That night the American artillery fired heavy interdiction fires, and before 0900 on 11 November it delivered preparations, including white phosphorus shells, on enemy pockets and strong points on Breakneck Ridge. Company C of the 85th Chemical Battalion maintained constant harassing fires on the reverse slopes of the east ridge and OP Hill, at the rate of approximately two 4.2-inch mortar rounds every five minutes.[65] Colonel Verbeck attached Company L to the 2d Battalion.
The 21st Infantry resumed the attack at 0900 with the 1st and 2d Battalions abreast, the 1st Battalion to the north of OP Hill and the 2d Battalion south and west of the parts of Breakneck Ridge previously captured.
Strong elements of the 57th Infantry from the south and from positions in the wooded ridges east of Corkscrew Ridge immediately fired upon the 2d Battalion and pinned it down for the rest of the day. The 1st Battalion encountered little opposition until it reached a point about 300 yards south of the crest of Breakneck Ridge, where the Japanese strongly resisted. The troops then moved west of the enemy left flank about 200 yards to enable the tanks from Company A, 44th Tank Battalion, to make an attack against the main position of the 57th Infantry on Breakneck Ridge.[66]
The tanks proceeded along Highway 2 up Breakneck Ridge and down its reverse slope. They destroyed an estimated twenty-five enemy positions which contained automatic weapons. One tank got stuck when it went off the edge of the road. As darkness approached, its crew was rescued by another tank which then put a 75-mm. shell into the stalled vehicle to prevent its use by the Japanese.[67]
At 1600 the 308th Bombardment Wing dropped twenty-eight 500-pound bombs on the Valencia airfield in the middle of Ormoc Valley and twenty-four 500-pound bombs on a Highway 2 bridge in the vicinity of the airfield.[68]
At nightfall the 1st Battalion had secured its objective, a ridge 300 yards to the southwest of OP Hill, and all positions were consolidated. During the night the 226th and 465th Field Artillery Battalions placed harassing fire on the enemy positions. In order to shake the morale of the Japanese, the artillery fired its rounds at exact five-minute intervals but scattered the fire throughout the enemy-held area.[69]
On the morning of 12 November the 3d Battalion, supported by six tanks and a platoon from the 632d Tank Destroyer Battalion, moved out along the road skirting the crest of Breakneck Ridge. By 1115 it had passed over the crest and was moving down the reverse slope. After the 3d Battalion crossed the hill, the 1st Battalion attacked on the right of the road with the mission of enveloping the Japanese left (north) flank.[70] There was little resistance, and soon after 1200 the crest of Breakneck Ridge was in the hands of the 21st Infantry. But shortly afterward the 2d Field Artillery Battalion of the 1st Division shelled the regiment and stopped all forward advance.[71]
On 13 November the 1st and 2d Battalions took up the fight, with machine guns from the vicinity of OP Hill firing in support. The 1st and 2d Battalions advanced 600 and 400 yards, respectively. By 14 November it appeared to General Irving that the 21st Infantry had eliminated nearly all resistance on Breakneck Ridge. The regiment controlled the ridge proper, but several adjacent spurs, notably Corkscrew Ridge, were still controlled by the 57th Infantry. On 15 November the 1st Battalion, the most advanced unit, was about 1,500 yards north of Limon. On 16 November the 128th Infantry of the 32d Division relieved the 21st Infantry. The battle of Breakneck Ridge had not been an easy one for the 21st Infantry; it had lost 630 men killed, wounded, and missing, together with 135 men from other causes. By actual count it had killed 1,779 Japanese.[72]