Note 37 — Chapter XIX · The Entrances to Ormoc Valley
Reading edition
General Tomochika made the following comments on the 1st Division:
The personnel were brave but the officers lacked sufficient training in modern warfare and it finally did not live up to the expectations of its leaders. The division commander, Lt. Gen. Kataoka worried about the loss of his troops, lacked brave command ability and did not establish any set battle policy. [He refused to commit one of his important units to the defense of Highway 2.] ... therefore the Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff and senior staff officers were dispatched from Army to Division on three different occasions to urge General Kataoka to submit to these orders.... Regardless of how much we urged General Kataoka to change his views he would not budge. Colonel Ikeda, the Chief of Staff of the 1st Division [until 13 December] was partially deaf and further because of a former lung ailment, he was unsuited to hold his important position. (Tomochika, True Facts of Leyte Opn, p. 18.)
General Tomochika was less than fair to the 1st Division. From its positions in the mountains of northern Leyte, the division contested every foot of advance of the X Corps. General Krueger said of the 1st Division: “This unit more than any other hostile unit on Leyte was responsible for the extension of the Leyte Operation.” (Sixth Army Opns Rpt Leyte, p. 41.) ↑