Aparri
On the same day that the Los Baños internees were freed, the 11th Airborne Division was assigned a new mission by the headquarters of Sixth United States Army; it was to engage and destroy all Japanese formations in southern Luzon south of Manila. On 24 February, the division advanced due south with the 187th GIR and the 511th PIR moving abreast. The 188th GIR was detached from the main advance and given a separate task by Maj. Gen. Swing; it was to eliminate all Japanese units still operating in the Pico de Loro hills along the southern shore of Manila Bay. The Japanese forces belonged to the Shimbu Group – one of three groups of the Fourteenth Area Army under General Tomoyuki Yamashita – with a group strength of about 80,000 personnel. The division spent the rest of February, and all of March and April, engaging and destroying the forces of Shimbu Group, often acting in conjunction with Filipino guerillas and elements of the 1st Cavalry Division. The fighting was extremely difficult for the advancing division, as the terrain was mountainous and many Japanese units had decided to fight to the death rather than surrender. All organized Japanese resistance in southern Luzon ended on 1 May when the division captured Mount Malepunyo, near the city of Lipa; the division was then moved to a new base centered around the Japanese airstrip on the outskirts of Lipa. The 127th Engineering Battalion lengthened the runway of the airfield to accommodate C-47 transport aircraft; when this was completed the combat troops of the division participated in several refresher training courses.
The division's last combat operation, and also its last airborne operation, took place on 23 June, in the province of Aparri in northern Luzon. By this period of the conflict, the only Japanese forces remaining on Luzon were positioned to the far north and belonged to Shobu Group, the last of General Yamashita's three groups. Shobu Group, numbering about 152,000 troops, proved to be the most tenacious Japanese group, forcing Lieutenant-General Walter Krueger, commander of the Sixth United States Army, to commit four infantry divisions, an armored task force, and a large band of guerillas. However, while these forces pinned down Shobu Group, the 37th Infantry Division began advancing northwards, defeating a weaker Japanese formation and encircling Shobu Group. In order to ensure that the 37th was successful in its drive, Krueger called for an airborne force to land near Aparri and advance southwards, linking up with the 37th and eliminating all remaining Japanese resistance in northern Luzon.
Krueger's plan called for the 11th Airborne Division to assemble and then drop a battalion-sized combat team on Camalaniugan Airfield, approximately ten miles (16 km) south of Aparri. It would then advance southwards, eliminating all Japanese resistance, until it linked up with the leading elements of the 37th Infantry Division. To fulfill this task, Maj. Gen. Swing formed a special unit – Gypsy Task Force – comprising the 1st Battalion of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, G and I Companies of the regiment's 2nd Battalion, an artillery battery from the 457th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, and a platoon of engineers and miscellaneous signal and medical detachments. Gypsy Task Force would be transported by fifty-four C-47 Dakota and thirteen C-46 Commando aircraft, as well as six Waco CG-4A Gliders which would be used to land jeeps and supplies for the task force. On 21 June, a detachment of pathfinders from the division had flown to the area and secured the airfield which was designated as the drop-zone for the task force. Then, on 23 June, the troops of Gypsy Task Force were loaded onto the transport aircraft, which took off at 06:00, alongside a fighter escort, and at 09:00, the pathfinder detachment set off colored smoke to mark the drop-zone. The paratroopers then began to jump from the aircraft and land on the airfield, suffering several casualties from fierce winds and the uneven ground around the airfield, which killed two men and injured seventy. However, despite these casualties, the task force was rapidly assembled and began its advance southwards, encountering heavy Japanese resistance and having to rely on the use of flamethrowers to eliminate Japanese bunkers and fortifications. After three days of fighting, the task force encountered the lead elements of the 37th Infantry Division, finishing the encirclement of the remaining Japanese forces in Luzon and having eliminated a significant part of Shobu Group. Task Force Gypsy had therefore completed the mission assigned to it, and completed the last combat operation that the 11th Airborne Division was to participate in.
