WW2 Chapter 43 - Baybay and the West Coast

When elements of Franklin's 7th Infantry Division reached the village of Baybay on November 3 they found it unoccupied by the Japanese. By that time, the U.S had cut the island in half, with most of the remaining enemy forces confined to the west coast between Baybay and Carigara to the north. The 7th then pushed northward towards the village of Ormoc.

AP Report, Nov. 3: “Below Ormoc on the west coast, the Seventh Division of Maj. Gen. Archibald V. Arnold, which has been teamed with the 96th Division, was disclosed today to have cut all the way across from Abuyog and reached Baybay.”

AP Report, Nov. 4: “The Seventh was disclosed yesterday by Gen. Douglas MacArthur to have crossed central Leyte to Baybay, 26 miles down the west coast from Ormoc.”

AP Report, Nov. 5: “The Seventh Infantry Division advanced (northward) to 12 miles south of Ormoc.”

AP Report, Nov. 6: “The 7th Division’s advance from Baybay tightened the squeeze on Ormoc, likely locale of the Japanese last-ditch fight for Leyte. Infantrymen who reached Baybay after slicing across the island from Abuyog also pushed southward of that coastal town."

This November 6 news report would be the last that anyone would hear of the 7th Division for many days.