On 26 January, General Kreuger, with XIV Corps ' rear and lines of communication protected, tackled the very practical problem of actually getting troops into the city of Manila. On that date he had directed XIV Corps to send forces south as far as the Pampanga River, twenty-five miles below Clark Field and about an equal distance north of Manila. But it would not be until 31 January that the 148th Infantry crossed the Pampanga River. There was a lack of reliable intelligence about the Japanese dispositions south of the Pampanga River, and there was a reluctance to proceed in the absence of supporting tanks and artillery.  After securing crossings over the Pampanga, Krueger's orders read, XIV Corps would hurry its right southeast another six miles from Calumpit to Malolos. On the left the 1st Cavalry Division, now attached to XIV Corps and assembling west of Cabanatuan, would start south along Route 5 in concert with the 37th Division's renewed drive down Route 3.9 Krueger expected the two divisions to establish contact at Plaridel, where, seven miles east of Calumpit, Route 5 crossed the Angat River.