Louie Tordillo | October 31, 2022
The citizens of this city celebrated the 77th anniversary of the Battle of Ormoc Bay on December 20, 2021 with a program and festivities that extolled the virtues of our heroes during that momentous event. It was fittingly heartwarming and very commendable. We need to remind our citizens of the sacrifices of that generation to preserve freedom and democracy no matter the cost. As a student of history, myself, I believe it is equally important to tell the whole story of these events that transpired almost eight decades ago. There was another land action in 1944 that happened in the Ormoc Valley that is worth celebrating. The US Allies, assisted by Filipino guerillas were pushing the Imperial Japanese forces trying to suppress the success of the American landings in the island earlier. These encounters were much greater and wider in scope than the naval battle described by historians earlier in terms of the number of personnel and war materiel employed. Personally, I think there is a need to create a new war memorial marker to celebrate this epic land battle.
To obtain enough information for this article, I went through military archives and literature that discussed the events related to the Leyte campaign among them were “The US Army Campaigns of World War II” by Charles R. Anderson and “World War II at Sea” by Craig L. Symonds. Both authors provided excellent and chilling day-to-day accounts of events leading to the invasion, occupation and the push to the deeper parts of the island from their embarkation areas in the eastern Leyte shores, meeting fierce resistance at embarkation, the adjustments of field unit tactics by the Americans and problems of the soldiers doing the fighting among others. The authors also empathized with the horrible food and medical lack of the local population and yet it was through their efforts that allowed the field US Army units to effectively fight the Japanese by hauling ammunition, food and medicine supplies to the dying and wounded American troops, running dispatches on foot as vehicle movements were almost impossible being bogged down by mud, storm and the deadly monsoon that wreaked havoc on everyone. Anderson and Symonds’ apt descriptions from the Army and Navy perspectives made me feel like I was sitting in the background witnessing real-time events of the war. The bravery and loyalty the Filipino warrior stood out during this campaign as Ruperto Kangleon, the Macrohon-born guerilla leader and tactician was awarded by Gen. Douglas Macarthur the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism.
The Allied success during the Battle of Ormoc Bay in retrospect, was still a crucial and important component of the war for it destroyed key materials brought by Japanese forces and prevented reinforcements from other parts of the islands from effectively marching to Tacloban and disrupt Macarthur’s landing. The US forces lost – three destroyers, one high speed transport, and two LSMs (Landing Ship Medium) during the Ormoc Bay battle; the Japanese - six destroyers, 20 small transports, one submarine, one patrol boat and three escort vessels. In early 1944, Japanese forces in Leyte numbered around 20,000 men of the 16th Division, under Lt. Gen. Shiro Makino. American intelligence placed the enemy strength at 50,000 in Mindanao, another 30,000 for the rest of the Visayas and 180,000 in Luzon under the command of General Tomoyuki Yamashita. The Japanese later reenforced their troops although these were not enough to dislodge or alter the timetable of the U.S. invasion.
After the Battle of Leyte Gulf and adjacent areas, the Japanese commanders thought they had dealt a severe defeat to the American carrier fleets when in fact they had sunk only one light and two escort carriers and three destroyers. The US Third Fleet caught up with the Japanese carriers and sank all four of them. The sea battle cost the Imperial Japanese Navy most of its remaining warships, including 3 battleships, 6 heavy and 4 light cruisers, and 9 destroyers. The American assessment that they were victorious proved to be correct. But the divergent views from both sides on the latest encounter created changes in their subsequent plans of actions. The Japanese high command overruled Gen. Yamashita’s prepared strategy of defending the Philippines by concentrating its forces in Luzon and to wait for the Americans there. Instead, Tokyo ordered reinforcements toward Leyte in order to crush the U.S. 6 th Army who just landed in Tacloban with 202,500 men under the command of Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger. Japanese troops were hastily loaded in transports from Mindanao, other islands in the Visayas, Luzon and China. ULTRA, the Allies’ code-breaking network that deciphered Japan’s radio communications in WW II reported flurries of transport shipping traffic. Gen. Macarthur’s men thought these movements were signs of Japanese withdrawal of its forces. Only in late November did they realize the Japanese were sending reinforcements from various parts of Philippines and even as far as Taiwan, China and Japan. US carrier aircraft attacked these convoys sinking 24 transports bound for Leyte and another 22 ships elsewhere. By December 11th, the Japanese had landed 34,000 troops and 10,000 tons of supplies in Ormoc.
To capture Ormoc Valley from the Japanese, Gen. Krueger planned a pincer attack by the X Corps of Gen. Sibert coming from the north along Highway 2 and beefed up with reserves, the 32nd Division, 77th Division and 11th Airborne crossing the small mountainous corridor beyond Carigara heading south while the XXIVth Corps of Gen. Hodge coming from Baybay were to march north towards Ormoc to link up with the X Corps and squeeze the enemy in between. Fierce resistance by the Japanese 1st Division slowed the X Corps. It took them more than two weeks of heavy fighting starting from an area south and southwest of Carigara up to the forested and mountainous regions known as Breakneck Ridge and Kilay Ridge. In those fighting alone, the Americans lost 26 men killed and about 900 Japanese casualties were recorded. It won’t be until December 14th that the whole operation slowed action and the X Corps entered the northern side of Ormoc Valley. Meanwhile, the XXIV Corps were engaging with elements of the Japanese 26th Division 10 miles north of Baybay. Some 500 Japanese soldiers were killed during several days of day and night encounters. A breakthrough came on December 7th with the landing of the 77th Infantry Division commanded by Maj. Gen. Andrew D. Bruce 3.5 miles south of Ormoc City. They marched from the beach unopposed however, their transport and escort ships were constantly attacked by Kamikaze planes. Upon hearing about the landing, Lt. Gen. Sosaku Suzuki, commander of the Japanese 35th Army ordered reinforcements from his troops fighting in Burauen. Only a small number of Japanese soldiers, hungry and malnourished, reached Ormoc to augment its meager force in Camp Downes with about 1,740 soldiers, sailors, and paratroops. The U.S. 77th Division entered Ormoc City on December 10th after killing 1,506 of the enemy and took 7 prisoners while losing 123 men killed.
With the last Japanese unit to survive the American onslaught, the 12th Independent Infantry Regiment now holed up in a blockhouse less than one mile north of Ormoc, it would take another few days of hand-to-hand combat, flamethrower and artillery fires and repeated assaults before resistance died down on December 14th . The Valencia airport was captured on December 18th . With Japanese resistance slowly waning, the 77th Division quickly advanced to the north and west of Ormoc Valley. The X Corps and XXIV Corps at this point were only a few miles apart from linking up. Remaining troops mostly of the Japanese 5th Infantry Regiment occupied the mountains west of the Ormoc Valley that was bypassed by the two Corps. More fighting followed to mop up small units of resistance across the island.
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