Leyte.pdf

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Introduction

World War II was the largest and most violent armed conflict in

the history of mankind. However, the half century that now sepa-

rates us from that conflict has exacted its toll on our collective knowl-

edge. While World War II continues to absorb the interest of military

scholars and historians, as well as its veterans, a generation of Ameri-

cans has grown to maturity largely unaware of the political, social,

and military implications of a war that, more than any other, united

us as a people with a common purpose.

Highly relevant today, World War II has much to teach us, not

only about the profession of arms, but also about military prepared-

ness, global strategy, and combined operations in the coalition war

against fascism. During the next several years, the U.S. Army will

participate in the nation’s 50th anniversary commemoration of World

War II. The commemoration will include the publication of various

materials to help educate Americans about that war. The works pro-

duced will provide great opportunities to learn about and renew pride

in an Army that fought so magnificently in what has been called “the

mighty endeavor.”

World War II was waged on land, on sea, and in the air over sev-

eral diverse theaters of operation for approximately six years. The

following essay is one of a series of campaign studies highlighting

those struggles that, with their accompanying suggestions for fur-

ther reading, are designed to introduce you to one of the Army’s sig-

nificant military feats from that war.

This brochure was prepared in the U.S. Army Center of Military

History by Charles R. Anderson. I hope this absorbing account of

that period will enhance your appreciation of American achievements

during World War II.

GORDON R. SULLIVAN

General, United States Army

Chief of Staff

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Leyte

17 October 1944 1 July 1945

By the summer of 1944, American forces had fought their way

across the Pacific on two lines of attack to reach a point 300 miles

southeast of Mindanao, the southernmost island in the Philippines. In

the Central Pacific, forces under Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, com-

manding the Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean areas, had island-hopped

through the Gilberts, the Marshalls, and the Carolines. More than

1,000 miles to the south, Allied forces under General Douglas

MacArthur, commanding the Southwest Pacific area, had blocked the

Japanese thrust toward Australia, and then recaptured the Solomons

and New Guinea and many of its outlying islands, isolating the huge

Japanese base at Rabaul.

These victories brought American forces to the inner defensive line

of the Japanese Empire, and in the summer of 1944 they pushed through

that barrier to take the Marianas, the Palaus, and Morotai. With the con-

struction of airfields in the Marianas, US. Army Air Forces were within

striking distance of the Japanese home islands for the first time during

the war. Yet, despite an unbroken series of defeats during two years of

fighting, the Japanese showed no inclination to end the war. As American

forces closed on Japan, they thus faced the most formidable outposts of

the Japanese Empire: the Philippines, Formosa, and Okinawa.

Strategic Setting

Months before the Marianas and Palaus came under American

control, the Joint Chiefs of Staff had addressed the question of objec-

tives beyond those island groups. Early discussions considered

Formosa and the Philippines. Domination of either would threaten

Japanese sea lines of communication between her fleet bases and

industries in the home islands and the resource-rich East Indies to the

south. In addition, a strong American beachhead in the Philippines

would jeopardize Japan’s internal communications within the archipel-

ago, the location of the largest concentration of Japanese ground

strength outside the home islands and China. Although possession of

Formosa would give American forces an ideal springboard for opera-

tions on the Chinese mainland it would place those forces between

Japan and the huge enemy garrison in the Philippines. The Philippine

archipelago thus seemed a more logical objective.

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120°

140°

THE PACIFIC

AND ADJACENT THEATERS

Octob e r 1944

UNION OF SOVIET

SOCIALIST REPUBLICS

60°

Japanese Limit of Control

0

1600

Miles at the Equator

80°

100°

USSR

MANCHURIA

MONGOLIA

40°

KOREA

CHI

NA

TIBET

NEPAL

BHUTAN

Iw

INDIA

FORMOSA

Hong Kong

BURMA

20°

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA

MARIA

ISLAN

LUZON

SOUTH

THAILAND

PHILIPPINES

CHINA

FRENCH

INDOCHINA

SEA

MINDANAO

NORTH

BORNEO

PALAU

ISLANDS

C

MALAYA

SARAWAK

CENTRAL P

Singapore

0°

CELEBES

BORNEO

INDIAN

OCEAN

NETHERLANDS INDIES

NEW G

PA

JAVA

SOUTHEAST ASIA COMMAND

AUSTRALI

20°

80°

100°

120°

140°

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160°

180°

160°

G

60°

USSR

Attu

N

NORTH PACIFIC AREA

CENTRAL PACIFIC AREA

40°

PACIFIC

OCEAN

MIDWAY

ISLANDS

wo Jima

HAWAIIAN

ISLANDS

20°

Wake

ANA

NDS

MARSHALL

ISLANDS

Guam

Truk

CAROLINE

ISLANDS

Makin

PACIFIC AREA

Tarawa

BISMARCK

ARCHIPELAGO

GILBERT

ISLANDS

SOUTH PACIFIC AREA

0°

UINEA

SOLOMON

ISLANDS

APUA

ELLICE

ISLANDS

Guadalcanal

NEW

HEBRIDES

FIJI

ISLANDS

TONGA ISLANDS

A

20°

NEW

CALEDONIA

160°

180°

160°

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