Download or read book The Battle of Leyte Gulf written by H. P. Willmott and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2005-08-19 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Battle of Leyte Gulf was an extremely unusual battle. It was unusual on five separate counts that are so obvious that they are usually missed. It was unusual in that it was a series of actions, not a single battle. It was unusual as a naval battle in that it was fought over five days; historically, naval battles have seldom spread themselves over more than one or two days. It was unusual in terms of its name. This battle involved a series of related actions subsequently grouped together under the name of just one of these engagements, but in fact none of the actions were fought inside Leyte Gulf.... More importantly, it was unusual in that it was a full-scale fleet action fought after the issue of victory and defeat at sea had been decided, and it was unusual in that it resulted in clear, overwhelming victory and defeat." -- from Chapter One The Battle of Leyte Gulf -- October 22-28, 1944 -- was the greatest naval engagement in history. In fact the battle was four separate actions, none of which were fought in the Gulf itself, and the result was the destruction of Japanese naval power in the Pacific. This book is a detailed and comprehensive account of the fighting from both sides. It provides the context of the battle, most obviously in terms of Japanese calculations and the search for "a fitting place to die" and "the chance to bloom as flowers of death." Using Japanese material never previously noted in western accounts, H.P. Willmott provides new perspectives on the unfolding of the battle and very deliberately seeks to give readers a proper understanding of the importance of this battle for American naval operations in the following month. This careful interrogation of the accounts of "the last fleet action" is a significant contribution to military history.

Download or read book The Battle For Leyte Gulf Illustrated Edition written by C. Vann Woodward and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes 6 charts and 20 photos Pulitzer prize winning author C. Vann Woodward recounts the story of the largest naval battle of all time. “The Battle for Leyte Gulf was the greatest naval battle of the Second World War and the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas. It was composed of four separate yet closely interrelated actions, each of which involved forces comparable in size with those engaged in any previous battle of the Pacific War. The four battles, two of them fought simultaneously, were joined in three different bodies of water separated by as much as 500 miles. Yet all four were fought between dawn of one day and dusk of the next, and all were waged in the repulse of a single, huge Japanese operation. “They were guided by a master plan drawn up in Tokyo two months before our landing and known by the code name Sho Plan. It was a bold and complicated plan calling for reckless sacrifice and the use of cleverly conceived diversion. As an afterthought the suicidal Kamikaze campaign was inaugurated in connection with the plan. Altogether the operation was the most desperate attempted by any naval power during the war-and there were moments, several of them in fact, when it seemed to be approaching dangerously near to success. “Unlike the majority of Pacific naval battles that preceded it, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was not limited to an exchange of air strikes between widely separated carrier forces, although it involved action of that kind. It also included surface and subsurface action between virtually all types of fighting craft from motor torpedo boats to battleships, at ranges varying from point-blank to fifteen miles, with weapons ranging from machine guns to great rifles of 18-inch bore, fired “in anger” by the Japanese for the first time in this battle.”

Download or read book Afternoon of the Rising Sun written by Kenneth I. Friedman and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: October 1944: The Batle of Leyte Gulf was the greatest battle in naval history, with over 250 vessels involved, yet its outcome depended on the nerve of a handful of sailors and the opposing commanders. 32 photos. 20 maps.

Download or read book The Last Epic Naval Battle written by David Sears and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2007-07-03 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By October, 1944, Japan's once-mighty naval power was almost extinguished. But in one last desperate bid, the Japanese gathered and combined their forces to defeat the Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy. With more ships engaged than there were even in the gargantuan World War I Battle of Jutland-and 200,000 men fighting on the sea and in the air- the Battle of Leyte Gulf was a hellish cacophony of cannon fire, murderous strafing airplanes, and deadly explosions. Here, in the words of the men who were there, are the dramatic accounts of what really happened at Leyte. Though often overshadowed by other Pacific War engagements, such as Midway or Guadalcanal, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was, and remains, the largest battle in the history of naval warfare.

