Knowra Battle of Leyte Gulf Battle of Leyte Gulf A major naval battle fought in the Philippines from October 23 to 26, 1944, between Allied and Japanese forces. Its four major engagements helped destroy Japan’s remaining ability to wage large-scale fleet action.
Battle of the Sibuyan Sea : A naval engagement on October 24, 1944, in which Allied aircraft attacked the Japanese battleship Musashi and other ships. Air attacks here sank Musashi and helped disrupt the Japanese Center Force’s approach.
Philippines campaign (1944–1945) : The Allied campaign to capture the Philippines from Japanese control during 1944 and 1945. Leyte Gulf was the major naval battle supporting the campaign’s opening invasion.
William Halsey Jr. : An American admiral who commanded the Third Fleet in the Pacific during World War II. Halsey’s decision to pursue Ozawa’s force left the San Bernardino Strait insufficiently guarded.
Musashi : A Japanese Yamato-class battleship sunk by American carrier aircraft in the Sibuyan Sea on October 24, 1944. Its loss was among the battle’s clearest demonstrations of carrier air power against a battleship.
Battle of Surigao Strait : A night naval battle on October 24–25, 1944, in which Allied forces defeated the Japanese Southern Force in Surigao Strait. This engagement destroyed one arm of Japan’s pincer attack on the landing area.
Douglas MacArthur : An American general who commanded Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific during World War II. MacArthur directed the Allied return to the Philippines, beginning with the Leyte invasion.
Thomas C. Kinkaid : An American admiral who commanded the Seventh Fleet during the invasion of the Philippines. Kinkaid’s forces fought in Surigao Strait and supported the Leyte landings.
Kamikaze : A Japanese military tactic in which pilots deliberately crashed aircraft into enemy ships during World War II. The first organized kamikaze attacks against Allied ships occurred during the Leyte Gulf campaign.
Battle off Samar : A naval engagement on October 25, 1944, between a Japanese surface force and a small group of American escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts. The Japanese Center Force unexpectedly encountered lightly protected American ships near the invasion beachhead.
Isoroku Yamamoto : A Japanese admiral who commanded the Combined Fleet during the early Pacific War until his death in 1943. His earlier naval strategy and carrier forces shaped the fleet Japan had left by 1944.
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