Note 21 — Chapter XXII · Leyte Is Liberated

When these plans were announced Lt. Gen. Tadasu Kataoka, the commanding general of the 1st Division, suggested that as the 1st Division had lost so many men and officers in the Leyte operation it might be better to use the 68th Independent Mixed Brigade, which had fresh troops and would be better suited for the assignment to Cebu. He was overruled.21 There were, however, other officers who were more anxious to leave Leyte. General Tomochika later wrote: “Many of the troops rushed to join this movement and Staff Officer Nakamura experienced difficulty in controlling them. However, quite a number of men succeeded in transferring without the commander’s orders. The commander was displeased because only a small number of staff officers were willing to stay on Leyte.”22