Note 42 — Chapter VI · The Japanese Reaction
Reading edition
On 22 October the 14th Area Army asked the 35th Army how the 26th Division and 68th Independent Mixed Brigade were to be utilized if the Japanese decisively won the pending naval battle. The 35th Army stated that if the Japanese Navy were victorious, the units were to prevent the landing of more Americans at Leyte Gulf, but if it were unsuccessful the troops were to be landed at Carigara Bay. The optimism of the Japanese was high. Said Maj. Gen. Yoshiharu Tomochika, Chief of Staff, 35th Army: “We were determined to take offensive after offensive and clean up American forces on Leyte Island.... We seriously discussed demanding the surrender of the entire American Army after seizing General MacArthur.”42 Then came the Battle of Leyte Gulf.