The Battle of Leyte Gulf At 75

The Battle of Leyte Gulf At 75 PDF Author: Lcdr Thomas J. Cutler USN (Ret)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781682478806
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
Often appropriately described as the "greatest naval battle in history," the battle of Leyte Gulf (23-26 October 1944) was actually a series of battles in which both sides exhibited courage and resourcefulness yet suffered from confusion born of poorly conceived command relationships and ineffective communications. Marked by awe-inspiring heroism, failed intelligence, brilliant deception, flawed strategy, effective tactical planning, great controversies, and a host of lessons learned, this gargantuan battle involved hundreds of ships, included nearly 200,000 participants, spanned more than 100,000 square miles, and resulted in the deaths of thousands of sailors from both sides. Every facet of naval warfare at the time was involved--air, surface, subsurface, amphibious, and--with the introduction of the kamikaze--a forerunner of guided missiles. It is clearly one of the great naval battles in history and has been the subject of countless books and articles in the 75 years since those massive fleets clashed in the Western Pacific. In his introduction, Cutler contends that there are five elements that make this battle unique and of continuing interest to historians, buffs, and strategists. These elements are explained, reinforced, and enhanced by a number of original essays and by special selections from the Naval Institute's impressive archive. The eleven essays by eminent historians take new looks at various aspects of this complex and ultimately decisive battle, providing fresh insight and offering different perspectives that will answer some old questions and likely pose new ones. This enlightening retrospective collection is further enhanced by a selection of articles culled from the rich archive of the Naval Institute's Proceedings and Naval History magazines that have long sustained the debates and the lessons learned from this important historical event. The result is an edifying and entertaining volume that will not likely be the last on this important subject but serves as an important contribution to this evergreen topic. ​

The Battle of Leyte Gulf At 75

The Battle of Leyte Gulf At 75 PDF Author: Lcdr Thomas J. Cutler USN (Ret)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781682478806
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 360

Get Book Here

Book Description
Often appropriately described as the "greatest naval battle in history," the battle of Leyte Gulf (23-26 October 1944) was actually a series of battles in which both sides exhibited courage and resourcefulness yet suffered from confusion born of poorly conceived command relationships and ineffective communications. Marked by awe-inspiring heroism, failed intelligence, brilliant deception, flawed strategy, effective tactical planning, great controversies, and a host of lessons learned, this gargantuan battle involved hundreds of ships, included nearly 200,000 participants, spanned more than 100,000 square miles, and resulted in the deaths of thousands of sailors from both sides. Every facet of naval warfare at the time was involved--air, surface, subsurface, amphibious, and--with the introduction of the kamikaze--a forerunner of guided missiles. It is clearly one of the great naval battles in history and has been the subject of countless books and articles in the 75 years since those massive fleets clashed in the Western Pacific. In his introduction, Cutler contends that there are five elements that make this battle unique and of continuing interest to historians, buffs, and strategists. These elements are explained, reinforced, and enhanced by a number of original essays and by special selections from the Naval Institute's impressive archive. The eleven essays by eminent historians take new looks at various aspects of this complex and ultimately decisive battle, providing fresh insight and offering different perspectives that will answer some old questions and likely pose new ones. This enlightening retrospective collection is further enhanced by a selection of articles culled from the rich archive of the Naval Institute's Proceedings and Naval History magazines that have long sustained the debates and the lessons learned from this important historical event. The result is an edifying and entertaining volume that will not likely be the last on this important subject but serves as an important contribution to this evergreen topic. ​

Sea of Thunder

Sea of Thunder PDF Author: Evan Thomas
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743252225
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
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.

Learning War

Learning War PDF Author: Trent Hone
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1682472949
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Learning War examines the U.S. Navy’s doctrinal development from 1898–1945 and explains why the Navy in that era was so successful as an organization at fostering innovation. A revolutionary study of one of history’s greatest success stories, this book draws profoundly important conclusions that give new insight, not only into how the Navy succeeded in becoming the best naval force in the world, but also into how modern organizations can exploit today’s rapid technological and social changes in their pursuit of success. Trent Hone argues that the Navy created a sophisticated learning system in the early years of the twentieth century that led to repeated innovations in the development of surface warfare tactics and doctrine. The conditions that allowed these innovations to emerge are analyzed through a consideration of the Navy as a complex adaptive system. Learning War is the first major work to apply this complex learning approach to military history. This approach permits a richer understanding of the mechanisms that enable human organizations to evolve, innovate, and learn, and it offers new insights into the history of the United States Navy.

The Assault Landings on Leyte Island

The Assault Landings on Leyte Island PDF Author: United States. Naval Operations Office (Navy Department)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description


The Battle of Leyte Gulf

The Battle of Leyte Gulf PDF Author: H. P. Willmott
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253019011
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the greatest naval engagement in history. 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.

