155-MM. GUN EMPLACEMENT NEAR DAGUPAN

 

Within a few days after the landings the pattern of the Japanese plan had become clear to the American command. First, Japanese air and naval forces were to cut off the Philippine Islands from all possible aid. Then, Japanese aircraft could destroy or neutralize the defending air and naval forces and gain superiority in the air and on the sea. At the same time, Japanese ground forces would secure advance bases at the northern and southern extremities of the island of Luzon and on Mindanao where the opposition was negligible or non-existent. The major enemy effort, it was clear, was still to come. That it would come soon-Colonel Willoughby thought 28 December-there was no doubt, and when it did the objective would be Manila, the capital. Before the year was out, the worst fears of the early pessimists were to be realized. Even before the advance landings were completed, the main elements of General Homma's 14th Army were already nearing the Luzon coast.

To increase the Japanese worries, four of the B-17's that had come up from Batchelor Field to bomb the Japanese at Davao flew on to Lingayen Gulf and managed to slip through the covering screen of the 24th and 50th Fighter Regiments that morning to strafe the cruisers and destroyers and inflict some damage on the Japanese. Even Admiral Takahashi's cover force, now about 100 miles northwest of Lingayen Gulf, came under attack. PBY's and Army planes went for the flagship Ashigara, mistaking it for the Haruna. Although they scored no hits, the planes reported the Haruna, sunk. The cover force finally slipped away into a rain squall.

The Japanese landing at Lingayen did not surprise the high command in the Philippines. It was the logical place to land a large force whose destination was Manila.

Meanwhile, the rising sea had forced many of the Japanese ships to shift anchorage and they moved into the inner bay. There they ran into more trouble when they came into range of the 155-mm. guns of the 86th Field Artillery Battalion (PS). This battalion had two guns at San Fabian and two at Dagupan, and these apparently opened fire on the southernmost elements of the invasion force. Although claiming to have sunk three transports and two destroyers, the coastal guns actually did no damage except to give General Homma many nervous moments.

 

 

 

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