Rain and the Enemy

Douglas MacArthur's campaign on Leyte had settled down to a bruising struggle for the Ormoc valley in the island's northwest tip. There some 25,000 Japanese troops were dug in, and they showed not the slightest sign of giving up.

Key to the fighting in the north was the village of Limon, which the Japanese were holding as a plug in the main road through the valley. At Limon infantry of the 24th U.S. Division attacked across a field of high tropical grass, gained some ground, but at week's end were still several hundred yards short of the village.

The tropical rains pelted down, made the ground so slippery that to climb the slightest incline men had to plod up with "herringbone" ski technique, or haul themselves up by thick overhanging vines. Some U.S. units were fighting three or four days from their base; their supplies were brought in by human pack trains--soldiers and Filipino laborers.

The 24th hung on, moved slowly forward, watching for the Jap counterblow. Presumably MacArthur's reserves were ready when it should fall. It was a lot different from the way hopeful U.S. soldiers had imagined it after the U.S. steam roller successes in the first week of the invasion. The enemy intended to dispute possession of Leyte; hard fighting was ahead.

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South of the Philippines, U.S. troops picked up another small parcel of Pacific real estate, this time the tiny Mapia Islands off Dutch New Guinea. Presumably they were taken as flank protection for the U.S. air base on Biak. Meanwhile U.S. Liberator bombers flew 800 miles to bomb the important Japanese naval base at Brunei Bay on the far side of Borneo, scoring five hits on a battleship, four on a cruiser. Both ships, presumably cripples or survivors of last month's naval battle, were left blazing.

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