Note 22 — Chapter XVII · Battle of the Airstrips

At 0630, the 16th Division launched its surprise attack. Led by a Filipino,22 the Japanese broke into the American bivouac area while the men were still asleep. Some were bayoneted while in their blankets, or before they could seize their weapons. Others held the Japanese off until they could retreat, shoeless and in their shorts and undershirts, either up the bluff to the headquarters of the V Bomber Command, or to the road, where an infantry company had come up in support.23 The service troops were “firing at everything that moves and ... probably inflicting casualties among our troops.”24 The Japanese from the 16th Division entrenched themselves in the woods north of the airstrip.