Leyte,
situated between Luzon and Mindanao, was the first of the Philippine
islands to be recaptured during the Second World
War. After a two day naval bombardment General Walter
Krueger and the 6th Army began landing on the island on 22nd October,
1944.
The Japanese
Navy now made a strenuous effort to save the Philippines.
Admiral Soemu Toyoda, Commander in Chief
of the Combined Fleet, deployed every surviving Japanese warship in
two groups under Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita
and Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa. The strategy
was to use Ozawa's smaller fleet to draw the US
Navy away from Leyte.
On 24th
October 1944 Admiral William Halsey fell
into a Japanese trap when he headed north with 64 ships to attack
Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa leaving the San
Bernardino Strait unprotected.
Vice Admiral
Takeo Kurita and his fleet now moved in
to attack the Allied invasion force. However Vice-Admiral Thomas
Kinkaid and the 7th Fleet was still in the area
providing cover for the 175,000 members of the US
Army landing on Leyte.
The battle
of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval engagement in history. It was
a decisive victory for the Allies with the Japanese
Navy lost four carriers, three battleships and ten cruisers. It
was now clear that the US Navy had control
of the Pacific and that further Allied landings in the region were
likely to be successful.
After the
successful amphibious landings General
Douglas MacArthur
and General Walter Krueger pushed the
Japanese 35th Army out of the central
valley onto the mountainous inland backbone of Leyte. After bitter
fighting the US forces captured the important port of Ormoc on 10th
December. By the time the island was completely secured the US
Army had lost 3,500 men. It is estimated that over 55,000
Japanese soldiers were killed during the campaign.
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