Leyte: The Return to the Philippines

by M. Hamlin Cannon

Halfway to Burauen

General Hodge ordered the 7th Division to capture the Dulag airfield and then drive west along the Dulag-Burauen road to seize Burauen and its airfields. After this was done, the division was to turn north along the Burauen-Dagami road and capture Dagami.[4] The 32d Infantry was to protect the division’s right (north), maintain contact with the 96th Division, and, if necessary, help the 184th Infantry on its left to secure the Dulag airstrip west of the town of Dulag. Securing the airstrip was to be the main effort of the 184th Infantry.[5]

MAJ. GEN. JOHN R. HODGE, XXIV Corps commander, outlines plans to his staff at corps headquarters in Dulag.

At the end of A Day (20 October), all the assault battalions of the 32d and 184th Infantry Regiments of the 7th Division were ashore. The 32d Infantry was on the right (north) flank and the 184th Infantry on the left (south) flank. The 32d Infantry had advanced just beyond Highway 1 in the area northwest of Dulag.[6] The 3d Battalion, 184th Infantry, was on the southern edge of the Dulag airstrip, while the 1st Battalion of the regiment was directly left of the 3d, and the 2d Battalion was in reserve.[7] The 3d Battalion, 17th Infantry, protecting the left flank of the XXIV Corps, was across the Daguitan River at Dao;[8] the 1st and 2d Battalions of the same regiment were to remain in division reserve.

The 7th Division had scarcely established itself for the night of 20 October when the Japanese launched two small-scale tank attacks against the perimeter of the division. Since a gap existed between the 184th and 32d Infantry Regiments, Company G of the 184th was committed to fill the space. As the men of the company were digging in for the night, three tanks from the 7th Independent Tank Company came down the road and sprayed the area with machine gun fire, but the fire was high and there were no casualties. Though the company fired rifles, bazookas, and mortars against them, the tanks escaped without injury. An hour later, when one of the tanks returned, it was knocked out and its crew were killed by a rifle grenade. An enemy scout car then dashed down the road, and its occupants killed two men and wounded three others.

The 3d Battalion, 184th Infantry, had established its night perimeter on the edge of the Dulag airfield, with its right flank on the Dulag-Burauen road. At 0130 three Japanese medium tanks moved along this road. Pfc. George W. Tilk of Company M stopped one of these, as it came into range, with one shot from his bazooka. The other two tanks continued down the road but on their return trip they were destroyed—one by the battalion supply detail and the other by Pfc. Johnnie Johnson with his bazooka.[9]

The uneasy repose of the 7th Division was again broken at 0400 on 21 October when six enemy tanks attacked the sector of the 3d Battalion, 184th Infantry. Within thirty minutes the battalion knocked out two of the tanks and forced the others to retreat.[10] The next disturbance was at 0530 when about fifty Japanese launched a limited counterattack against the night perimeter of Company K, 3d Battalion, 32d Infantry, with light machine gun and rifle fire. The Americans broke up the attack with machine guns, mortars, and artillery.[11] Daylight revealed thirty-five enemy dead in front of the company perimeter, and there was evidence that others had been dragged away.

Maj. Gen. Archibald V. Arnold, commander, ordered the 184th and 32d Infantry Regiments of the 7th Division to move west toward the Burauen airstrips abreast. Since a gap of several hundred yards existed between the two regiments, the battalions of the 184th Infantry were ordered to veer to the right. At 0800 the 7th Division attacked, the 184th Infantry on the left and the 32d Infantry on the right. There were four battalions in the assault, from left to right: 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry; 3d Battalion, 184th Infantry; 3d Battalion, 32d Infantry; and 2d Battalion, 32d Infantry.[12]

As the 2d Battalion, 32d Infantry, moved forward, it encountered Japanese entrenched in positions along the hedgerows. Knocking out these positions from hedgerow to hedgerow greatly retarded the advance. The 3d Battalion on the left faced an impassable swamp. In order to establish contact with the 184th Infantry and cover the area, Company I moved around the left side of the swamp, and Company L went around the right; Company K was to cover the gap between the 2d and 3d Battalions until the 2d Battalion could close it.