Battle of Leyte Gulf - WWII Documentary Restored in Color 4k

the battle of leyte gulf is considered to have been the largest naval battle of world war ii and by some criteria a contender for the title largest naval battle in history with over 200 thousand naval personnel involved it was fought in waters near the philippine islands of leyte samar and luzon from the 23rd to the 26th of october 1944 combined american and australian forces fought the imperial japanese navy as part of the invasion of leyde the battle aimed to isolate japan from the countries it had occupied in southeast asia which were a vital source of industrial and oil supplies by the time of the battle japan had fewer capital ships in other words aircraft carriers and battleships left than the allied forces had total aircraft carriers underscoring the disparity in forced strength at this point in the war regardless the ijn mobilized nearly all of its remaining major naval vessels in an attempt to defeat the allied invasion it was repulsed by the u.s navy's third and seven fleets the battle consisted of four main separate engagements the battle of the sibuyan sea the battle of surigao strait the battle of cape engineer and the battle of samar this was the first battle in which japanese aircraft carried out organized kamikaze attacks and the last naval battle between battleships in history the japanese navy suffered heavy losses and never sailed in comparable force thereafter stranded for lack of fuel in their bases for the rest of the war and were therefore unable to affect the successful allied invasion of leyte i'm hunter from upscaled studio let's dive right in the japanese had been waiting long for the allies to get out on a limb and cut off that land from the north the south and the west the imperial japanese forces converge with three powerful battle groups to perform the surgery at leyte gulf the entirely remaining naval strength of japan has mustered for one final supreme battle loss of the philippines will split the japanese empire in two cutting off the home island from the oil the resources the wealth of the indies in southeast asia fatally crippling japan's ability to wage war the leyte landings must be destroyed if japan is to survive the naval high command confesses we are about to fight a naval battle that will decide the fate of our empire [Music] the mission of our naval forces is truly great steady attrition has undermined the once superb japanese navy but now what they lack in numbers they make up in courage out of desperation the japanese train their crew to identify united states battleships such as the maryland class battleship and oklahoma class three days after the allied landings at leyte the americans discover part of the converging japanese navy a little after midnight on the 23rd of october the captain makes visual contact about 30 000 yards away the pair moved quickly in pursuit of the ships several hours passed as the subs try and gain a position on karita's formation at 5 24 am darter fires a salvo of six torpedoes at least four of them hit karida's flagship the heavy cruiser otago ten minutes later darder makes two hits on otago's sister ship the takao both ships quickly sink beneath the waves the otago sinks so quickly that karida was forced to swim for his life on october 24th the submarines continue the pursuit but the darter runs aground on the bombay shoal the crew abandoned the sup and is rescued by the days then they send the enemy's coordinates and speed to command darder is lost but the americans are alerted intelligence from the subs are analyzed above the flagship the third fleet prepare their moves in what is about to become the greatest naval battle in history halsey sends out his patrol planes to pinpoint the enemy on october 24th halsley prepared his forces to engage halcy's scouts find the japanese central force in the sibuyan sea heading east to the san bernardino strait the japanese force is planning to head through the strait and then set a southerly course to lay day this will soon become a fatal error for the japanese [Music] the flagship sends the order to all u.s carriers to strike the unsuspecting japanese force the battle group consisted of one large carrier the uss interpret in two light carriers the japanese at this time do not have any way to counter the u.s attack planes directly in air-to-air dogfights their naval air power supremacy that stroked the crippling blow to the naval base at pearl harbor has but all been destroyed in the subsequent battles the ships themselves became floating fortresses of steel in a hope that their anti-aircraft guns alone could hold off the americans the sailors prepared to put up a wall of fire on the u.s strike force planes form the interpreting cabinet of morgan's group attack scoring heads on the nada yamaga and musashi six attacks concentrate on the 64 000 ton battleship musashi 21 torpedoes find their mark the ship was struck by at least 17 bombs and 19 torpedoes the musashi is the first ship to be sunk entirely by aircraft so the japanese forces retreat wounded but not destroyed 8 16 in the meantime the japanese southern force in battle array and all boilers lighted off rips into the sea towards the surigao strait leading directly toward the leyte gulf in the south sea japanese battleships cruisers destroyers lunge through the narrow waters hoping to link up with the central force and in a twin attack destroy the american forces but the jaws of an