The Philippines
On 3 October 1944 The Joint Chiefs of Staff approved MacArthur's commitment to return and free the Philippines. The 11th landed at Bito Beach on the Leyete Gulf in November, 1944. The 11th relieved the 7th Infantry Division and was ordered to search and destroy the enemy in their sector. The sector included a very rugged heavily forested mountain range which extended from the Cariaga Bay in the north to the Cabalian and Sogod Bays in the south. The 188th under Colonel "Shorty" Soule was to secure the southern part of the sector. The 188th 1st Battalion also patrolled and engaged the enemy as far as the west coast of Leyte. They protected the 511th as it moved west. When that was completed, the 188th turned and moved north. Unknown at the time, the increased Japanese buildup of ground forces on Leyte would result in major combat for the 11th.
The first Japanese offensive occurred 5 December 1944. It was a major attack by General Yamashita to recapture the airfields in the Burauen-Dulag area. Before Japanese paratroopers with fighter escort jumped, the Buri, San Pablo, and medium bombers strafed Buyug airstrips. The enemy was repelled, and the 1st of the 187th was ordered to clear the Buri strip as soon as possible. The Japanese retreated because they recognized it was more important to hold another location, Ormoc. At the Bayug strip the enemy had set fire to a number of planes that the 11th relied on to keep troops in the hills supplied.
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