Leyte Gulf

A New History of the World's Largest Sea Battle

By: Mark E. Stille

Narrated by: John Chancer

Bloomsbury presents Leyte Gulf by Mark Stille, read by John Chancer.

A fascinating re-examination of the battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval encounter in history and probably the most decisive naval battle of the entire Pacific War, and one that saw the Imperial Japanese Navy eliminated as an effective fighting force and forced to resort to suicide tactics.

Leyte was a huge and complex action, actually consisting of four major battles, each of which are broken down in detail in this book, using original sources. The plans of both sides, and how they dictated the events that followed, are also examined critically.

So much of the accepted wisdom of the battle has developed from the many myths that surround it, myths that have become more firmly established over time. In this new study, Pacific War expert Mark Stille examines the key aspects of this complex battle with new and insightful analysis and dismantles the myths surrounding the respective actions and overall performances of the two most important commanders in the battle, and the “lost victory” of the Japanese advance into Leyte Gulf that never happened.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Mark Stille (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Good history

A good review of the event and what lead to them. I learned something new and valuable

Excellent and precise telling of the story of the battle of Leyte Gulf

Very well written that follows a thematic line, which made it much easier to understand the different sub battles that comprise the entire battle. The author also takes time to technically and accurately refute many of the mythological statements and conclusions that arose after the battle and through the decades that followed. Special credit goes to the reader, John Chaucer, for his astute pronunciation of Japanese names and terms.

Too deep

The book was more than detailed to the point of being boring. Far too many detail specific times and casualties. Sounded more like what would expect in a doctoral dissertation. Very boring to listen to the recitation which was compounded by the constantmispronunciation of names of locales.
Research was quite in-depth and detailed but took away from hearing the book read.

Exceedingly detailed account of what happened

I have read and listen to other books about this battle, and this one gives significant more perspective in detail,

the scale of the battle

I loved the concise explanation of each encounter of this battle from both sides of the gulf

Disappointing and Disjointed

This review of the Battle of Leyte Gulf is disappointing and very hard to follow.

A great listen.

An good review of the actions and the commanders decision and choices. Also the handy PDFs.

Perhaps a little scholarly

I listened to this expecting a tale of daring do, brought to life through the dramatic actions of the participants. It didn't quite live up to this and was instead a review of the fleet sizes, high level tactics etc. Extremely interesting but certainly not a casual listen as other WW2 Pacific books are. I enjoyed it and would listen again but if you are thinking of buying this it is worth being aware of what it is.

Honest, critical review of the largest naval battle ever fought can be had here.

The author pulls no punches at assigning responsibility as well as credit for the American victory in the greatest naval battle ever fought.

Richly-Told History of the Battle of Leyte Gulf

This was an excellent, detailed, well-referenced and richly-told history of the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October, 1944. Global and local strategic factors that demanded Japan block the US invasion of Leyte were described in detail. Inadequate supplies of petroleum, inferior numbers of ships and trained pilots as well as poor intelligence and dated/inadequate technology in radar and fire control that predestined Japan to defeat were enumerated. Major leaders, orders of battle and command structures were described that helped and hindered US and Japanese forces.
Other historical and historical fiction accounts present colorful accounts of the major events of the battle. Those accounts offer repeated and simplified views about the indecisiveness and hypo-aggressiveness of Admiral Kurita and blunders made by Admiral Halsey in leaving San Bernardino Strait open to Kurita’s forces. This history presents a more nuanced view of the events, naval doctrines, standing orders and limited availability of accurate intelligence on each side that drove decisions in the moment.
Of granular and more particular interest to me were the detailed descriptions of US naval aircraft during anti-ship battles. I have read/listen to few more detailed and interesting descriptions of Helldiver (Curtiss SB2C) and TBM/TBF attacks on major Japanese ships. The description of the number of attacks on the Japanese battleship Musashi gave a view of how hard those ships were to sink with available US bombs and low-power torpedoes. The stunningly poor performance of naval dive bombers and torpedo bombers was impressive at the end of the battle against the Japenese Mobile Force of aircraft carriers. Exhaustion during sustained battles over several days took its toll upon leaders and combatants on both sides.