Books with author C. Vann Woodward

The Battle for Leyte Gulf was the greatest naval battle of the Second World War. It the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas.From Singapore, Formosa, and Japan the Imperial Japanese Navy set forth: 9 battleships, 4 carriers, 14 heavy cruisers, 6 light cruisers, 33 destroyers — all bound for victory or death in the waters of Leyte Gulf.They were met by the combined forces of the American and Australian navies with 12 battleships, 8 fleet carriers, 8 light carriers, 18 escort carriers, 24 cruisers, 166 destroyers and destroyer escorts, along with numerous other vessels.For the Japanese the battle represented the supreme naval effort of the war. At Leyte Gulf they aimed to smash the Allied navies and prevent the American attempt to recapture the Philippines.The Japanese were willing to gamble everything on this battle and one of their Admirals, Takeo Kurita, admitted after the war that they “expected that more than half our ships would be lost.”Yet, the Japanese were not able to smash the Allied navies and never again demonstrated the same strength on the highs seas that they had prior to 23rd October 1944.C. Vann Woodward, the Pulitzer-prize winning historian, provides a fascinating overview of the engagement that lasted for four days.He breaks down the conflict into four separate major battles, including the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle off Cape Engaño, and the Battle off Samar, to demonstrate to the reader the sheer scale and ferocity of the Battle for Leyte Gulf.“This is the first full account of what will undoubtedly be a considerable library on the Battle for Leyte Gulf and it is well that it is the first. The general picture is so soundly documented that it is hard to see how anyone, ever, will be able to improve on Mr. Woodward’s presentation of the facts in the case.” — The New York TimesC. Vann Woodward was Professor of History at John Hopkins University and subsequently at Yale. During the war he served as as an Intelligence Officer in the Office of Chief of Naval Operations. He wrote numerous books on the American south and race relations. His book The Battle for Leyte Gulf was first published in 1947 and he passed away in 1999.

Includes 6 charts and 20 photosPulitzer prize winning author C. Vann Woodward recounts the story of the largest naval battle of all time.“The Battle for Leyte Gulf was the greatest naval battle of the Second World War and the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas. It was composed of four separate yet closely interrelated actions, each of which involved forces comparable in size with those engaged in any previous battle of the Pacific War. The four battles, two of them fought simultaneously, were joined in three different bodies of water separated by as much as 500 miles. Yet all four were fought between dawn of one day and dusk of the next, and all were waged in the repulse of a single, huge Japanese operation.“They were guided by a master plan drawn up in Tokyo two months before our landing and known by the code name Sho Plan. It was a bold and complicated plan calling for reckless sacrifice and the use of cleverly conceived diversion. As an afterthought the suicidal Kamikaze campaign was inaugurated in connection with the plan. Altogether the operation was the most desperate attempted by any naval power during the war-and there were moments, several of them in fact, when it seemed to be approaching dangerously near to success.“Unlike the majority of Pacific naval battles that preceded it, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was not limited to an exchange of air strikes between widely separated carrier forces, although it involved action of that kind. It also included surface and subsurface action between virtually all types of fighting craft from motor torpedo boats to battleships, at ranges varying from point-blank to fifteen miles, with weapons ranging from machine guns to great rifles of 18-inch bore, fired “in anger” by the Japanese for the first time in this battle.”

The Battle for Leyte Gulf was the greatest naval battle of the Second World War. It the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas.From Singapore, Formosa, and Japan the Imperial Japanese Navy set forth: 9 battleships, 4 carriers, 14 heavy cruisers, 6 light cruisers, 33 destroyers — all bound for victory or death in the waters of Leyte Gulf.They were met by the combined forces of the American and Australian navies with 12 battleships, 8 fleet carriers, 8 light carriers, 18 escort carriers, 24 cruisers, 166 destroyers and destroyer escorts, along with numerous other vessels.For the Japanese the battle represented the supreme naval effort of the war. At Leyte Gulf they aimed to smash the Allied navies and prevent the American attempt to recapture the Philippines.The Japanese were willing to gamble everything on this battle and one of their Admirals, Takeo Kurita, admitted after the war that they “expected that more than half our ships would be lost.”Yet, the Japanese were not able to smash the Allied navies and never again demonstrated the same strength on the highs seas that they had prior to 23rd October 1944.C. Vann Woodward, the Pulitzer-prize winning historian, provides a fascinating overview of the engagement that lasted for four days.He breaks down the conflict into four separate major battles, including the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle off Cape Engaño, and the Battle off Samar, to demonstrate to the reader the sheer scale and ferocity of the Battle for Leyte Gulf.“This is the first full account of what will undoubtedly be a considerable library on the Battle for Leyte Gulf and it is well that it is the first. The general picture is so soundly documented that it is hard to see how anyone, ever, will be able to improve on Mr. Woodward’s presentation of the facts in the case.” — The New York TimesC. Vann Woodward was Professor of History at John Hopkins University and subsequently at Yale. During the war he served as as an Intelligence Officer in the Office of Chief of Naval Operations. He wrote numerous books on the American south and race relations. His book The Battle for Leyte Gulf was first published in 1947 and he passed away in 1999.

Pulitzer-Prize-winner and bestselling author C. Vann Woodward recreates the gripping account of the battle for Leyte Gulf—the greatest naval battle of World War II and the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas. For the Japanese, it represented their supreme effort; they committed to action virtually every operational fighting ship on the lists of the Imperial Navy, including two powerful new battleships of the Yamato class. It also ended in their greatest defeat—and a tremendous victory for the United States Navy. Features a new introduction by Evan Thomas, author of Sea of Thunder.