Note 46 — Chapter IV · The Return

General Yamashita, who was in Manchuria, received notification of his appointment on 23 September, and on the 9th of October he assumed command of the 14th Area Army.46 On his arrival in the Philippines, he found conditions were “unsatisfactory.” Of the eleven members of the old staff only five were left and the new staff officers were unfamiliar with conditions in the Philippine Islands.47 The state of affairs was well exemplified by a remark of his new chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Akira Muto, who arrived in the Philippines on 20 October from Sumatra, where he had been in command of the 2d Imperial Guards Division.48 Upon being told that the Americans had landed on Leyte, Muto is said to have replied, “Very interesting, but where is Leyte?”49