The U. S. Army lands on the Philippine island of Luzon by way of Leyte Gulf in 1944. It's a strategic move because in possession of the Philippines the Allies can turn off the spigot of raw materials sent by ship from Southeast Asia to the Japanese home islands.
The Japanese launch a complicated three-pronged naval attack on Leyte Gulf. One of the attacks fails completely. The second retreats from air attack and then turns around and resumes course. The third is a decoy designed to lure Admiral Halsey's immensely powerful Third Fleet away from Leyte Gulf. It works. The second prong slips through the gap and catches a small and unprotected forced of escort carriers and six destroyer types unprepared. The handful of American ships, along with whatever ill-prepared aircraft they have available, put up a hell of a fight and Admiral Kurita's second force turns away and moves north for reasons that are never made clear. It's a victory for the Americans, but it's also what psychologists call a "bad gestalt," like a circle with an opening left in its circumference. With better communications and more cautious leadership, the Americans probably could have bagged the entire Japanese fleet. That's probably one of the reasons there are many documentaries and feature films about the Battle of Midway, a clear victory for America, and no feature films about Leyte Gulf.
Meaning no offense to our necessary myths, American leadership was fine but not as perfect as depicted in the media of the time. We need heroes now as much as we did then. It doesn't detract from the sagacity of leaders if we mention their limits. We remember Admiral Halsey's blunt, plain-English messages: "Attack -- Repeat -- Attack," and "The Japanese language will be spoken only in hell." We don't remember that he took his fleet into a disastrous typhoon, and then a short while later, a second disastrous typhoon. His being lured away from his station has gone down the memory hole. At any rate, the misunderstanding wasn't entirely his fault. The communications set up was as complicated as some of today's cable providers and ISPs.
And General MacArthur, leading the American Army ashore, makes his first broadcast to the Philippinos. Two years earlier he's promised he would return. Now: "I have returned." Two men of the 24th infantry division who participated in the invasion, kind of wish he'd said "WE have returned." Everyone knows of his heroism at Corregidor and Bataan. Everyone ignores the fact that hours after the attacks at Pearl Harbor, MacArthur had still sent up no scouts and had his airplanes neatly parked and ready for destruction at Clark Field, an incident after which MacArthur didn't appear in public for several days, causing some to wonder about his stability.
The engagement of the small carriers and destroyers of the American force in Leyte Gulf with the powerful central force of the Japanese was a costly one for both sides, but especially for the Americans, who lost two escort carriers and most of its destroyers and destroyer escorts. There was more agony in store for those who had survived the battle and found themselves in the sea. Somehow the wrong coordinates were sent to the rescue ships and the crews spent three days in the ocean without water and under attack from sharks.
This episode is a slow fast ball pitched to an American audience. Sometimes the narration sounds like the announcer at a high school football game. When the first Japanese force is demolished by battleships raised from the bottom and repaired at Pearl Harbor, "It's payback time!" And, "the commander of the Japanese fleet must swim for his life!" The Japanese are never openly criticized but there's hardly need for that kind of drama in describing a naval engagement that ends in an enemy defeat. Those interested in a more complete description of the battle should watch the "Battlefield" series which, I think, is available free on YouTube.
The Japanese launch a complicated three-pronged naval attack on Leyte Gulf. One of the attacks fails completely. The second retreats from air attack and then turns around and resumes course. The third is a decoy designed to lure Admiral Halsey's immensely powerful Third Fleet away from Leyte Gulf. It works. The second prong slips through the gap and catches a small and unprotected forced of escort carriers and six destroyer types unprepared. The handful of American ships, along with whatever ill-prepared aircraft they have available, put up a hell of a fight and Admiral Kurita's second force turns away and moves north for reasons that are never made clear. It's a victory for the Americans, but it's also what psychologists call a "bad gestalt," like a circle with an opening left in its circumference. With better communications and more cautious leadership, the Americans probably could have bagged the entire Japanese fleet. That's probably one of the reasons there are many documentaries and feature films about the Battle of Midway, a clear victory for America, and no feature films about Leyte Gulf.
Meaning no offense to our necessary myths, American leadership was fine but not as perfect as depicted in the media of the time. We need heroes now as much as we did then. It doesn't detract from the sagacity of leaders if we mention their limits. We remember Admiral Halsey's blunt, plain-English messages: "Attack -- Repeat -- Attack," and "The Japanese language will be spoken only in hell." We don't remember that he took his fleet into a disastrous typhoon, and then a short while later, a second disastrous typhoon. His being lured away from his station has gone down the memory hole. At any rate, the misunderstanding wasn't entirely his fault. The communications set up was as complicated as some of today's cable providers and ISPs.
And General MacArthur, leading the American Army ashore, makes his first broadcast to the Philippinos. Two years earlier he's promised he would return. Now: "I have returned." Two men of the 24th infantry division who participated in the invasion, kind of wish he'd said "WE have returned." Everyone knows of his heroism at Corregidor and Bataan. Everyone ignores the fact that hours after the attacks at Pearl Harbor, MacArthur had still sent up no scouts and had his airplanes neatly parked and ready for destruction at Clark Field, an incident after which MacArthur didn't appear in public for several days, causing some to wonder about his stability.
The engagement of the small carriers and destroyers of the American force in Leyte Gulf with the powerful central force of the Japanese was a costly one for both sides, but especially for the Americans, who lost two escort carriers and most of its destroyers and destroyer escorts. There was more agony in store for those who had survived the battle and found themselves in the sea. Somehow the wrong coordinates were sent to the rescue ships and the crews spent three days in the ocean without water and under attack from sharks.
This episode is a slow fast ball pitched to an American audience. Sometimes the narration sounds like the announcer at a high school football game. When the first Japanese force is demolished by battleships raised from the bottom and repaired at Pearl Harbor, "It's payback time!" And, "the commander of the Japanese fleet must swim for his life!" The Japanese are never openly criticized but there's hardly need for that kind of drama in describing a naval engagement that ends in an enemy defeat. Those interested in a more complete description of the battle should watch the "Battlefield" series which, I think, is available free on YouTube.