Krueger. The Battle of Biak, where the 41st Infantry Division had landed in May, was going badly, and the airfields that MacArthur had promised would be available to support the Battle of Saipan were not in American hands. Eichelberger found that the Japanese, who were present in larger numbers than originally reported, were ensconced in caves overlooking the airfield sites. While the Americans were better trained and equipped than at Buna, so too were the Japanese, who employed their new tactics of avoiding costly counterattacks and exacting the maximum toll for ground gained. After seeing the situation for himself, Eichelberger concluded that Fuller's 41st Infantry Division had not done too badly. Nonetheless, as at Buna, Eichelberger relieved a number of officers that he felt were not performing as the battle ground on. His orders were to supersede Fuller as task force commander rather than relieve him as division commander, but Fuller requested his own relief, and Krueger obliged him. On Eichelberger's recommendation, Fuller was replaced by Brigadier General Jens A. Doe. Krueger was unimpressed with Eichelberger's performance on Biak, concluding that Eichelberger's tactics were unimaginative, and no better than Fuller's, and may have delayed rather than expedited the capture of the island. On the other hand, MacArthur thought sufficiently highly of Eichelberger's performance to award him the Silver Star. Philippines Campaign While still on Biak, Eichelberger learned that MacArthur had selected him to command the newly formed Eighth United States Army, which arrived at Hollandia in August 1944. Eichelberger took two officers with him from I Corps: Byers and Colonel Frank S. Bowen, his G-3. The Eighth Army assumed control of operations on Leyte Island from Sixth Army on 26 December, the day after MacArthur and Krueger announced that organized resistance there had ended. The troops there included Eichelberger's old command, the 77th Infantry Division. In two months, Sixth Army had killed over 55,000 Japanese soldiers on Leyte, and estimated that only 5,000 remained alive on the island. By 8 May 1945, the Eighth Army had killed over 24,000 more. In January, the Eighth Army entered combat on Luzon, landing Major General Charles P. Hall's XI Corps on 29 January near San Antonio and Major General Joseph M. Swing's 11th Airborne Division at Nasugbu, Batangas two days later. Combining with Sixth Army, the Eighth Army enveloped Manila in a great pincer movement. Eichelberger assumed personal command of the operation, which