Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring
7 January. 1st Battalion patrols covered their assigned inland area, but met no enemy.
The 2d Battalion sent out a patrol of one platoon to explore inland trails for enemy activity.
At 1710 our patrol near Sel was strafed by our own aircraft. No casualties or damage.
The 3d Batallion patrols discovered no enemy.
Of the twelve LCMs sent to this task force from Cape Cretin two were returned as unserviceable, three were being repaired, and four were stuck on reefs, and this left three for duty. So six additional LCMs were requested in order to supply outlying units which could not be reached by roads.
The Lulais and Tultuls chiefs and sub-chiefs of the tribes from surrounding villages reported in for a conference. They went away to bring in still more natives.
There were no roads to our flank positions which were many miles apart, only trails impassable for wheeled vehicles. The only way of getting supplies and heavy equipment to the flanks was by landing craft. Heavy ground swells often kept these craft from landing on the beaches. In view of these difficulties and the enemy threat, a recommendation was made to Sixth Army on 10 January that additional combat troops be sent to the Saidor area.
Sixth Army messages still warned of enemy army and marine units assembling to eastward. They estimated 5,000 or 6,000 enemy combat troops on the coast east of Saidor.
Major General H.W. Blakeley, USA, Ret., The 32d Infantry Division in World War II
Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring