Hey-day after A-Day

OCTOBER 20, 1944 was the target date for the Leyte operation and it was code-named "A-Day."

More than the landing, the immediate task of Operation King II was "the seizure and control of the Leyte Gulf-Surigao Strait area in order to establish air, naval and logistic bases to support further operations into the Philippines." The main effort of the ground operation assigned to the forces of the Southwest Pacific Area Command was "to involve a major assault to capture the airfields and base sites in Leyte Valley and to open up San Juanico and Panaon Straits." [M. Hamlin Cannon. Leyte: The Return To The Philippines. No. 5, The War in the Pacific, United States Army In World War II. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1954]

Inversely, the goal of the Japanese armed forces, which were illegally and immorally occupying the native land of Rizal and Bonifacio, was to frustrate the American attempt to retake its former colony. Hirohito's hordes had to hold the "Pearl of the Orient," otherwise Japan would lose its lifeline to the natural resources of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).

Therefore, the need to possess the Philippines was inflexible for both the Allies (USA, Australia, Britain) and the Axis (Japan).

The battle for Leyte was the opening salvo for the battle for the Philippines and the battle for the Philippines was an essential step in the strategy to defeat Japan.

When we talk of the battle of and landing at Leyte, we refer to three aspects of warfare corresponding to the three services. One, the U.S. Navy (Seventh and Third Fleets) defeated the Japanese Imperial Navy (Combined Fleet). Two, the Army Air Forces in the Philippines was numerically weaker than the enemy, hence, it could not prevent the Japanese Imperial Army from reinforcing its garrison at Leyte (the Japanese TA Operation). Three, the American Sixth Army was able to secure its objectives, but the land campaign was only beginning.

At sea, the mariners on both sides got their wish for a big blow-up. The Battle of Leyte Gulf turned out to be "greatest naval battle of the Second World War and the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas" [C. Vann Woodward, The Battle for Leyte Gulf, New York, 1947, p. 1]

For the fliers, it was the Japanese who wanted to "make Leyte the decisive air battlefield." [History of V Bomber Command, July-December 1944, AAF Archives] Maj. Richard I. Bong, 9th Fighter Squadron, Fifth Air Force, who was "the leading ace of the Army Air Forces," was in Leyte. And for the Japanese, this was the same arena where they chose to unveil their latest death device - the kamikaze.

Here is a brief testimony from a driver of the so-called devil bird. "Men diving and killing themselves purposely? Yes, I accepted it in a sense, but only passively, as I might accept occurrences in a novel or a movie. Somehow one believes, and yet, such things are remote...This happens only to other people - not you - not the people you know."

"And thus, we received quite an awakening in October. That month our first Tokkotai (special attack group) struck the enemy, (we became) Japan's first real suicide pilots. Within the next ten months over 5,000 planes containing one, sometimes two, men each, would follow in their wake."

"We are expendable." [Yasuo Kuwahara, "Kamikaze: A Japanese Pilot's Own Story," New York, 1957, p. 101]

Like the seamen and airmen, the Japanese armymen believed that their battle in Leyte was so decisive that land operations in Luzon and the fate of the Philippines hinged on their success. They were so confident that Maj. Gen. Toshio Nishimura thought that the Americans picked the one place "where our finest troops are located" and Maj. Gen. Yoshiharu Tomochika contemplated "demanding the surrender of the entire American Army after seizing General MacArthur" in Leyte. [USSBS Interrogation 418, November 19-22, 1945 and "True Facts of Leyte Operation"]

True enough, the Leyte Campaign was long and costly for both sides and it nearly upset the timetable for the liberation of Luzon. The land campaign lasted from A-Day to Christmas Day of 1944, involving the battles of Catmon Hill, Breakneck Ridge, Kilay Ridge, Shoestring Ridge, and Buri Airstrip, among others, and the liberation of Ormoc. This was followed by a mop-up period (December 26, 1944-May 8, 1945) wherein the American Eighth Army had to kill 24,294 Japanese. Only then was Leyte fully liberated.

Lest we forget, the Americans could not have done it without the Filipinos. "General Krueger made the guerrillas a part of his armed forces, and they became a source of additional strength to the Sixth Army. These men frequently operated and patrolled in enemy-held territory and brought the Americans valuable information on Japanese movements and dispositions...The guerrillas also guarded supply dumps and depots, bridges, and other installations in the rear areas." [M. Hamlin Cannon, p. 204]

As the Filipino guerrillas and the American grunts labored to clear out the Japanese occupiers, socio-economic affairs were being handled by the same man who had left the "Battling Bastards of Bataan" to the tender mercies of the 1942 Death March. "Lacking a directive from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General MacArthur devised his own policy for civil affairs during the reoccupation of the Philippines." He also "established the financial policies to be followed. A new series of Philippine Treasury certificates called `Victory Pesos' would be introduced in the liberated areas. The exchange rate would be two for an American dollar." [M. Hamlin Cannon, p. 199]

Liberation and reoccupation traveled side-by-side. In any case, rehabilitation and retribution were priorities for the Filipinos and their government.

On November 23, 1944, in his speech in Leyte, Sergio Osmena Sr., president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, declared: "We cannot close our eyes to the realities of the Japanese occupation. It is cruel and harsh."

Thus we recall A-Day and its aftermath.