The Need for Organisational Resilience - Chapter 4

This is the Voice of Freedom, General MacArthur speaking. People of the Philippines: I

have returned. By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil −

soil consecrated in the blood of our two peoples. We have come, dedicated and

committed to the task of destroying every vestige of enemy control over your daily lives,

and of restoring, upon a foundation of indestructible strength, the liberties of your people.

While MacArthur celebrated his return to the Philippines, intelligence indicated an imminent

Japanese attack on the landing beaches. Sightings by PT-boats, submarines, and spotter planes

revealed the intention of the south and center Force, although the only force that wanted to be spotted

– Ozawa’s carriers – remained hidden from the eyes of American intelligence. In order to deal with the

south Force, Admiral Oldendorf was tasked to intercept Nishimura’s and Shima’s obsolete but still

potent selection of destroyers, cruisers and battleships. However, Oldendorf had mostly old

battleships at his disposal; these had provided fire-support for the Leyte landings and were thus

armed with high-explosive munitions unsuitable for combatting heavily armoured ships. Despite this,

he set up an ambush in the Surigao Strait, with lines of PT-boats, destroyers, cruisers and battleships.

After a fierce but brief night battle, Nishimura’s force was annihilated. Shima’s destroyer and cruiser

group, following 40 miles behind Nishimura, turned around but was constantly harassed by incessant

air attacks. Only Kurita’s center force remained, posing an immediate threat to the landings.

At dawn on 24 th October, Halsey launched several waves of fighters, dive- and torpedo bombers

in the direction of Kurita’s center battlegroup. The Musashi was badly damaged and had to retire. At

3.00 PM, Halsey dispatched a message that instructed four of his six battleships – the New Jersey,

Iowa, Washington and Alabama − to block the San Bernadino Strait in anticipation of the arrival of

Kurita’s remaining center force. Soon after, a scout plane radioed back a sighting of heavy fleet

carriers in addition to a range of cruisers and destroyers – Ozawa’s bait. Halsey, obsessed with

eliminating the remaining carriers in the Japanese arsenal, assumed – and expected − that Kurita had

retired his forces for good. Fixated on sinking the carriers, he was reluctant to split his force and

unilaterally decided to take the entirety of his surface vessels to steam north. He provided ambiguous

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