Note 2 — Chapter X · Northern Leyte Valley: Part Two

The Japanese planned to fall back into the mountains if the Americans were successful in seizing the Tacloban airfield. They expected to take with them “munition sufficient for one and one-half units of fire for one division ... and food for 20,000 men for six month[s].”2 The rapid advance of the Americans, however, prevented the execution of this plan. After 25 October the remaining elements of the 33d Infantry Regiment withdrew to a position about three and three-fourths miles northeast of Jaro.3 When the American forces had taken the hills dominating the entrance into Leyte Valley and overlooking Highway 2, Lt. Gen. Sosaku Suzuki, the commander of the 35th Army, concentrated his forces around Jaro on the southern edge of Leyte Valley. The 41st Regiment of the 30th Division and the 169th Independent Battalion of the 102d Division, both of which had but recently arrived on Leyte as reinforcements to the 16th Division, on 26 October were ordered to proceed from Carigara to Jaro. On the same day the 17th Independent Battalion, 102d Division, moved toward Jaro.4