Note 36 — Chapter XV · Battle of the Ridges

By now the Sixth Army had received substantial reinforcements. General Hodge therefore ordered the 7th Division to assemble all forces in the Baybay area as rapidly as the logistical situation would permit.36 By 27 November sufficient troops had assembled to enable him to order General Arnold to make “an early and vigorous attack” to destroy the Japanese in the area and then capture Ormoc.37 On 28 November all the assault elements of the 7th Division, with the exception of the 1st Battalion, 32d Infantry, which was patrolling in the vicinity of Panaon Strait, were either on the eastern shore of the Camotes Sea or on the way there. The 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry, and the 2d and 3d Battalions, 32d Infantry, were still engaging the enemy at a bamboo thicket on Shoestring Ridge south of the Palanas River and east of Damulaan.38