Lieutenant Colonel Hector de Zayas, commanding the battalion, summoned
one of his company commanders and gave a terse order, “I want you to
take it.” Thus a patrol under First Lieutenant Steve J. Cibik was
immediately sent to occupy it. This began a four-day epic, 20-23
November. The Marines got to the top, realized the importance of
the vantage point to the Japanese, dug in defensive positions, and
got ready for the enemy counterattacks that were sure to come. And
they came, and came, and came. There were “fanatical attempts by the
Japanese to reoccupy the position” in the form of “wild charges that
sometimes carried the Japanese to within a few feet of their foxholes
on the crest of the ridge.” Cibik called in Marine artillery bursts
within 50 yards of his men. The Marines held and were finally relieved,
exhausted but proud. Cibik was awarded a Silver Star Medal, and the
hill was always known thereafter as “Cibik Ridge.”
While the firestorm roared where Cibik stood, the 3d Marines were
pursuing its mission of driving the Japanese from the first and nearest
of Piva’s forks. The 2d Battalion caught up with Cibik, and Lieutenant
Colonel de Zayas moved it out down the reverse slope of Cibik Ridge.
The Japanese struck hard on 21 November and de Zayas pulled back. Then,
in true textbook fashion, the Japanese followed right behind him. The
Marines were ready, machine guns in place. One of them killed 74 out of
75 of the enemy attackers within 20-30 yards of the gun.
The 3d Marines was supported by the 9th, and 21st Marines, and the
raiders, while the 37th Infantry Division provided roadblocks, patrols,
and flank security. Support was also provided by the Army’s heavy
artillery, the 12th Marines, and the defense battalions. All the troops
were now be entering a new phase of the campaign, during which the
fight would be more for the hills than for the trails.
Reconnaissance patrols provided a good idea of what was out there, but
they also discovered that the enemy was not alert as he could or should
be. A Marine rifle company, for instance, came upon a clearing where
the Japanese were acting as if no war was on--the troops were lounging,
kibitzing, drinking beer. The Marine mortars tore them apart. Another
patrol waited until the occupants of a bivouac lined up for chow before
cutting them down with mortars in a pandemonium of pots, pans, and tea
kettles. (Jungle combat had taught the Marines the wisdom of General
Turnage’s order: Marines go nowhere without a weapon!)
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