Evening star., 1944-12-26
Pa|ompon Falls,
Ending Drive
To oTakeLeyte
Jops' Lost Port
Won in Surprise
Amphibious Action
NAVY DOMINATES sea and air In
Philippines, Forrestal says.
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Philippines, Forrestal says
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BY the Associated Press
GEN. MacARTHUR'S HEAD
QUARTERS, Philippines, Dec. 26.
"A Christmas morning surprise
for Japan in the form of an am
phibious invasion of Palompon
Harbor brought the bloody, ST.
day Leyte-Samar campaign to an
end except for mopping-up oper-
ations, and Gen. Macarthur to-
day hailed perhaps the greatest
defeat in the military annals of
the japanese Army"
The American 77th Division, mov-
ing up from Ormoc into Palompon,
the enemy's last remaining port on
Leyte, stormed ashore under COW
ering fire from patrol torpedo boats
and artillery. The Japanese were
caught between these troops and
others moving overland, and could
offer only token resistance.
BY nightfall of Christmas Day.
Maj. Gen. A. D. Bruce, commander
of the 77th, informed headquarters
The 77th Infantry Divisions
Christmas contribution to the Leyte
campaign is the capture of Palom-
pom, last main japanese port on
Leyte. We are grateful TO the Al
mighty on this birthday of His Son. I"
The magnitude OF this first phase
of the Philippines liberation was
reflected In Gen. MacArthur's an
that 112,728 Japanese
had been killed and 493 captured
on Leyte and nearby Samar Island.
ON which there was considerably
less opposition.
U. S. Losses Listed.
The Americans lost 2,623 killed
8,422 wounded and 172 missing
a total of l1,217.
The enemy's ground forces par
ticipating in the campaign have
been practically annihilated," Gen.
Macarthur declared. Some of
Japan's best troops were committed
to the defense of Leyte, which Tokyo
considered the decisive battle for
our homeland"
Further, the communique said,
2,748 enemy planes were destroyed
in the Philippines since the Leyte
invasion October 20, and a total of
27 warships and Al transports sunk
as 10 conveys seeking to reinforce
the besieged Leyte GARRISON were
smashed. The totals did not include
enemy losses in the naval battle
Of Leyte Gulf October Is.
THE completeness of this desruc-
ton has seldom been paralleled in
the history of warfare" Gen Mac
Arthur said. Gen. Yamashita has
sustained perhaps the greatest de-
feat in the military annals of the
japanese Army"
Yamashita Defeated.
Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita is Jap
anese commander of Jap forces in the
Philippines, Japan's hero of the
Singapore and Malaga campaigns.
Invasion of the east coast of Leyte
involved the most powerful carrier
force used in any Pacific operation.
The fate of the campaign hung in
precarious balance early on october
25, when Vice Admiral Thomas C.
Kincaid's 7th Fleet met and defeated
Japanese battle force in the largest
feet action of the war in any theater.
Then the Americans fought in
land and around to the northeastern
shoulder of the island, and on De-
cember secured a grip on the west
coast by landing in Ormoc Bay.
They seized the port of Ormoc,
vital to japanese supply, three days
later. This sealed the doom of
thousands of crack Japanese troops
fighting bitterly in a corridor be-
tween Ormoc and Carigara Bay to
the north. The Yank SOD Division
was pressing toward a junction with
the 77th at Ormoc in a bottling up
action
Sealed off at Ormoc, the japanese
had to depend for reinforcement on
Palompon, secondary port at best,
but soon this was brought under
Yank artillery fire and air assault.
It's seizure meant the end of the
Leyte campaign for Japan. :.
Fighting Was Furious.
In the last week OF so japanese
dead have been picked up at rate
of 1,500 to 1000 a day, so furious was
the fighting.
Gen. MacArthur,s announcement
of 112,728 Japanese killed on the
two islands was broken down into
54,338 abandoned dead, 1850 esti-
mated dead not yet collected, about
10000 troops drowned in the de-
struction of reinforcement conveys
and $3.50 crewmen aboard these
ships.
Seven combat divisions-the 7th,
77th, Oath, 32d, Goth, the 1st Cavalry
and the 18th Airbo-ne divisions
were committed to me operation, in
addition to Army engineers, Navy
Seabees, aviation construction units
and supply forces. Gen. Macarthur
shortly after invading Leyte en-
visaged the island as a potential
great base for all arms for future
operations
Carrier planes Of the Bird and 7th
(See PHILIPPINES, Paga A-2)