Battle of Buri Airstrip
On or about 2 December General Makino, commanding general of the 16th Division, had assembled from the hills southwest of Dagami the remaining elements of the division. The total strength thus massed was only about 500 men. The men rested, and then marched on toward the Buri airstrip. On the way, American artillery and tank fire killed approximately 200 of them. The remaining force moved to a new location—a deep gorge about 6,500 yards southwest of Dagami. On 5 December, this force was to move out of the gorge, join the paratroopers, and launch a combined assault against the Buri airstrip.
BURI AIRSTRIP as it appeared in 1946.
The Americans later learned from interrogated prisoners that the morale of the men of the 16th Division was very low at that time. They were living on coconuts and bananas, since the officers had taken the few remaining rations. Wounded men in the force had been abandoned.[18]
The 16th Division was still unaware that the target date for the Burauen operation had been postponed to the night of 6 December, and consequently proceeded with its plans to attack the Buri airstrip on 6 December at 0630—over fourteen hours before the paratroopers were scheduled to land. On the night of 5–6 December, approximately 150 Japanese made their way quietly toward the Buri airstrip.
At 0600, the 287th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, northwest of Burauen, saw elements of the Japanese 16th Division crossing the main road south of the battalion’s position and heading east toward the Buri field. The battalion immediately relayed this information to the XXIV Corps headquarters.[19] After crossing the road, the enemy moved into the swamp near the airfield. One Japanese unit of about 15 men, armed with a machine gun, stationed itself at a Filipino shack 300 yards west of the highway in order to cover the road.[20]
At the Buri strip were about 47 men from the 287th Field Artillery Observation Battalion and 157 miscellaneous troops.[21] Small units of engineering troops and a signal company were at the foot of the bluff, on the northern edge of the strip.
At 0630, the 16th Division launched its surprise attack. Led by a Filipino,[22] the Japanese broke into the American bivouac area while the men were still asleep. Some were bayoneted while in their blankets, or before they could seize their weapons. Others held the Japanese off until they could retreat, shoeless and in their shorts and undershirts, either up the bluff to the headquarters of the V Bomber Command, or to the road, where an infantry company had come up in support.[23] The service troops were “firing at everything that moves and ... probably inflicting casualties among our troops.”[24] The Japanese from the 16th Division entrenched themselves in the woods north of the airstrip.
Meanwhile, General Hodge ordered that the 1st Battalion, 382d Infantry, be released from the 96th Division and placed under the operational control of General Swing of the 11th Airborne Division. The battalion was to proceed immediately to the aid of the two companies of the 11th Airborne Division in the Buri airfield area. General Hodge emphasized that the area was “critical” and “must be kept closed.” It would be “dangerous” to let the enemy “get into the service troops along the road and around airfields.”[25] One reinforced company of the 1st Battalion was already in the area and the rest of the battalion made ready to follow.[26]