Note 2 — Chapter XXI · Westward to the Sea

Palompon had been extensively used by the Japanese as an auxiliary port of entry to Leyte. The town was the western terminus of the road that ran north and eastward across the northwestern hills to join Highway 2 near Libongao. (Map 23) It was this road junction that the X and XXIV Corps had seized. The Palompon road, as it was called, followed the lower slopes of the hills until the flat interior valley floor was reached. The confining hills were steep-sided with many knife-edged crests.2 Such was the area into which the forces of the Sixth Army had driven remnants of the Japanese 35th Army.