LST’s approaching Red Beach were under intense enemy fire. Four of them received direct hits.[58] Nearly all of the LST’s were grounded 100 to 200 yards from the beach. Only one of them was able to come within forty to fifty yards of the beach, and it succeeded in unloading its cargo of heavy equipment only with considerable difficulty.[59] Another put off a bulldozer, which disappeared in seven feet of water. With difficulty the other LST’s withdrew and returned to the transport area.[60]
The shore parties on both Red and White Beaches (X Corps sector) did not land early enough to effect a proper organization before the cargo began to come in. Although the parties worked hard, they were undermanned, and it was necessary to augment them by “volunteers” in order to unload the large volume of cargo.[61] It had been planned to establish temporary beach dumps at the point of unloading of each LST, but since at Red Beach the LST’s could not get ashore, the plans had to be changed. These craft were diverted to the 1st Cavalry Division’s White Beach 2,000 yards north. The LSM’s and LCM’s were able to discharge their vehicles in three or four feet of water. Many of these, being poorly waterproofed, stalled and had to be pulled ashore. Once there, the heavily loaded vehicles churned up the sand, and many of them sank so deeply that they had to be pulled out.[62]
The strong resistance of the Japanese and the difficult terrain limited the depth of the 24th Division’s beachhead and prevented the establishment of division dumps beyond the beachhead areas. As a result, most of the supplies and nearly all supporting and service troops had to be concentrated on the first three or four hundred yards of the beachhead. Fortunately there was no bombing or strafing of the area, and although the development of exit roads was slow, the congestion on the beach was cleared before trouble developed.[63]
The diversion of the 24th Division’s LST’s to the beaches of the 1st Cavalry Division naturally strained the facilities of the beach and shore parties on White Beach. The southern end of White Beach also proved unsuitable for landing LST’s, which consequently were shifted to the northern end.[64] However, the Army shore parties organized White Beach immediately upon landing. A two-way road was cleared along the beach with military police directing traffic. Dump areas were marked off by white ribbons, and sign posts were erected. The supplies were unloaded from the landing craft by roller conveyors and “fire brigade methods” directly onto the waiting trucks and trailers.[65] After the ships had been unloaded the shore parties consolidated all of the supplies into dumps as rapidly as possible. The rations and ammunition, which were loaded on fifteen LVT’s, were kept mobile to the rear of the troops.[66]
When Leyte was substituted for Yap as the target, it had been decided that the 96th Division should unload troops and supplies at Leyte as rapidly as possible. Consequently, supplies were unloaded with little regard for the order in which items would be needed ashore.[67]
There was no general unloading on the beach in the XXIV Corps area until the late afternoon of A Day, when water, rations, and ammunition were sent ashore. For about an hour the unloading proceeded satisfactorily, but the beach soon became congested. The beach parties brought in the supplies faster than they could be handled by the shore parties.[68] At one time more than eighty loaded boats waited over five hours before they could be unloaded. The slowness of the shore parties in unloading the boats was not entirely their fault. Many of the boats were improperly loaded with mixed cargo, a situation which caused the boats to ship water. They were forced to come in to the beach or sink. The shore parties were also handicapped by a lack of workers. A shore party of 250 men included headquarters personnel, military police, and communications men, leaving only fifty or sixty workers. The unloading was further retarded by lack of sufficient mechanical equipment and failure to make full use of available transportation.[69]
Loose cargo piled up on the beaches faster than it could be taken to the dump sites.[70] A deep swamp, 250 yards inland and parallel to Blue Beach, also limited the extension of dumps in that area. The congestion was relieved the next day, when the supplies were taken to selected dump sites nearly as fast as they could be removed from the boats.
In the Dulag area, the organization of the shore party and its operations were well co-ordinated.[71] In the initial phase the 7th Division employed the “drugstore system” whereby DUKW’s carried the supplies directly to the front-line consumers of the division from specially loaded LST’s which had been anchored off the landing beaches.[72] By using this method the division was able to deliver critical supplies to the combat troops within an hour after the request was received. At the same time, other supplies and equipment could be put ashore without interruption.
In the wake of the initial assault waves, the engineer troops landed and began at once to clear the beaches, prepare dump sites, and build access roads. The men worked around the clock in six-hour shifts.[73]
Within four hours the 7th Division’s shore party was prepared to start full-scale operations, and two hours later began to issue supplies to the assault forces. Since the cargo came ashore in nets, it was possible to use cranes and bulldozers to good advantage. The cargo was initially moved over the landing beaches to regimental beach dumps 500 yards inland, and as vehicles landed they were driven to temporary assembly areas or directly to their organizations.[74] Six hours after the first assault wave hit the beaches the 7th Division abandoned the floating drugstore system, since by that time sufficient supplies had been brought ashore to fill requisitions directly from the dumps.[75]