LUZON

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On the 28^th, the regiment reverted to 25^th Division control. The division’s immediate mission was to secure the line from Munoz To Lupao.

The first objective in the Division (was the Japanese, which controlled the secondary road leading to San Jose, the principal escape route from southern Luzon. Pending the move of the 161^st from San Manuel, the 2^nd battalion of the 35^th Infantry was designated as Division reserve, and ordered to move to Santa Maria to serve as guard for the new Division Command Post. For the advance upon Umingan, the 1^st Battalion was assigned the left of the San Leon-Umingan road, with the 3^rd Battalion on the right, and the 27^th Infantry on the left. The 3^rd Battalion was assigned the road and the right of the road inclusive.

On the 28^th, the 3^rd Battalion moved by motor from Manaoag. From Rosales, a motorized patrol was sent to San Leon and found it unoccupied by the enemy. The Battalion thereupon continued by truck to a point 1000 yards short of the town, where the road became impassable due to wrecked bridges and an un-fordable stream. The town was occupied and a perimeter set up northeast of town.

The 1^st Battalion, meanwhile, moved to Asingan by motor, detracked and marched to Santa Maria, and thence to San Matias, where they bivouacked for the night.

Thus, immediately before the advance of the 29^th, the 1^st Battalion was some 6000 yards northeast of he 3^rd Battalion at San Leon. The terrain was flat, but cut by many small streams. As the Battalion advanced, probing patrols had to be dispatched to the right flank, in cooperation with the 27^th Infantry, to flush Jap patrols between the two units. But the main 1^st Battalion effort for the 29^th was to catch up with the 3d Battalion.

On the 29^th, the 3^rd Battalion dispatched a Company forward along the San Leon-Umingan road, with the mission of securing Gonzales, 5500 yards from San Leon. K Company patrolled to the left, along the RR line from San Leon to San Quinton, across the 1^st Battalion zone of advance, to verify the unoccupied state of 1^st Battalion objectives. L Company patrolled southeast of San Leon to the Casilan River, and found the area clear of the enemy.

At 1830, I Company, advancing along the road, ran into a small enemy delaying force just west of San Isidro, about 300 yards west of San Leon. The enemy force employed small arms, machine guns and mortars. After a short fire fight, the enemy withdrew, and the Company continued its advance. By 1545, advance elements of I Company had reached Gonzales and were receiving machine gun and mortar fire from east of the village. Here we suffered our first fatal casualty of the campaign: Pfc. Maurice

Hewitt of Company I, 35^th Infantry. The enemy force, proved to consist of about twenty-five men, and one tank, withdrew during the night. By nightfall, the remaining Companies of the Battalion were in position near Gonzales.

Supply was a difficult problem: The Bahila River, running crookedly across the 1^st Battalion zone, was unfordable. On the morning of the 29^th, Company C of the 65^th Engineer Battalion began a bulldozer road cross-country along the 1^st Battalion’s line of march. At times the lead bulldozer was almost in the front lines.

The 1^st Battalion advanced southeast, angling toward the San Leon-Umingan road, approximately 10,000 yards without enemy opposition. At nightfall, the 1^st Battalion line, anchored on the right at La Paz on the San Leon-Umingan road, ran northwest about 3000 yards to Salvador, with Company C on the right flank at La Paz, Headquarters company at San Alfonso, A and B Companies at Papaiason, and D Company at Salvador.

On the 30^th, the 3^rd Battalion moved out at 0930, with Company L leading and Company E following in support. Their mission, which was to secure the high ground 1500 yards southeast of Caridad (about two miles south of Umingan) was completed by 1400, and strong patrols went out to the front. No enemy was encountered.

The 1^st Battalion moved forward, working toward the road, meeting no enemy save a 3-man patrol which scurried to safety. At night fall, A and B Companies were at Santa Maria, 4 miles from Umingan, and C and D Companies and Battalion Headquarters were at Caridad, Anti-Tank Company moved to La Paz.

Division Field Order #6 was issued on the 30^th, with the Thirty-Fifth Infantry mission to "continue advance, cut Umingan-Lupao road, block hostile forces from southeast and northwest." All troop movements were to be at night.

At 1900, on 31 January, therefore, the 1^st Battalion made a sixteen mile cross-country march around the enemy positions at Umingan, and on the morning of 1 February (by 1100) set up a road block at Masiil-Siil and at San Rogue, thereby cutting off the Japanese garrison at Umingan, against which the 27^th Infantry was launching an attack. At 1300, the enemy was contacted; a tank was knocked out, and nine Japs killed. The 3^rd Battalion followed, maintaining contact by patrols, and 1500 yards southeast of Umingan assembled with one company blocking the secondary road to Umingan.

The 2^nd Battalion, still under Division control, had advanced on 31 January to Gonzales. On the 31^st, they marched cross-country to Masiil-Siil. Their road block there bagged twenty Japs with two rounds of 37mm canister. The Japs were marching down the road, preceded by carabao carts, and headed directly into the ambush. The next night, making their 3^rd night march in as many nights, the Battalion moved back to a jump off point 1500 yards southeast of Umingan. During the move, they were attacked by a company of Japanese; this opposition was repulsed or by-passed, and at 0800, 2 February, the jump off was made on schedule.

The 3^rd Battalion, on the same night, cut around to the left of the 2^nd Battalion, to make the main attack on the western half of Umingan, jumping off at 0730. The 1^st Battalion, meanwhile, maintained their block of the road, poised for an attack on Lupao, and waiting only for the release of the 2^nd and 3^rd Battalions from Umingan.

For the 35^th, Umingan proved to be no more than a light morning snack; the Japs, who had stopped the 27^th Infantry at the north end of town, were holed up on the north of town. Against light opposition, the two Battalions drove through the town, so that by 0930, we had the whole of the town, with the Japs squeezed into a narrow strip at the north edge of town. Though we were receiving sniper and mortar fire, the main problem was coordination of fire between the 27^th and 35^th. Now it was simply a mater of effecting the relief of our 2^nd and 3^rd Battalions by 27^th Infantry Units, so that the 1^st Battalion could advance upon Lupao with assurance of quick support if necessary.

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