Leyte: The Return to the Philippines

by M. Hamlin Cannon

Japanese Plans

Until the middle of November, the commander of the Japanese 35th Army had failed to put any beach obstacles along the shores of Ormoc Bay,[31] since he believed that there was little likelihood of an American thrust up the bay. General Suzuki thought that the Americans would be deterred by the presence of a Japanese naval base on Cebu in front of Bohol Strait. As American naval activity increased along the coast in the last part of November, however, the Japanese finally conceded that there was “a great possibility” of an American landing at Ormoc Bay. By the middle of the month the Ormoc Defense Headquarters was organized under the command of Colonel Mitsui, the commanding officer of the Shipping Unit. The main force of the Defense Headquarters was the Shipping Unit, but the Antitank and Antiaircraft Gun Units, the Automatic Gun Company, and other units were added. In addition, all units then in Ormoc were temporarily placed under Colonel Mitsui. The enemy plan of defense was simple. At the town of Ormoc the Japanese, from their main defensive positions, were to stop the advance and then, gathering as much strength as possible, they were to counterattack.

The Japanese defenses, however, were not completed at the time of the American landings. Only individual trenches had been dug along the coast, and the field positions in the northern part of Ipil were elementary. Upon being alerted that the Americans had landed, the Shipping Unit of Colonel Mitsui took up its main defensive positions in the Ipil area. At the same time, troops of the Nonaka Battalion of the 30th Division, consisting of an infantry company and a machine gun company, were placed under the command of Colonel Mitsui. The major part of the 30th Division remained on Mindanao. The American strength was estimated to be one regiment.

Drive Toward Ormoc

Ipil

The assault elements of the 77th Division advanced inland immediately after landing. The 1st Battalion of Col. Vincent J. Tanzola’s 305th Infantry, with two companies abreast, was to seize the crossings over the Bagonbon River in the vicinity of Highway 2.[32] The 307th Infantry was to move rapidly inland and establish an initial beachhead line about 1,300 yards east near a bridge over the Baod River. The 305th Infantry landed in a column of battalions with the 1st, 3d, and 2d Battalions going ashore in that order. The 1st and 3d Battalions moved rapidly inland to the objective while the 2d Battalion remained in regimental reserve. The 307th Infantry also reached the bridge without difficulty. In the town of Deposito, enemy foxholes had been dug in the tall grass and apparently were to be used only as a protection against Allied air attacks, since they had no field of fire. Immediately upon landing, a reconnaissance patrol went to locate a trail leading from the beach to Highway 2. About 300 yards north of the Bagonbon River, the patrol found a small access road which was put to immediate use.[33] The initial beachhead line was achieved within forty-five minutes after landing. Most of the Japanese 26th Division which had been in the area were either moving over the mountains to participate in a battle for the Burauen airfields or were engaging the 7th Division south of Deposito. Little besides service troops remained to oppose the 77th Division.

General Bruce originally had planned to hold the beachhead line, establish a defensive position, and await the arrival of additional supplies and reinforcements on the following day. But because of the lack of organized resistance, the speed with which the troops moved inland, and his desire to fully exploit the situation before the Japanese could counterattack, he very early decided to continue the attack northward astride the highway and extend the division’s beachhead to Ipil.[34]

The 307th Infantry (less the 2d Battalion which was on Samar), under Col. Stephen S. Hamilton, together with the 2d Battalion of Col. Aubrey D. Smith’s 306th Infantry, which was attached to the regiment after the landing, was ordered by General Bruce to move northward and take Ipil.[35] At about 1045, with the 1st Battalion in the lead, the regiment moved out northward astride Highway 2 toward Ipil. At the same time the division artillery was in position to support the advance. The 306th Field Artillery Battalion had been previously placed in the 7th Division area at a position from which it could fire as far north as Ipil and 6,000 yards inland.[36] At first there was little enemy opposition, but the troops observed many well-camouflaged foxholes under the houses, and many stores of Japanese food and ammunition.

Within ten minutes after starting, the 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry, was 300 yards north of Deposito and by 1215 had advanced 500 yards farther north. Japanese resistance became heavier as the troops neared Ipil. The remaining troops of the Nonaka Battalion of the 30th Division, consisting of an infantry company and a machine gun company, had landed at Ormoc from junks and “fought bravely” under the command of the Shipping Unit.[37] The enemy had emplaced machine guns, and in one instance a cannon, in dugouts under the houses.[38] By 1455 the 307th Infantry was on the outskirts of Ipil, but its advance was temporarily held up when the Japanese exploded one of their ammunition dumps.[39] By 1740 the 1st Battalion had cleared the barrio and set up a night perimeter on its northern outskirts. The regiment had killed an estimated sixty-six Japanese and had captured one prisoner of war, a medical supply dump, a bivouac area, and numerous documents.[40]