60-MM. MORTAR used to fire on enemy pillboxes. The Japanese, battling fiercely, delayed but could not stop the U.S. drive in the Ormoc valley. By the end of November troops were closing in on Limon and were threatening Ormoc from the south.

8-INCH HOWITZERS M1 EMPLACED ON LEYTE. By 5 November American forces reached the vicinity of Limon at the northern end of the valley road leading to Ormoc, the principal Japanese installation of the island. Bitter fighting continued and was made more difficult by typhoons which inaugurated the rainy season.

AMERICAN MOTOR CONVOY moving through the streets of a town on Leyte; vehicle in foreground is a cargo carrier M29. Valencia was taken on 18 December, Libungao on 20 December. After troops moved down from the mountains to take Cananga on 21 December, the enemy retreated westward.

B-25 APPROACHING A JAPANESE WARSHIP in Ormoc Bay. U.S. planes, operating from fields on Morotai, raided enemy ships in Ormoc Bay on 2 November in an attempt to keep the Japanese from landing reinforcements.

DIRECT HIT ON A JAPANESE WARSHIP by a B-25 in Ormoc Bay. Two transports and six escorting ships were sunk in the 2 November raid; however, by 3 November the Japanese had landed some 22,000 fresh troops at Ormoc Bay to reinforce the 16,000 original troops on Leyte.

FINAL INSPECTION OF TROOPS at one of the staging areas on Los Negros, an island of the Admiralty group, before they board ships for the invasion of Leyte in the Philippines.

FIRING A 155-MM. GUN M1A1 on an advancing Japanese column. While U.S. ground troops advanced on Leyte, the battle for Leyte Gulf took place, 23-26 October. The enemy, using a force comprising more than half his naval strength, suffered a crippling blow.

INFANTRYMEN AND A MEDIUM TANK MOVING FORWARD on Leyte. At the time of the invasion, the Japanese had only one division stationed on Leyte. Their vital supplies at Tacloban were lost to them on the 21st and they appeared to have no organized plan of defense, offering resistance only at widely scattered points.

LOADING OF MEN AND SUPPLIES AT SEEADLER HARBOUR, Los Negros. The entire expedition comprised more than 650 ships of all categories.

MEN CAUTIOUSLY MOVING IN on an enemy machine gun position, 24 October. The infantryman on the right is armed with a .30-caliber Browning automatic rifle M1918A2. The fight for Palo ended on 24 October when a suicidal enemy counterattack that penetrated the center of town was repulsed.

PBY CATALINA AMPHIBIAN FLYING BOATS over the U.S. invasion fleet in Lingayen Gulf, Luzon. The Luzon Campaign began on 9 January 1945 when U.S. forces landed in the Lingayen-San Fabian area. (Consolidated Vultee.)

PHILIPPINE CIVILIANS carrying supplies to the front for U.S. troops. Heavy rains and deep mud harassed the supply lines and forward units were dependent on hand-carry or improvised means of transporting supplies.

PORTION OF A LANDING BEACH ON LEYTE where Philippine civilians left their hiding places to see the American forces. Fires smoldering in the background were caused by preinvasion aerial and naval bombardment. On one of the beaches heavy opposition was encountered.

TROOPS USING JAPANESE HORSES AND MULE to transport their supplies. On 1 December seven divisions were ashore and five airfields were in operation. On 7 December a division landed south of Ormoc and by 10 December Ormoc was captured together with great quantities of enemy supplies and equipment.

UNLOADING AT A BEACH ON LEYTE, 21 October 1944. Beyond the two barges are several LCM (3)’s. An LVT (A)(2), the armored Buffalo, can be seen on the beach.

WATER SUPPLY POINT set up near a beach on Leyte, 21 October; note the collapsible water tank. By the end of the 21st, Tacloban, San Jose, Dulag, and two airfields were captured. Heavy fighting continued at Palo.