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.