Evening star., 1944-10-22
War Review
Landing in Philippines
Brings Jap Crisis
By Howard p. Bailey.

Approximately two and a halt
years after he left the Philippines
with a promise to return, Gen
Macarthur went back last week at
the head of an armada of 600 ships
bearing 250,000 men to land and
face, appropriately enough, the in
famous Japanese 18th Division
which treated the surrendered
heroes of Bataan with savagery un-
matched in this war.
First news of the invasion, which
occurred on the beaches of Leyte
Island a little south of midway of
the Philippine Archipelago, came
on Thursday from the Tokyo radio.
Confirmation from American forces
was not received until the following
day.
AS the picture unfolds, the mag
nitude of the blow and the masterful
planning and skillfull execution be-
come apparent. According to Gen.
MacArthur's headquarters, there are
about 225,000 Japs composing the
garrisons of the various islands.
These forces are split in two by the
Leyte landing.
Days of heavy pounding of the
main islands of Luzon to the north
and Mindanao to the south, the
destruction of japanese airpower
and airfields and other air and sea
activities indicated an invasion of
one or both of the main islands.
Japs Taken by Surprise.
However, taking the Japs COM
pletely by surprise, the mighty fleet
steamed to Leyte and poured 900
tons of sudden death and destruc-
tion ashore from guns ranging up
to 16-inch rifles to pave the way
for the landing craft which swarmed
to the beach where landings were
made with practically no opposition.
Proudest of all ships taking part
In the initial bombardment was the
battleship West Virginia which was
left a tangled and burning wreck
after the attack on Pearl Harbor
Completely modernized, the West
Virginia sent her first Salvo of the
war crashing ashore, while other
victims of the sPearl Harbor sneak
attack, including the California and
the Pennsylvania, added the weight
of their powerful guns to the pull
verizing of the shore defenses.
Shortly after the first troops
landed on the beach, Gen. Mac
Arthur and President Osmena of the
went ashore bringing
the exiled government of the islands
back to native soil for the first
time. In a message to the Filipino
people. Gen. Macarthur announced
the return and called on the patriots
to arise.
While the terrain of the islands
and their great number will make
the reconquest difficult, Gen. Mac
Arthur predicted complete victory
with relatively small losses. The
overpowering weight of sea and air
strength at his command is such
that the Japs will be unable to
resupply or reinforce the garrisons
on the islands and their defeat Is
matter of time only.
Japs in Serious Trouble.
The Japs now are in serious
trouble. Once the positions in the
are secured and ade-
uuate airfields are developed, the
Allied forces will be in a position
to cut off almost completely the
conquered Dutch East Indies from
the Japanese home islands and the
raw materials Sc vital to Japanese
continuation in the war will become
unless the Japs are
able to complete an unbroken land
line of communication from the
tip of the Malay Peninsula to
Manchukuo.
The coast of China will not be
too difficult an objective for the
Allies once the Philippine positions
are secure.
Fresh trouble came from the Japs
when strong naval forces in the
Indian Ocean struck at the Nicobar
Islands which lie along Lord Mount
batten's path to Singapore, From
that area to far-distant Paramu-
shiro the Japs must spread their
naval and air strength to
resist blows which they now may
expect at shortening intervals and
In increasing power.
During the past week the Jap
radio claimed to have sunk or dam
aged 40 american warships east of
Formosa in great naval engage
ment which brought report from
Admiral Halsey couched in his IA
miliar sarcasm to Admiral Nimitz
in which Halsey said that he had
"salvaged all the sunken ships and
was now withdrawing In the direc-
tion of the Philippines"
For most of the week Allied
planes struck at Formosa, at Manila
and its defenses and at various Jap
installations on Mindanao.
In recapitulation Of losses since
the opening of the present cam
paign on June 9Th, Navy Secretary
Forrestal declared that the Japs
have lost 905 ships either sunk or
damaged and 4,340 planes either
destroyed or damaged, with Ameri-
can losses totaling 341 planes and
slight damage to several warships.
These successes were all attained
by the, Sd and 5th Fleet planes and
ships and do not take into account
the successes of the Macarthur
forces nor those of land based bomb
ers from China.
American subs were credited
during the week with 80 more Jap
ships, including six light warships,
bringing the total since Pearl Har-
Dor to 956 for American submarines.
On the western front in Europe
1t. Gen. Hodges American 1st
Army completed the occupation of
what is left of Aachen Friday, thus
securing an important break
through in the Siegfried Line and