemy force. As the troops advanced up the hill, they observed smoke coming from Labiranan Head. Company D thereupon placed mortar fire on the position which contained the ten 75-mm. guns. At 1430 Captain Young requested that the fire be lifted; this was done, and the advance continued.[11]
At 1600 Captain Young reported that his troops had secured Labiranan Head. At the same time, friendly naval gunfire shelled Young’s troops.[12] This gunfire was not stopped, since there were known Japanese positions in the vicinity and it was believed to be of more lasting importance to knock them out than to hold this one position. Captain Young evacuated Labiranan Head and withdrew his troops, who swam across the Labiranan River and formed a night perimeter on the south bank. At the end of the day the front lines of the rest of the 1st Battalion, 383d Infantry, were along the northern banks of the Labiranan River and on the high ground 800 yards west of Labiranan Head.[13]
CREW OF A LIGHT ARMORED CAR M8 prepares to fire on enemy positions in the Labiranan Head sector.