Gen. Douglas MacArthur, left, Lt. Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger, right.
“Eighth Army took over Leyte on Christmas Day. There were 8 divisions fighting there when I assumed command. When the 32nd Div. and 1st Cavalry broke through on a narrow front, GHQ described the Leyte campaign as officially closed and future operations as “mopping-up.”
“Actually, the Japanese Army was still intact. I was told there were only 6,000 Japanese left on the island. This estimate was in serious error. Soon, Japanese began streaming across the Ormoc Valley, well equipped and apparently well-fed. It took several months of the roughest kind of combat to defeat this army. Between Christmas Day and the end of the campaign, we killed more than 27,000 Japanese.
Leyte painting, “FOLLOW ME!” by Col Aubrey Newman
“Many others, evacuated safely by bancas (small boats), and reappeared to fight the 8th Army on other islands. I called these…
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