Leyte 1944

Return to the Philippines

Leyte 1944 cover

Description

The loss of the Phillipines in 1942 was the worst defeat in American military history. General Douglas MacArthur, the 'Lion of Luzon', was evacuated by order of the President just before the fall, but he vowed to return, and in August 1944 he kept his word when he led the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific War to date on the island of Leyte. This is the full story of that fateful battle, one of the most ferocious campaigns of World War II and one of huge strategic and symbolic significance. Preceding it had been the largest naval battle ever fought: the battle of Leyte Gulf, in which the Imperial Japanese Navy was decisively crushed. This paved the way for four divisions of Lieutenant-General Krueger's Sixth Army to spear-head the assault. In the face of stubborn Japanese resistance, including the first systematic use of kamikaze attacks, the US forces ground slowly forwards before another amphibious assault took the vital position of Ormoc in the last decisive battle of the campaign.

Based on extensive research in the US Army's Military History Institute, along with other archival and veteran sources, this important study sheds new light on the operation that saw the US finally return to the Phillipines and in doing so placed another nail firmly in the coffin of the Japanese Empire.

Table of Contents

Origins of the campaign
Chronology

Opposing commanders
Opposing armies
Orders of battle
Opposing plans
The campaign
Aftermath

The battlefields today
Further reading
Index

Product details

Published Jul 21 2015
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 96
ISBN 9781472806901
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 65 b/w; 12 col
Dimensions 10 x 7 inches
Series Campaign
Short code CAM 282
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Clayton K. S. Chun

Clayton K.S. Chun, Ph.D., is on the U.S. Army War…

Illustrator

Giuseppe Rava

Giuseppe Rava was born in Faenza in 1963, and took…

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