american trap are open american sailors already alerted of the japanese presence raised to put a stop in the bottleneck of the surigao strait admiral thomas kincaid sends pt boats destroyers cruisers and battleships american and australian forces set up a dam in the strait their positions are taken along the straight pt boats are patrolling the southern end of the strait using their advantage of speed and maneuverability against heavily armored ships in the form of the battle line they are ready as first contact in the battle behind the pt patrols the destroyers are set up behind the destroyers the cruisers are ready and behind the cruisers the battleships all hands are quiet and tense before the battle waiting for the first sign of the [Music] enemy [Music] [Music] the japanese hurl themselves headlong into the dark into the american trap at midnight october 24 japanese detects the american forces searchlights then light up the dark knight the battle of surigao strait begins the pt sailors attack with torpedoes to throw the japanese forces off so the pt boats have done their job in locating the enemy and attacking them the destroyers cruisers and battleships are then read in position ready at their battle stations to continue the trap the battleships that had been damaged at pearl harbor had been repaired and were now fighting in this battle the uss tennessee uss california and uss west virginia uss maryland the old battleships take their vengeance on the japanese after the battle the debris from the battle litters surigao strait more than 5 000 japanese sailors are either missing wounded or dead the survivors who are left floating on the debris refuse to be rescued the japanese southern force is destroyed [Music] there is not time for celebrating to the north the san bernardino strait is still unguarded in an open waterway to leyte gulf the japanese central group is cruising through here at 20 knots this is the force that turned back from the submarine attack [Music] only light escort carriers and destroyers protect this approach the steaming japanese force is discovered by surprise from search planes of the escort carriers should these 22 ships break through they will jeopardize the leyde landings orders go out to the thin line of destroyers attack hit the cruisers and block the battleships [Music] [Music] so the japanese force includes the largest battleship ever built the yamato and its massive 18-inch guns the yamato opens fire on the u.s navy barrage after barrage startled the carriers protected only by the intrepid destroyers the destroyers lay a screen of smoke between them and the carriers and then move in to deploy a torpedo attack every plane that can get off the carrier joined the attack these pilots are trained for ground attacks but they hit the japanese ships with that they can and all they have the japanese keeps pounding at the escorts and destroyers but the reckless american attack continues suddenly the japanese make an incredible decision they fire a salvo and break off the fight they turn back this time for good five american ships gambier bay street lou johnston hull roberts sunk with 2 800 casualties meanwhile in the north of cape in ghana the third japanese force is located the answer to question the americans have been asking up until now where are the carriers the carriers and its escorts are the final threat to leyde golf the task of the northern force is suicidal the original mission of this force was to decoy the american ships out of leyde while the other groups drive the americans off of leyde the japanese are hopelessly outclassed [Music] the admiral admits we will be sunk that is our mission so [Music] radio silence is broken to deliver positions the dummy messages are intercepted admiral hasley is left with a decision should he stay at leyde or sink the carriers regarding his mission to be offensive rather than defensive he orders the third fleet north [Music] the first strike consists of 55 torpedo planes 60 fighters and 65 dive bombers [Music] [Music] the japanese maneuvered to receive the assault with heavy anti-aircraft fire [Music] japanese land-based bombers set course to attack admiral hasley's ships few japanese attackers get through but a single bomber with a single bomb finds its mark the light carrier princeton is hit the crew and other ships tried desperately to put out the fires and prevent an internal explosion [Music] [Music] do so the japanese decoy works but their force is futile all three of their forces were broken in four days the japanese suffered 12 500 casualties one fleet carrier three light carriers three battleships ten cruisers nine destroyers and about 300 planes are lost in an instant the japanese sea is becoming a naval power that dream is over the once magnificent imperial fleet is no more it dies in leyte gulf in total the us suffers 3000 casualties one light carrier two escort carriers two destroyers one destroyer escort sunk 200 plus planes are lost fleets are made by nations and battles are won by men when battle is done the fighting young sleep in victory if you liked what you saw smash the like button and hit subscribe with notifications this is hunter from upscaled studio signing off you

Channel: Upscaled Studio

Views: 86,432

Rating: 4.6619339 out of 5

Keywords: leyte, gulf, battle, documentary, wwii, ww2, world war ii, world war 2, combat

Id: Tb76DguyD-I

Length: 24min 20sec (1460 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 17 2020