The Wilmington morning star., 1945-01-10
CONTINUED from Page One)

tie for the liberation of the Phil
ippines had been joined. =,
IAN Allied pool dispatch SAID
Macarthur travelled to Luzon on
powerful warship" which was at
tackled by a japanese midget suo-
marine He barely paused IN ms
measured pacing Of the deck and
never missed a puff of his three
inch corncob pipe as a torpedo
raced by. A nearby destroyer
brought the submarine to the sur
face with depth bomb and fin
ished it off by rammlngo
The landings were made at TOUR
undisclosed points on the east and
south coasts of Lingayen Gull,
where the main Japanese force
drove into Luzon more than three
years ago. A headquarters spokes-
man said that troops were only
107 statute miles from Manila, in
dicating landings were made some
where between Lingayen city and
Dagupan, seven miles apart on
the south coast of the gulf.
Among the first troops to &c
ashore were amphibious engineers
and airfield construction men who
Immediately set to work building
| fighter plane strips.
A United Press correspondent
who landed on Luzon reported the
Americans seized beachhead ap-
proximately Is miles wide and
that vast numbers of men, guns,
armored equipment and supplies
already reached ashore from the
convoy of 600 vessels, supported
by hundreds Of warships.
The invasion represented an ex
tension of the American lines 1874
miles northward from the north
western coast of Mindoro.
The great invasion fleet of bat.
tleships, aircraft carriers, cruis
ers, destrcyers and transports
fought off strong Japanese air at.
lacks, suffering some loss and
damage. but losses among Ameri.
can Sixth Army troops who hit Lin.
gayen's broad beaches at $3.50
am. were insignificant
The operation actually was
started Friday when warships and
carrier planes began a three-day
bombardment of Luzon. The bonn
bardment was resumed yesterday
morning at dawn, clearing the way
for the veteran troops who went
ashore in landing craft. 1t was
Krueger's troops VINO also had in.
vaded Leyte and Mindoro.
Macarthur communique an.
Inouncing his return to Luzon two
years, nine months and "a days at
ter he reached Australia to or
ganize his forces for the long
march back TO Bataan, Corregidor
and Manila, said:
The enemy evidently had not
prepared for landing in the Lin.
gayen sector and as a result Of
this strategic surprise our landing
losses were insignificant. We are
now in his rear. His main rein
forcement and supply lines to the
Philippines are cut and his ground
fight for Luzon will have to be
made with such resources as he
now possesses there.
1.-The back door is closed. The
decisive battle for the liberation
of the Philippines and control of
the Southwest Pacific is at hand. :"
The japanese, under the overall
command of 1t Gen Tomoyuki
Yamashita, are estimated to have
100000 to 100000 troops on Luzon.
Most of the 100-odd airfields on the
island have been knocked out by
American Naval air attacks which
started last September. In the past
10 days, U. S. land-based planes
flying from Mindoro and Leyte and
carrier planes have knocked out
approximately 300 planes of the
Japanese Luzor air force. Dispat-
ches have told of Jap planes being
forced to use highways for run
ways.