The Battle of Leyte Gulf (October 23–26, 1944) proved to be the most decisive naval engagement in the Pacific War. Japanese defeat resulted in severe losses of its remaining surface vessels and virtually ended its ability to move resources from Southeast Asia to the home islands.
When the U.S. launched an amphibious assault on the central Philippine island of Leyte, the Imperial Japanese Navy implemented Operation Sho-Go, an attempt to use one attack force as a decoy to draw part of the U.S. naval forces away, while concentrating three other attack forces on Leyte Gulf landing site. Although the ruse did achieve initial success, and the Imperial Japanese Navy was able to inflict serious damage, U.S. forces prevailed after three days of heavy fighting.
Casualties and losses:
USA
~3,000 casualties;
1 light carrier,
2 escort carriers,
2 destroyers,
1 destroyer escort sunk
200+ planes
Imperial Japan
~12,500 dead;
1 fleet carrier,
3 light carriers
3 battleships,
10 cruisers,
11 destroyers sunk
~300 planes
Notably, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was the first time Japan employed suicidal kamikaze attacks.
These statistics/losses are astounding. I wonder if other people, like me, realize they don’t know much about the Pacific battles during World War II. Thanks for sharing.
WWII STATISTICS
54,770,000 — total deaths in WWII
38,573,000 — civilians died in WWII
292,131 — Americans died in WWII
3,393 — Americans died on D-Day
6,603 — casualties (including deaths, wounded and prisoners) on D-Day
7,000 — Americans died on Iwo Jima
12,000 — Americans died on Okinawa
51,983 — Americans died in the Pacific
1,140,429 — members of the Japanese military died during WWII
700,000 to 10,000,000 (variously estimated) — Japanese civilians died in WWII
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/28-best-battle-of-leyte-gulf-pictures.html