Battle of Mindoro
| Battle of Mindoro | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Conflict: World War II, Pacific theater | |||
| Date: December 13 – 16, 1944 | |||
| Place: Mindoro Island, Philippines | |||
| Outcome: Allied victory | |||
| Combatants | |||
| United States | Japan | ||
| Commanders | |||
| George M. Jones (503rd PRCT) Roscoe B. Woodruff (24th Infantry Division) | Rikichi Tsukada (Kembu Group, Japanese Army) | ||
| Strength | |||
| 10,000 U.S. troops | 1,200 Japanese troops | ||
| Casualties | |||
| 148 killed and 271 wounded | 200 killed and 375 wounded | ||
| |||
The Battle of Mindoro presaged the main invasion of Luzon in the northern Philippines by US forces in the penultimate campaign for the liberation of the archipelago.
Doorstep to Luzon
Before the invasion of Luzon was to get underway, Gen. Douglas MacArthur needed a base of operations closer to the northern island than Leyte. Mindoro became a logical choice for this strategy. Just south of Luzon, and about half the size of the state of New Jersey, the island is covered by mountains, with a few narrow plains along its coast. Almost daily rains and high humidity, caused by clouds moving up from the south trapped by the high peaks made it a breeding ground for malaria and other tropical diseases. Furthermore, Japanese defenses on the island were minimal.The unsatisfactory condition of airfields recently constructed at Leyte were deemed unreliable, so the potential of more aircraft landing sites at Mindoro to support the Luzon operation appealed more to MacArthur. Taking it, however, proved a daunting task. Amphibious landings on its northeastern part were best, but were vulnerable to what was left of Japanese air power on Luzon, so this was ruled out. The town of San Jose on its southwest corner, though nearer to Mangarin Bay, Mindoro's best deepwater port, was the spot chosen by his planners.
The U.S. Sixth Army under Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger was assigned to seize Mindoro. Krueger, in turn, gave the task to Maj. Gen. Roscoe B. Woodruff's 24th Infantry Division, with the 19th Infantry and the separate 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team of Lt. Col. George M. Jones, nicknamed The Warden , to spearhead the assault.
Kamikazes Up High
The main threat for the amphibious assault vessels and supporting warships came from land-based Japanese Kamikaze suicide planes. The Japanese had begun the deadly practice as a desperate measure during the final stages of the Leyte Campaign , and perfected it by December, 1944.On December 13, 1944 , two days before the scheduled assault on the island, kamikazes struck at the naval task force ferrying the invading troops. The light cruiser Nashville was hit by a kamikaze, killing over 130 men and wounding another 190. Brig. Gen. William C. Dunkel, the commander of the landing force was among the injured. Other kamikaze attacks damaged two landing ships, tank (LSTs) and disabled several other ships.
Earlier, U.S. Army and Navy aviation stepped up an unprecedented campaign to eliminate the kamikaze threat in the first weeks of December, claiming to have destroyed more than 700 Japanese planes in the air and on the ground, but to no avail.
The Landings
On December 15 ,the invasion of Mindoro began. The clear weather allowed the full use of American air and naval power, including six escort carriers, three battleships, six cruisers and many other support warships against virtually no Japanese resistance. Even the ensuing landings went unopposed. The paratroopers of the 503rd PRCT came ashore with the landing forces, due to inadequate airtrip facilities at Leyte, and were unable to make the jump.The 1,000 defending Japanese, along with some 200 survivors from ships sunk off Mindoro en route to Leyte could do little. Some 300 enemy troops manning an air raid warning station at the island's northern end only managed to put up a stiff fight against a company of the 503rd.