Download or read book Tidal Wave written by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-05-31 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now publishing in paperback, this is a vivid narrative history of the final stages of the Pacific War, as the US Navy began to slowly approach the Japanese Home Islands against fearsome opposition, notably from the suicidal Japanese airmen: the kamikaze. The United States Navy won such overwhelming victories in 1944 that, had the navy faced a different enemy, the war would have been over at the conclusion of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. However, in the moment of victory on 25 October 1944, the US Navy found itself confronting a frightening enemy that had been unimaginable until it appeared. The kamikaze, 'divine wind' in Japanese, was something Americans were totally unprepared for – a shocking violation of every belief held in the West. The attacks were terrifying. Regardless of the damage inflicted on an attacking aeroplane, there was no certainty of safety aboard the ship until that aeroplane was completely destroyed, as the crew of the USS St. Lo tragically learned. From best-selling author Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, Tidal Wave combines expert research and first-person accounts to tell the story of the naval campaigns in the Pacific from Leyte Gulf to the end of the war – a period in which the US Navy would fight harder for survival than ever before.

Download or read book Storm Over Leyte written by John Prados and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By October 1944, the US Navy had driven the devastated Japanese fleet across the far Pacific. But with each defeat, Japanese commanders became even more determined to destroy the Americans in a final decisive battle. In Storm Over Leyte, acclaimed historian John Prados gives readers an unprecedented look at both sides of this titanic naval clash. Drawing upon a wealth of untapped sources Prados offers up a masterful narrative that breaks new ground in our understanding of the greatest naval clash in history.

Download or read book Leyte Gulf 1944 1 written by Mark Stille and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-23 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In October 1944, the US prepared to invade the Philippines to cut Japan off from its resource areas in Southeast Asia. This is the first in a two-part study of the October 23-26 Battle of Leyte Gulf, which resulted in a decisive defeat for the Japanese.

Download or read book Sea of Thunder written by Evan Thomas and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2007-11-06 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on oral histories, diaries, correspondence, postwar testimony from both American and Japanese participants, and interviews with survivors, Thomas provides this riveting account of the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944, the culminating battle of the war in the Pacific. Photos.

Download or read book Battle of Surigao Strait written by Anthony P. Tully and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-14 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[Tully] paints Admiral Nishimura's high-speed run into history with an entirely fresh palette of detail.” —James D. Hornfischer, New York Times–bestselling author of Neptune’s Inferno Surigao Strait in the Philippine Islands was the scene of a major battleship duel during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Because the battle was fought at night and had few survivors on the Japanese side, the events of that naval engagement have been passed down in garbled accounts. Anthony P. Tully pulls together all of the existing documentary material, including newly discovered accounts and a careful analysis of US Navy action reports, to create a new and more detailed description of the action. In several respects, Tully's narrative differs radically from the received versions and represents an important historical corrective. Also included in the book are a number of previously unpublished photographs and charts that bring a fresh perspective to the battle. “By giving a fuller view of the Japanese side, Tully's work forces a substantial revision of the traditional picture of the battle. Battle of Surigao Strait is not only military history based on scrupulous use of a plethora of new source materials, but is a spanking good read. Highly recommended.” —War in History “Tully has managed to trace the complicated flow of and reason for events on the nights of 24-25 October with a skill and aplomb that forces one to reconsider previously held views.” —Naval History

Download or read book Battle of Leyte Gulf written by Thomas J Cutler and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2014-03-15 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last great naval battle of World War II, Leyte Gulf also is remembered as the biggest naval battle ever fought anywhere, and this book has been called the best account of it ever written. First published in hardcover on the battle's fiftieth anniversary in 1994 and drawing on materials not previously available, it blends history with human drama to give a real sense of what happened--despite the mammoth scope of the battle. Every facet of naval warfare was involved in the struggle that engaged some two hundred thousand men and 282 American, Japanese, and Australian ships over more than a hundred thousand square miles of sea. That Tom Cutler succeeded at such a difficult task is no surprise. The award-winning author saw combat service aboard many types of ships during his naval career, and as a historian and professor of strategy and policy at the Naval War College, he has studied the battle for many years. Cutler captures the milieu, analyzes the strategy and tactics employed, and re-creates the experiences of the participants--from seaman to admiral, both Japanese and American. It is a story replete with awe-inspiring heroism, failed intelligence, flawed strategy, brilliant deception, great controversies, and a cast of characters with names like Halsey, Nimitz, Ozawa, and MacArthur. Such an exciting and revealing account of the battle is unlikely to be equaled by future writers.

