Essay on Battle of Leyte Gulf

By the early morning of December 7, 1941 the Japanese Naval force led by Admiral Nagumo had parked his fleet of 6 aircraft carriers 230 nautical miles off the north coast of the Hawaiian Islands completely undetected. The fleet had approximately 423 aircraft with a final destination of Pearl Harbor. At 600 a.m. the first wave of 180 aircraft were launch to attach the sleeping Hawaiian bay. At 702 a.m. an Army radar station sights the aircraft inbound and report to their direct officer who is aware of a squadron of B-17’s due in from the west coast and write off the sighting am friendly forces. This was the first of many mistakes that would become evident within the hour.

The Battle of the Philippine Sea was an engagement between the United States Pacific Fleet and the Japanese navy in World War II. This Battle occurred started on June 19 and ended on June 20 in 1944. The Japanese goal at the very beginning of this conflict was to discourage American forces by incurring such great damage to the military that the public majority would become weary of the war and discontinue its support of the war. The loss of support from the public would then cause the US Government to retract its forces from Japan.( Willmott, H.P. June 1944. New York, NY: Blandford Press, 1984. ISBN 0-7137-1446-8) Willmott 1984, p. 143.)

The American forces plan consisted of a “divide and conquer” methodology. The U.S. focused on landing its assault force expediently and quickly and securing Mt. Suribachi and dominant high ground of the island. The Americans expected victory in less than a week. Their forces consisted of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions. The 4th and 5th Marine Divisions were to land on the eastern beaches the 4th on the right and the 5th on the left. The 3rd Marines would either land on the eastern beaches or assume a defensive role, which ever was called (Planning for the Battle of Iwo Jima, n.d.).

The Battle of Luzon, fought in the Pacific Theater in early 1945, is remembered as the World War Two battle which had the highest net casualties. After Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines, was captured by the Japanese in 1942, General MacArthur believed that it was extremely important to recapture it. This took some time, but in 1944, a new campaign to recapture the Philippines was created. The campaign started with attacks on Leyte and Mindoro, which prepared for Luzon. The US, working together with the Commonwealth of the Philippines, successfully used multifaceted assault tactics—including the use of air force, naval, and ground troops—to advance from the Lingayen Gulf to the capital city of Manila. After the capture of Manila,

Yamamoto had a complex invasion plan that included a second operation against the Aleutian Islands near Alaska, however, because of the damages sustained at the Battle of Coral Sea, his Carrier Strike Force consisted of only four aircraft carriers defended by only a handful of cruisers and destroyers (“HIGH NOON ON THE HIGH SEAS”). Even with the depleted fleet, the Japanese remained confident that the upcoming battle would be a swift victory for their advancement into the Pacific. Little did the Japanese know that U.S Intelligence was hard at work gathering intel to thwart an offensive on Midway.

The Battle of Coral Sea was the first major sea battle between allied fleet forces, including those of the United States and Australian Navies, and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Pivotal in terms of allied naval fleet operations during the war, the Battle of Coral Sea was also the first naval battle that featured opposing air craft carriers in close proximity to each other, resulting in air battles initiated by sea, rather than from traditional land bases. The following provides relevant details.

The battle of Midway island happened on April 1st, 1942. They fought many battles, often resulting in many deaths. The battle of Iwo Jima happened on February 19th, 1945, landing three marine divisions on the island and sustained heavy casualties. This battle was the longest and most famous battle fought except for D-Day. It is most famous for its pictures of six Americans raise the flag on Iwo Jima; sadly, only 216 soldiers survived the battle.

which had been at sea on maneuvers on December 7, the Battle of Midway was

The really only effective attacks were made by the carrier dive bombers. The proof of this came on 19- 20 June 1944, in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Which is considered to be the second coming of the Battle of Midway. Fought near the island of Saipan in the Marianas group, the Battle of the Philippine Sea set the rebuilt Japanese carrier force, led by Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, against Admiral Spruance’s Fifth Fleet. Both Admirals had studied the Battle of Midway, and both had learned

When the Allies heard that the Japanese were moving troops in onto the island, they began to do the same. On that night, was when the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal began. On November 14th, two days later CAF and an aircraft from the USS Enterprise found seven of Tanka’s transports. Once spotted, CAF and the aircraft sunk all seven of the transporting carriers. Even though they suffered losses too, American warships turned back to the Japanese on the island the next day. The only four remaining transport boats were beached at Tassafaronga before dusk. Once they were beached, Allied forces quickly took over and destroyed the transport crafts

so they were resting the other two battle ships got ready to attack the Japanese

This was a sequence of battles fought in the Japanese Ryukyu Islands, centered around Okinawa Island. This battle contained the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War and also lasted 82 days beginning April 1 and ending June 22, 1945.

suffered a major defeat at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, took advantage of the situation the U.S. was put in after its losses during Pearl Harbor (“Japs Risk Large Naval Units...”). With the backbone of U.S. Pacific Fleet torn out, Japan made several attempts to dominate the Pacific. Japan was anxious to settle their differences with the U.S., so they began risking large naval units in Pacific battles. An article posted in the Los Angeles Time, “Japs Risk Large Naval Units in Blows at U.S.” says, “For the sixth time in six months Japan made a deadly bid to capture the mastery of the Pacific, and for the sixth time she has failed after paying a price that is fast becoming prohibitive,” (“Japs Risk Large Naval Units...”). This article was posted days after the Battle of Midway, on June 7th, 1942 reflecting the actions of the Japanese Navy in the previous months. The Japanese were anxious to pounce on the weakened U.S. after Pearl Harbor, backing their attacks with large naval units. The Japanese felt that they needed to take over Midway Island in order to claim dominance over the U.S. in the Pacific.

Battle of Midway was a major naval battle, widely regarded as the most important one of the Pacific Campaign of World War II.[3] It took place from June 4 to 7, 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, five months after the Japanese capture of Wake Island, and exactly six months to the day after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States Navy decisively defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll.

The first thing that should be noted was the reason why the Northern Force was used to lure the 3rd Fleet away from the Philippines. Four months earlier in June 1944 the battle of the Philippine sea took place. This was the Japanese attempt to defeat the US Carrier Force with everything they had. The end