Pull yourself together. Olympus, was part of the fourth wave to hit the beaches during the landing; he then proceeded to Manila, where he witnessed the liberation of American prisoners of war who had spent the last three years in captivity. Americans and Japanese came away from the battle of Leyte Gulf with extremely divergent views of what had occurred. Halsey sent aircraft to attack the retreating Kurita, but they only succeeded in sinking one cruiser. Halsey also held an overwhelming advantage in air power: not only were his pilots more experienced than the raw recruits that the Japanese were rushing into service, but just one of his heavy carriers boasted an air complement that equaled that of the entire Japanese decoy fleet. Battle of Leyte Gulf, (October 23–26, 1944), decisive air and sea battle of World War II that crippled the Japanese Combined Fleet, permitted U.S. invasion of the Philippines, and reinforced the Allies’ control of the Pacific. It had originally been planned to attack the Philippines at a somewhat later date, but the air strikes revealed an unexpected weakness in the Japanese defense of … TF 34 TO ENGAGE DECISIVELY AT LONG RANGES. Battle of Leyte Gulf: The landings on Leyte …reconnaissance of the area around Leyte and Samar, where landings were to take place in October. He ordered the destroyers and DEs to make a smoke screen to conceal the retreating carriers. One of these started an oil fire, and as the fuel used by IJN ships was poorly refined and easily ignited, burning patches of fuel could have led to the description from Allied observers of Fusō "blowing up". [4][page needed][5] It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar, and Luzon, from 23 to 26 October 1944, between combined American and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), as part of the invasion of Leyte, which aimed to isolate Japan from the countries it had occupied in Southeast Asia which were a vital source of industrial and oil supplies. As they were preparing their aircraft for attack, the escort carriers returned the Japanese fire with all the firepower they had – one 5 in. It began on October 17, 1944 with the main fighting continuing through December 26, 1944. Olympus, was part of the fourth wave to hit the beaches during the landing; he then proceeded to Manila, where he witnessed the liberation of American prisoners of war who had spent the last three years in captivity. [33][page needed]. In its opening salvo the Darter sank the Japanese heavy cruiser Atago, Kurita’s flagship, and proceeded to seriously damage the cruiser Takao. The battle was part of World War II, and happened in the seas near the Philippines island of Leyte.It took place from 23 October to 26 October 1944, between the Allies and the Empire of Japan.The Allies started the battle to cut the way between Japan and its colonies in South East Asia. With his fleet in disarray and not realizing just how close he had come to shattering the thin defensive screen around the Leyte landing beaches, Kurita opted to retire. The first four words and the last three were "padding" used to confuse enemy cryptanalysis (the beginning and end of the true message were marked by double consonants). Battle 360. Takao retired to Singapore, being joined in January 1945 by Myōkō, as the Japanese deemed both crippled cruisers irreparable and left them moored in the harbor as floating anti-aircraft batteries. The ferocity of the American defense seemingly confirmed the Japanese assumption that they were engaging major fleet units rather than merely escort carriers and destroyers. The next logical step was to cut Japan's supply lines to Southeast Asia, depriving them of fuel and other necessities of war, but there were two different plans for doing so. The assault on Leyte marked the joining of the two major advances on Japan—the central Pacific offensive commanded by Nimitz and the southern Pacific approach under MacArthur. [37][38][page needed]. Sign In; Add to My List. [33][page needed][38][page needed], The other three U.S. battleships also had difficulty as they were equipped with less advanced gunnery radar. [30] It would be the desperate action and great sacrifice of the much weaker force of six slow escort carriers, three destroyers, four destroyer escorts, and 400 aircraft at the Battle off Samar, utterly lacking in credible weapons to sink armored ships, to stop Kurita. The serious misunderstanding caused by Halsey's imperfect wording of his first message and his failure to notify Nimitz, King, or Kinkaid of his second clarifying message was to have a profound influence on the subsequent course of the battle as Kurita's major force almost overwhelmed Kinkaid's unprepared lighter force on the doorstep of the Leyte landings. Date Originally Published: November 12, 2018. A fundamental defect in this plan was there would be no single American naval admiral in overall command. Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 23–26, 1944), decisive air and sea battle of World War II that crippled the Japanese Combined Fleet, permitted U.S. invasion of the Philippines, and reinforced the Allies’ control of the Pacific. Two Australian WWII veterans, 95 year-old David Mattiske and 97 year-old retired Rear Admiral Guy Griffiths, attended the commemoration event. By autumn 1944 the Japanese had been dislodged from many key outposts in the southwest and central Pacific, and other Japanese-controlled islands had been allowed to wither on the vine. Halsey and the 3rd Fleet battleships returned too late to cut him off. At 14:15, Mitscher ordered DuBose to pursue the remnants of the Japanese Northern Force. As she withdrew, listing to port, a third wave from Enterprise and Franklin hit her with an additional 11 bombs and eight torpedoes. [9][page needed][33][page needed]. In fact, Halsey had not yet formed TF 34, and all six of Willis Lee's battleships were on their way northwards with the carriers, as well as every available cruiser and destroyer of the Third Fleet. It seems that he did not receive this vital message from Kinkaid until around 10:00. This task force left Brunei after Kurita at 15:00 on 22 October, turning eastward into the Sulu Sea and then northeasterly past the southern tip of Negros Island into the Mindanao Sea. At the same time, U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy cruisers and destroyers on the flanks of the battleship line opened fire. The United States capitalized on the success of its “island hopping” campaign by pouring men and matériel into its newly won bases. Soon after World War II, his controversial role at Leyte came under intense scrutiny when it became apparent he had imperiled escort carriers and transports by chasing a Japanese decoy force. A collection of naval engagements during October of 1944, Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle in world history with nearly 400 ships and over 200,000 Sailors involved. The battle was also significant for the use of a new Japanese tactic: kamikaze attacks. [33][page needed][44][page needed] HMAS Australia suffered 30 officers and sailors dead, and another 62 servicemen wounded in a kamikaze-like attack 21 October 1944 at the start of the battle.[58]. Battle 360. As a result of a momentous decision taken by Admiral Halsey and some unclear communication of his plans, Kurita was able to proceed through the San Bernardino Strait during the night to make an unexpected and dramatic appearance off the coast of Samar the following morning, directly threatening the Leyte landings. Nevertheless, every other ship in Kurita's force remained battleworthy and able to advance. Japan’s total losses in the Battle of Leyte Gulf amounted to 3 battleships, 1 large carrier, 3 light carriers, 6 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers. The losses in the battle of Leyte Gulf were not evenly distributed throughout all forces. The PT boats made repeated attacks for more than three and a half hours as Nishimura's force streamed northward. In the end, it would be Gen. Douglas MacArthur who prevailed. At this point, Lee's battleships were almost within gun range of Ozawa's force. 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