Download or read book The Battle Off Samar written by Robert Jon Cox and published by . This book was released on 2010-05-14 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Call to Colors written by John Gobbell and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2006-09 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mike Donovan, commander of the U.S.S. Matthew and a battle-weary veteran of several savage battles, matches wits with Japanese Vice Admiral Takao Kurita, who has laid an ingenious trap for the Matthew as it sails toward the Leyte Gulf, while dealing with a bomb slipped aboard his ship by would-be saboteurs. Original.

Download or read book USS Alabama Bb 60 written by David Doyle and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 2021-08-28 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fourth and final battleship in the South Dakota class, the USS Alabama served in both the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II, participating in many of the most famous battles of the war. Armed with nine 16-inch guns, 20 5-inch guns, and a myriad of 40 mm and 20 mm weapons, Alabama was one of the most powerful warships afloat. This volume illustrates the modifications and improvements made to the ship during her service, and the battles fought by her men. The battleship today is a floating museum and veterans memorial moored in Mobile Bay in her namesake state of Alabama. Additional detailed photos capture the workings of this powerful, complex warship. Through carefully researched archival documents and photographs, the history of this iconic warship and the men who crewed it is presented in this profusely illustrated volume.

Download or read book The Assault Landings on Leyte Island written by United States. Naval Operations Office (Navy Department) and published by . This book was released on 1944 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Halsey s Decision written by David L Brooks and published by . This book was released on 2014-10 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At 0646 Fanshaw Bay makes an "unidentified surface contact" on her radar and her radio watch reports "Japs gabbing" on the fighter-interception net. And then at 0647 the A/S patrol radios: "I can see pagoda masts, and I see the biggest red meatball flag I ever saw on the biggest battleship I ever saw." Ziggy Sprague knows his ships are in trouble. His 20-knot carriers and his paltry 5-inch guns firing a 54-pound shell with a range of about nine nautical miles, which could not penetrate battleship or cruiser armor, are no match for even the smallest of the Japanese battleships, which could do 30 knots and fired three-quarter-ton 14-inch shells twenty miles. How could this have happened? Where was TF 34? Where was Halsey?

Download or read book Leyte written by M. Hamlin Cannon and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the Leyte Campaign the War in the Pacific entered a decisive stage. The period of limited offensives, bypassing, and island hopping was virtually over. American troops in greater numbers than ever before assembled in the Pacific Theater, supported by naval and air forces of corresponding size, fought and overcame Japanese forces of greater magnitude than any previously met. Though the spotlight is on the front-line fighting, the reader will find in this volume a faithful description of all arms and services performing their missions. The account is not exclusively an infantry story. It covers as well the support of ground fighting on Leyte by large-scale naval operations and by land-based air power under the most adverse conditions. In addition, careful attention to logistical matters, such as the movement of supplies and the evacuation of the wounded, gives the reader a picture of the less spectacular activities of an army in battle.

Download or read book Leyte 1944 written by Nathan N. Prefer and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2012-12-07 with total page 615 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The decisive battle in Gen. MacArthur’s reclaiming of the Philippines in WWII is told in vivid, on-the-ground detail in this “definitive account” (WWII History Magazine). When Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines in 1942 to organize a new American army, he vowed, “I shall return!” More than two years later, he did return, retaking the Philippines from the Japanese. The site of his reinvasion was the central Philippine island of Leyte. The Japanese high command decided to make Leyte the “decisive battle” for the western Pacific and rushed crack Imperial Army units from Manchuria, Korea, and Japan to overwhelm the Americans. The Americans in turn rushed in reinforcements. This unique battle also saw a counteroffensive designed to push the Americans off the island and capture the elusive Gen. MacArthur. Both American and Japanese battalions spent days surrounded by the enemy, often until relieved or overwhelmed. Leyte was a three-dimensional battle, fought with the best both sides had to offer, and did indeed decide the fate of the Philippines in World War II.