A giant Japanese searchlight lies stuck on a main street in Manila. It was being towed mounted on a wooden platform when the whole thing collapsed. It's been there for three days, stuck in the rain; typical of the way the Japanese Army is moving here and there. Stuck trucks with motor failures, flat tires or broken axles are common sights these days; and accidents during this rainy weather are frequent. One today resulted in the serious injury to several soldiers. Vehicles are steadily disintegrating; and with the rains beating down on our unrepaired roads, tires are going to pieces five times faster than normal.

The Japanese are doing things hurriedly with insufficient means and supervision. One hears of various consequences in the form of abandoned projects or disastrous stupidity. At an enlarged airstrip in Pampanga recently, two of the first six bombers attempting to land overshot the runway and plowed into several houses beyond. Depots are being built, filled with equipment, then moved wholesale to another site.

Tribune: "Cooperation of Filipinos reaffirmed.... Recto reiterates P.I. pledge to Minister Shigemitsu" — appalling lip service.

Daihon-ei: Much ado about repulsing, beating back, and inflicting heavy loses on Tinian — but admitting landings plus reinforcements. The same applies to Guam. Even in Russia the Germans repulse everything, but in places newly taken by the Russians.

Masanori Ito, displaying the same wishful thinking as Commentator, explains: "Nippon Navy waiting for proper time to Deliver Coupe de Grâce.... I mean a strategy for calmly maintaining the main strength of our fleet by avoiding battle under clearly adverse circumstances."