The carrier force of the Seventh Fleet was to bear the brunt of the tactical air support. By the afternoon and night of 17 October the weather had cleared, and flying conditions were perfect as the carriers moved into their operation areas the following morning. The force was divided into three units: one unit operated in the southern part of Leyte Gulf to protect the landings at Panaon Strait; another operated near the entrance to the gulf in order to support the landings of the Southern Attack Force at Dulag; and the last operated southeast of Samar Island to support the landings of the Northern Attack Force at Tacloban.
During 18 and 19 October, aircraft from the carriers struck at enemy airfields on Cebu, Negros, and Panay Islands. There was very little enemy activity from the Japanese airfields in the Leyte area, since they were still sodden from the recent storms. In the two days’ strikes, the Seventh Fleet aircraft destroyed an estimated thirty-six enemy planes and damaged twenty-eight more.[31]
Japanese Plan of Defense
The air blows on the Philippines served as a warning that the Americans were ready to return to the Islands—an event long expected by the Japanese. By the end of June 1944, the Japanese military situation had considerably worsened. The outer circle of Japan’s perimeter had been pierced and the impetus of the American drive showed no signs of slackening. ([Map 4])
The Allied nations had hit the Japanese from east and west and seriously interfered with their seaborne commerce. Japan was in grave danger of being separated from her stolen southern area—the source of her raw materials. Units within this area were also being forcibly isolated from each other. The fall of Saipan had brought about a “most serious crisis.” Premier Tojo was removed and Kuniaki Koiso formed a new cabinet.[32]
In the summer of 1944 Imperial General Headquarters had started to strengthen the Philippines, the Ryukyus, the Kurile Islands, and Japan itself—the “first line of sea defense.” If the Allies landed forces in any of these areas, the Japanese would concentrate their land, air, and sea forces and attempt to repel the landing force. These operations were known as the SHŌ (Victory) Operations. Defense of the Philippines was SHŌ I.[33]
The Japanese strategy was simple. Japan wished to remain in the war, and to do so she must at all costs keep open the lines of communication to the sources of her raw materials in the Netherlands Indies.
In the first part of August 1944, the headquarters of the 14th Area Army, which was to be charged with the defense of the Philippine Archipelago, was organized under the command of the Southern Army, while the 35th Army, which was to defend the Visayan Islands, was established under the command of the 14th Area Army.[34]
The Philippine Islands were under the jurisdiction of the Southern Army, whose command organization was extremely complex. (Chart 3) The supreme commander was Field Marshal Count Hisaichi Terauchi. There were four area armies in the Southern Army: the 2d Area Army occupied Netherlands New Guinea, thence west to Timor; the 7th Area Army was at Singapore; the Burma Area Army was at Rangoon; and the 14th Area Army, commanded by Lt. Gen. Shigenori Kuroda, was in the Philippines with its headquarters at Manila. The Southern Army also had two air armies and three garrison armies: the 3d Air Army in Singapore; the 4th Air Army, consisting of two air divisions in the Philippines and one air division in western New Guinea; and a garrison army stationed in Thailand, another in French Indochina, and a third in Borneo. The commander of the 14th Area Army maintained a staff liaison with the 4th Air Army but otherwise had no control over it.