UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II
The War in the Pacific
LEYTE: THE RETURN TO THE PHILIPPINES
by M. Hamlin Cannon
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF MILITARY HISTORY DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY WASHINGTON, D. C., 1954
This volume, one of the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II, is the fifth to be published in the subseries THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC. All the volumes will be closely related, and the series will present a comprehensive account of the activities of the Military Establishment during World War II. A tentative list of subseries is appended at the end of this volume.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 53--61979
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C.--Price of this volume, $6.75 (Cloth)
UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II
Kent Roberts Greenfield, General Editor
Advisory Committee
(As of 1 May 1953)
James P. Baxter Brig. Gen. Verdi B. Barnes President, Williams College Army War College
John D. Hicks Brig. Gen. Leonard J. Greeley University of California Industrial College of the Armed Forces
William T. Hutchinson Brig. Gen. Elwyn D. Post University of Chicago Army Field Forces
S. L. A. Marshall Col. Thomas D. Stamps Detroit News United States Military Academy
Charles S. Sydnor Col. C. E. Beauchamp Duke University Command and General Staff College
Charles H. Taylor Harvard University
Office of the Chief of Military History
Maj. Gen. Albert C. Smith, Chief [1]
Chief Historian Kent Roberts Greenfield Chief, War Histories Division Col. G. G. O'Connor Chief, Editorial and Publication Division Col. B. A. Day Chief, Editorial Branch Joseph R. Friedman Chief, Cartographic Branch Wsevolod Aglaimoff Chief, Photographic Branch Maj. Arthur T. Lawry
The History of
THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC
prepared under the direction of Louis Morton
The Fall of the Philippines Guadalcanal: The First Offensive Victory in Papua Cartwheel: The Reduction of Rabaul Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls Campaign in the Marianas The Approach to the Philippines Leyte: The Return to the Philippines Triumph in the Philippines Okinawa: The Last Battle Strategy, Command, and Administration
... to Those Who Served
FOREWORD
With the Leyte Campaign the War in the Pacific entered a decisive stage. The period of limited offensives, bypassing, and island hopping was virtually over. American troops in greater numbers than ever before assembled in the Pacific Theater, supported by naval and air forces of corresponding size, fought and overcame Japanese forces of greater magnitude than any previously met.
Though the spotlight is on the front-line fighting, the reader will find in this volume a faithful description of all arms and services performing their missions. The account is not exclusively an infantry story. It covers as well the support of ground fighting on Leyte by large-scale naval operations and by land-based air power under the most adverse conditions. In addition, careful attention to logistical matters, such as the movement of supplies and the evacuation of the wounded, gives the reader a picture of the less spectacular activities of an army in battle.
ORLANDO WARD Maj. Gen., U. S. A. Chief of Military History
Washington, D. C. 30 January 1953
THE AUTHOR
M. Hamlin Cannon received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History from the American University of Washington, D.C. He is already known to American historians for his writings on Mormon and Civil War history which have appeared in historical journals. During World War II he served with the Navy in Australia and New Guinea.