The Saber and Scroll
in a 21 June message in which the Army reported that it had only 60 usable trucks . 27
Given this wealth of information , the destruction of the Japanese Eighteenth Army should have been easy . It may have been if adequate forces engaged them as they reached the Driniumor River . Those forces were employed elsewhere .
The fighting along the Driniumor River is not even referred to as a defensive battle but a covering force operation . The standard operational manual of the time , FM 100-5 , defines a covering force operation as “ providing time for the main force to prepare itself for combat , to deceive the enemy as to the actual location of the main battle position , to force the enemy to deploy early , and to provide a deeper view of the terrain over which the attacker would advance .” 28 Delay , delay , delay . What units received this mission ? Three battalions of the 32nd Infantry Division and the 112th Cavalry Regiment .
This map displays the hopeless situation presented to the US covering force . The 128th Infantry Regiment , specifically two companies of its 2nd Battalion , had 2 miles of front to cover . The Japanese poured through that line , often outnumbering the American defenders ten to one . The 128th Infantry ’ s 1st Battalion could have helped , some , but was sent on a reconnaissance to find the Japanese . 29
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