Evening star., 1944-11-18

WILL uSkOA VI lSidIiQS upOH whose
perimeter the initial assault was
made. They form a maze of chan
nels, Of which the two providing the
best egresS to the Pacific are San
Bernandino Strait in the north, be-
tween Luzon and Samar Islands, and
Surigao Strait in the south, between
Leyte and Mindanao.
One OF the precautions our forces
took against Japanese incurSion
from the westward was to post sub
marines on the opposite side of the
Archipelago. Early on the morning
Of Octobr %, before daylight, two
OF our submarines flashed the word
to the invasion forces that a strong
Japanese feet was headed north
eastward from the South China Sea
into Philippine waters-and char
acteristically reported, also, that
they were moving into attack. They
cent four torpedoes in each of three
heavy cruisers, two of which were
reported to have been left sinking
and the third heavily damaged. The
enemy forces scattered and in the
pursuit one Of our submarines ran
on a reef in the middle of the re-
stricted channel and had to be de-
stroyed, after all of the crew was
removed to safety.
Other Contacts Reported.
Later that day other contacts with
the enemy were reported, In Min
doro Strait, south Of Luzon. and
Oh the mouth of Manila Bay where
the reporting submarine badly dam
aged another heavy cruiser, which
managed. however, to limp into the
bay
Thus alerted, the carrier forces
Immediately extended their patrol
searches westward over the visayan
Sea and the Sulu Sea. On Tuesday,
October "a, two large enemy fleets
were seen making their way east
ward. One in the Sulu Sea, was
obviously headed for Mindanao Sea
and its exit into the Pacific, Surigao
Strait. 1t consisted of battle
ships, Fuso and Yamashiro: 2 heavy
cruisers, 2 light cruisers and or
10 destroyers. Our carrier planes
attacked and inflicted some dam
age on the battleships. one of the
cruisers and two of the destroyers.
but the enemy continued doggedly
on the way to the Strait, at whose
mouth, where 1t debouched into
Leyte Gulf, a surprise reception
committee was being assembled.
The larger enemy force OF the
central prong Of attack was initially
composed of five battleships, the
modern Yamato and Musashi, and
the Nagato, Kongo and Haruna.
In support were heavy cruisers,
l light cruiser and from Is to is
destroyers. This task force was
also engaged as 1t steamed through
the Sibuyan Sea by the carrier force
of the Third Fleet. One of the
japanese battleships and two of
the cruisers were heavily damaged
and most of the other vessels In the
group received hits.
japanese Turn Back.
After engaging In 4 running bat
tie, the Japanese turned back upon
their course as II decided not to
attempt to force San Bernadinol
Strait.
While these carrier strikes were
being made against the two enemy
fleets, our own ships and landing
forces were being subjected to q
very heavy air attack by hundreds
of land-based planes darting out
from the Philippines 100 or more
airfields. During these attacks the
Princeton was hit and set on flre,
and so damaged that the carrier had
to be destroyed.
Among the attacking Japanese
planes was one group Of carrier
based aircraft which new In from
the north, SO search groups were
dispatched from the Sd Fleet to
track them down. At $40 in the
afternoon Of that same Tuesday,
October a, two enemy forces were
detected coming down from the
tip Of Luzon to Join battle.
They included two battleships. the
Ise and Hyuga, four carriers, in
cluding one large ship Of the zui-
kAku class, : heavy crlliser, three
light cruisers and SIX Destroyer.
The ID Fleet. On receipt of this IN L