Decision at Sea

Decision at Sea PDF Author: Craig L. Symonds
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199754888
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 585

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Book Description
From thunderous broadsides traded between wooden sailing ships on Lake Erie, to the carrier battles of World War II, to the devastating high-tech action in the Persian Gulf, here is a gripping history of five key battles that defined the evolution of naval warfare--and the course of the American nation. Acclaimed military historian Craig Symonds offers spellbinding narratives of crucial engagements, showing how each battle reveals the transformation of technology and weaponry from one war to the next; how these in turn transformed naval combat; and how each event marked a milestone in American history. - Oliver Hazard Perry's heroic victory at Lake Erie, one of the last great battles of the Age of Sail, which secured the Northwestern frontier for the United States - The brutal Civil War duel between the ironclads Monitor and Virginia, which sounded the death knell for wooden-hulled warships and doomed the Confederacy's hope of besting the Union navy - Commodore Dewey's stunning triumph at Manila Bay in 1898, where the U.S. displayed its "new navy" of steel-hulled ships firing explosive shells and wrested an empire from a fading European power - The hairsbreadth American victory at Midway, where aircraft carriers launched planes against enemies 200 miles away--and where the tide of World War II turned in the space of a few furious minutes - Operation Praying Mantis in the Persian Gulf, where computers, ship-fired missiles, and "smart bombs" not only changed the nature of warfare at sea, but also marked a new era, and a new responsibility, for the United States. Symonds records these encounters in detail so vivid that readers can hear the wind in the rigging and feel the pounding of the guns. Yet he places every battle in a wide perspective, revealing their significance to America's development as it grew from a new Republic on the edge of a threatening frontier to a global superpower. Decision at Sea is a powerful and illuminating look at pivotal moments in the history of the Navy and of the United States. It is also a compelling study of the unchanging demands of leadership at sea, where commanders must make rapid decisions in the heat of battle with lives--and the fate of nations--hanging in the balance.

Tidal Wave

Tidal Wave PDF Author: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472825470
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
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.

Leyte Gulf

Leyte Gulf PDF Author: Mark Stille
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472851722
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
A fascinating re-examination of the battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval encounter in history and probably the most decisive naval battle of the entire Pacific War, and one that saw the Imperial Japanese Navy eliminated as an effective fighting force and forced to resort to suicide tactics. Leyte was a huge and complex action, actually consisting of four major battles, each of which are broken down in detail in this book, using original sources. The plans of both sides, and how they dictated the events that followed, are also examined critically. So much of the accepted wisdom of the battle has developed from the many myths that surround it, myths that have become more firmly established over time. In this new study, Pacific War expert Mark Stille examines the key aspects of this complex battle with new and insightful analysis and dismantles the myths surrounding the respective actions and overall performances of the two most important commanders in the battle, and the “lost victory” of the Japanese advance into Leyte Gulf that never happened.

The 100 Worst Military Disasters in History

The 100 Worst Military Disasters in History PDF Author: John T. Kuehn
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
The 100 Worst Military Disasters in History is a fascinating collection that educators, students, and historians will all find useful in helping them understand the causes and consequences of the most infamous military failures in history. The dynamics of military disaster are equally, if not more, important as understanding how to achieve success on the battlefield. This comprehensive book covers the complete gamut of human history as it tells the compelling stories of the worst military debacles of all time. It covers battles, campaigns, and wars, starting with the ancient Persians and Greeks and finishing with the U.S. conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not limited to land warfare, however, the book also includes a number of the most disastrous naval engagements and campaigns in world history. The 100 Worst Military Disasters in History opens with a detailed introduction illuminating the role military strategy and politics played in some of the worst battlefield failures throughout history. The entries are augmented with several engaging sidebars related to various military disasters. This eclectic collection includes coverage of many lesser known military disasters such as the Taiping Rebellion, during which 20 times more Chinese died than the number of people killed in the American Civil War.

The Battle of Buffalo Wallow

The Battle of Buffalo Wallow PDF Author: James R. Odrowski
Publisher: James R. Odrowski
ISBN: 0578845970
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
In World War II, the U.S. Army’s 44th General Hospital found themselves at ground-zero of the Japanese counterattack on the island of Leyte. As Japanese infantry infiltrated and enemy paratroopers dropped around them, the 44th’s officers faced a life-or-death decision. With over 200 patients, the Japanese surrounding them, and no option to retreat, they had to act fast. Should they uphold their oath to “do no harm”? Or do they arm the medical staff and defend themselves and their patients? Do they risk violation of the Geneva Convention or risk death or imprisonment at the hands of the Japanese? But without authorization to obtain arms, how would they defend themselves? Could the 44th hold out until infantry support arrived? Their fate would be determined in what was called “The Battle of Buffalo Wallow”. This book tells the previously unknown and controversial story of the 44th General Hospital, experienced medical professionals who were asked to perform actions over and above their expected duties. In World War II, the Philippine island of Leyte became the stage for a key battle between the United States and Japan. U.S. General Douglas MacArthur’s 6th Army invaded Leyte on October 20th, 1944. Soon afterwards, the Army’s 44th General Hospital landed to care for casualties. Untrained in combat, they were sent inland to the village of Burauen, very close to the front lines of fighting. The hospital tents were set up between three airfields that were recently taken from the Japanese. But, as the U.S. infantry advanced westward, they left the 44th and other service units behind, mostly unprotected. In a desperate move, the Japanese determined to make Leyte the decisive battle they hoped would turn the tide of the War. To counter the American advance, Japanese General Yamashita devised a bold plan. The first step would be a combined infantry and paratrooper attack to retake the airfields on Leyte. Subsequently, the attack placed the 44th and their patients in great peril. Their courage and dedication would be tested in the heat of battle. After the War, the Surgeon General of the Army called the 44th “the finest that ever served.”