CHAPTER IX
Northern Leyte Valley: Part One
By the evening of 20 October the Tacloban airfield and Hill 522, overlooking the town of Palo at the northern entrance to Leyte Valley, were in the hands of the X Corps. The night of 20–21 October was free from enemy activity in the sector of the 1st Cavalry Division, and the exhausted troops were able to obtain an unquiet rest during their first night in the Philippines. Having secured the Tacloban airfield they were in position to march on Tacloban, the capital of Leyte, the following morning. Tacloban is situated on a peninsula at the head of San Pedro Bay. A string of low hills, stretching from Anibong Point along the base of the peninsula to the southeast, commands the approaches to the town.[1] Throughout the night the 61st Field Artillery Battalion delivered harassing fires on the hills south of the town.[2] ([Map 9])
San Juanico Strait
Drive Toward Caibaan
General Krueger wished to push rapidly through Leyte Valley and secure its important roads and airfields before the Japanese could regroup and offer a firm line of resistance. In the north, securing San Juanico Strait would prevent any of the enemy from crossing over from Samar. Control of the road that led through the interior of northern Leyte Valley would give the possessor a firm hold on the northern part of the valley. With a successful two-pronged attack—elements of the 1st Cavalry Division driving north along San Juanico Strait and units of the 24th Infantry Division pushing along Highway 2—the X Corps would arrive at Carigara Bay. At that point the corps would be in position to contest any Japanese amphibious movement through Carigara Bay, and at the same time elements of the corps could drive south through Ormoc Valley and secure the important port of Ormoc.
Preceded by a naval and air bombardment and a preparation by the 61st Field Artillery Battalion,[3] the 1st Cavalry Division at 0800 on 21 October resumed the assault against the Japanese.[4] The division was to capture Tacloban and then secure control over San Juanico Strait.[5] The 7th Cavalry, 2d Brigade, had been assigned the mission of seizing Tacloban,[6] which was defended by elements of the Japanese 33d Infantry Regiment.[7]
MAP 9 C. A. Frost