Leyte: The Return to the Philippines

by M. Hamlin Cannon

ENGINEER TROOPS of the 13th Engineer Battalion rebuild a bridge near Burauen.

Company F was then relieved by the 2d Battalion, 184th Infantry, which established a roadblock nearer the main highway. Company F rejoined its battalion and the regiment formed its night perimeter about 600 yards south of Guinarona. The night was comparatively peaceful except for a minor bombing in the 2d Battalion area. The troops of the 17th Infantry were ordered to move out on 27 October in a column of battalions in the following order: 3d, 2d, and 1st, with a distance of 500 yards between battalions.[39] Since aerial photographs showed that all the bridges had been blown, a platoon of the 13th Engineer Battalion was attached to the 3d Battalion.

At 0700 the regiment moved out, with the 3d Battalion in the lead, on a 100-yard front on both sides of the highway. The tanks were forced to stay on the road. The 3d Battalion was able to cross a small stream south of Guinarona, although the bridge had been damaged. When it reached the northern bank of the stream the battalion ran into the enemy. Approximately twenty Japanese were dug in around a schoolhouse, with two machine guns mounted in the building. Company K, the lead company, under cover of machine gun and mortar fire, successfully stormed the schoolhouse and killed seventeen of its defenders. The engineer troops from the 13th Engineer Battalion advanced and quickly repaired the bridge, after which the rest of the 17th Infantry moved forward. Since the bridge north of Guinarona was also damaged, the same tactics were used. The infantrymen of the lead company crossed the stream and stood guard while the engineers repaired the bridge. For 2,500 yards the advance continued, unopposed except for small groups of Japanese. The heavy machine guns of the regiment fired from the flanks of the American forces and covered the swamps on both sides of the road. The 17th Infantry went into night perimeter about 2,200 yards south of Dagami and about 200 yards south of a demolished stone bridge. As the regiment started to dig in, enemy rifle and machine gun fire fell on the front of the 3d Battalion but mortars returned the fire and silenced the enemy. Although there was sporadic air and ground activity during the night, no attempt was made to penetrate the lines of the regiment.

Entrance Into Dagami

The 17th Infantry learned from Japanese prisoners that in addition to elements of the 20th Infantry Regiment in the Dagami sector, the following units were present: the 2d Battalion, 33d Infantry Regiment (about 200 men), together with scattered elements of the 16th Engineer Regiment and the 9th Infantry Regiment.[40]

The Japanese had firmly established themselves in positions in depth about 1,000 yards south of Dagami. These defenses consisted of mutually supporting pillboxes made of logs and sandbags, from which the Japanese could deliver interlocking bands of machine gun fire. They were situated on higher ground and could be approached only across open rice paddies.[41]

As the American forces came close to Dagami, the 17th Infantry was moving north along the Burauen-Dagami road, and the 382d Infantry, 96th Division, was approaching the road between Dagami and Tanauan.

Lt. Col. Kakuda, the commander of the Japanese Central Area Unit of the 20th Infantry Regiment, issued a series of operational orders. At 1800 on 27 October he ordered the 20th Infantry Regiment to take a position southwest of Dagami and annihilate the Americans.[42]

The 17th Infantry estimated that there were from 1,500 to 2,500 Japanese in the vicinity to oppose the regiment’s advance and that about 500 of these withdrew from Dagami in orderly fashion.[43] The commander of the 17th Infantry prescribed a column of battalions for the attack of 28 October. The 2d Battalion would pass through the 3d Battalion, and the attack north would be in the order of 2d, 1st, and 3d. All of the supporting arms were attached to the 2d Battalion for its attack.[44]

At 0730 the 2d Battalion attacked and immediately met very strong opposition. The stone bridge and road were in the middle of a strip of waist-deep swamp 100 yards wide, which funneled out to form a larger swamp. A crescent-shaped coconut grove lay beyond the swamp, one end in front of the road and the other bent to the south about 800 yards west of the road. The road and the curve in the coconut grove divided the swamp into three segments—one on each side of the road, and the third west of and parallel to the road. In the face of intense rifle, machine gun, and mortar fire coming from an unknown number of Japanese, Company F and three tanks managed to cross the creek. The tanks continued north up the road. As Company F waded through the waist-deep swamp, it pushed through direct enemy fire and past a large tank trap and found a line of pillboxes to its front and left flank.