The Battle of Leyte Gulf: 23-26 October 1944 (Bluejacket Books)

From Publishers Weekly
Cutler, professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval War College, relates the epic WW II engagement in the Philippines in which the Japanese Navy nearly prevented Gen. Douglas MacArthur from fulfilling his "I shall return" vow. We're shown the Battle of Leyte Gulf as a series of hard tactical choices by admirals on both sides and their terrifying sea combat. Woven into the suspenseful narrative are survival stories and accounts of extraordinary individual exploits. Cutler describes how a decoy fleet under Adm. Jisaburo Ozawa lured Adm. William Halsey's task force away from the focus of battle, leaving unprotected the troops covering MacArthur's beachhead. The Japanese couldn't capitalize on this opportunity, however, partly because the beachhead ships put up a terrific fight. Cutler also takes a close look at Halsey's questionable tactical moves during the battle and his postwar attempts to deny his poor judgment. Photos. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
In this compelling account, retired combat veteran Cutler (Strategy/US Naval Academy; Brown Water, Black Berets, 1988) offers balanced criticism and praise of the American performance in a critical WW II battle. In October 1944, in an attempt to force a battle that would turn the tide of the war, Japanese fleets opposed General MacArthur's amphibious operations on the island of Leyte in the Philippines. Cutler shows how the American Third and Seventh fleets, which were combined to support operations on Leyte, were attacked by Japanese naval forces under Admiral Kurita; with total air superiority and a formidable attacking submarine force for which the Japanese had no counterpart, Cutler argues, the American forces should have had no difficulty achieving victory. Indeed, American air attacks in the Subuyan Sea on October 24, 1944, together with coordinated American submarine attacks, inflicted great damage on Kurita's ships. However, Admiral Ozawa, commanding a separate Japanese fleet from north of Leyte, feinted an all-out attack on American Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet, persuading Halsey that a large Japanese carrier force was attacking and diverting his fleet away from the battle. Cutler argues that if separate Japanese fleets under admirals Shima and Nishimura had been able to merge their fleets with Kurita's and coordinate their attacks, and if Kurita had not broken off the battle when a crucial task force of the Seventh Fleet was nearly exhausted, a major American defeat might have resulted. In the event, uncoordinated Japanese attacks (most notably, the destructive kamikaze attacks that were the first use of suicide fliers against American ships during the war) against an outnumbered American adversary resulted in a battle that was hugely costly on both sides, but that did not stop the American forces from achieving their strategic objectives in the Philippines. A well-researched, carefully reasoned account of the little- studied battle that made ultimate American victory in the Pacific inevitable. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
Capt. Edward C. Beach, U.S. Navy (Ret.) Author of Run Silent Run Deep Leyte Gulf was the biggest naval battle ever fought anywhere and this is beyond comparison the best account of it I've ever seen.

Book Description
The last great naval battle of World War II, Leyte Gulf also is remembered as the biggest naval battle ever fought anywhere, and this book has been called the best account of it ever written. First published in hardcover on the battle's fiftieth anniversary in 1994 and drawing on materials not previously available, it blends history with human drama to give a real sense of what happened--despite the mammoth scope of the battle. Every facet of naval warfare was involved in the struggle that engaged some two hundred thousand men and 282 American, Japanese, and Australian ships over more than a hundred thousand square miles of sea. That Tom Cutler succeeded at such a difficult task is no surprise. The award-winning author saw combat service aboard many types of ships during his naval career, and as a historian and professor of strategy and policy at the Naval War College, he has studied the battle for many years. Cutler captures the milieu, analyzes the strategy and tactics employed, and re-creates the experiences of the participants--from seaman to admiral, both Japanese and American. It is a story replete with awe-inspiring heroism, failed intelligence, flawed strategy, brilliant deception, great controversies, and a cast of characters with names like Halsey, Nimitz, Ozawa, and MacArthur. Such an exciting and revealing account of the battle is unlikely to be equaled by future writers.


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