In the sprawling canvas of naval warfare with massive fleets, daring strategies, and the echo of cannons, a pivotal moment emerges: The Battle of Leyte Gulf.
I loved the video! But quick question: At 17:00, did the Soviets reach the Finnish-Norwegian border on October 27th, AFTER clearing Petsamo on the 23rd?
RUclips's stupid notification system not telling me about this video existing... I wanted so badly to tell you about this in the livestream. I got a book from a local bookstore that is basically the instruction manual for British soldiers who were about to enter Germany about how to behave and the local language. I wanted to know if you guys wanted some scans and if so to what email address.
@@Ronald98 Not really any sections, but it does have a few instances of being typically British, like dissing on German tea, admiring their coffee skills, and praising German beer and sausage.
Boy time really flies.I remember when the Germans were in control of most of mainland Euope and America was not in the war. Now, France had been liberated and Aachen has been taken by the Americans. The Germans in complete retreat in the east nd the Japanese imperial Navy has been crippled. Its been a fast five years. Thank you Timeghost for taking us on this journey.
@WorldWarTwo My grandfather, who served in the US Navy during the war, used to say, "Time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like a banana." He had some great dad jokes.
14:20 The reason Halsey was so angry was because the message he recevied from Nimitz was :"Where is, repeat, where is Task Force Thirty Four? The world wonders.". The last 3 words are part of the Encryption padding and should have been removed by the communication officer, but because it was still there Halsey interpreted the phrase as a harsh and sarcastic rebuke. Also I can highly recomend the book: Last stand of the tin can sailors, if you want to learn more about the battle of Samar.
In addition to the radio officer's screw up, the real confusion came from an overly obtuse communications plan in the Pacific Theater. As overall theater commander, General MacArthur forbade Kincaid (or any of the Task Group commanders) from communicating with Halsey/3rd Fleet directly. Messages were required to be encoded, sent to Manus in the Admiralties, and then retransmitted on the fleet radiobroadcast schedule. And due to issues with prioritization, urgent messages were often sent out of sequence. This was partially the source of confusion surrounding Halsey’s orders regarding Task Force 34. Due to this, both Kincaid and Nimitz assumed Halsey had left his battleships to protect the San Bernardino Strait prior to heading north to engage Ozawa’s force on the 25th. But when Nimitz started seeing fragmented reports that might not be the case, he shot out the interrogative for clarification. Halsey's reaction to the message was legendary, though. :V
My favorite quote about Leyte Gulf comes from the docuseries Victory at Sea: "The Japanese decoy has worked, but it avails them nothing. All three of their forces are butchered, beaten, broken. In 4 days of far flung fighting, the Japanese lose...26 of their finest ships. Japan ceases to be a naval power. That dream is over. The once magnificent Imperial Fleet is no more. It dies in the Battle for Leyte Gulf, and it dies in vain. Fleets are made by nations. Battles are won by men. But when battle is done, the young and the brave sleep. Heedless of their greatest victory at sea."
Admiral Chester Nimitz at Pearl Harbor to the flagship of Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., Commander Third Fleet. As delivered to Admiral Halsey on the bridge of USS New Jersey, a part of Task Force 34, it was a gem of sarcasm: “WHERE IS TASK FORCE THIRTY-FOUR THE WORLD WONDERS?”
@@finscreennameHalsey flipped out about that message. He supposedly threw his hat on the ground, stomped on it and shouted curses at Nimitz, before sinking to his knees and letting out an anguished sob. Robert Carney grabbed Halsey by the shoulders and shook him out of it, yelling “What the hell’s the matter with you?! Pull yourself together!”
@@finscreenname "THE WORLD WONDERS" was padding at the end of the message (it was the anniversary of the Charge of the Light Brigade). Fun fact, the padding at the front of the message was "TURKEY TROTS TO WATER."
Overdramatic blather to try and sell books. '26 of their finest ships'. They lost 28 ships. 11 of which were destroyers. This guy is calling their destroyers 'their finest'? Here is a more accurate and far less dramatic/'entertaining' version: 'Japan tried to decoy the US Navy (under Admiral Halsey) to free up the Japanese Navy to attack the American landing beaches at Leyte Gulf. And even though Halsey took the bait, the overall plan failed. The result was the Imperial Japanese Navy lost 17 capital ships. And with them? Their ability to challenge the US Navy in any meaningful capacity, ever again.' ☮
Halsey got played and would have gone down as the admiral that lost the largest naval battle in history. He was lucky that the Japanese got cold feet and allowed themselves to be driven off by the escort carriers and bombardment battleships. If they had stayed the course Halsey would have been a disgrace, instead of becoming a 5 star after the war. Which goes to show that luck can matter as much as good insight and preparation.
The battle of the Surigao Strait is historically important because it was the last battleship against battleship gunnery duel, and also the last of the classic "crossing the T" manuever
@seneca983 technically. One was already sunk by the time of the exchange. It was 6 vs 1 at long range and a night ambush. US ships tracked Yamashiro via radar and her return fire was ineffective to say the least
Something important to keep in mind regarding Kurita's decision to retire: He & his crew had been at general quarters for *72 hours* straight by the time the Battle off Samar took place. There was no coffee or other luxuries for these men, they were awake and alert purely on superhuman willpower. Combine that with the horrific losses, uncontested enemy air power, and overall state of the war, Kurita, according to his own testimony, elected to save the lives of his men instead of committing them to almost certain destruction, and wasting thousands more lives in what he saw as an unwinnable war.
I've heard they didn't even have the CVEs in their recognition books to explain even more why they were sure they were facing fleet carriers (on top of the sheer gutsiness of the defense convincing him the whole Third Fleet was about to fall on him)
You would need to cite a source that Center Force was at general quarters for 72 hours. Was the fleet under alert and watching for attacks -- almost certainly. But that is very different from all the fleet's crews being at their battlestations since the torpedo attack by US submarines. One of the primary responsibilities of fleet and ship commanders is to ensure their crews are at their best condition when battle is expected. If his crews had been awake and at battle stations for 72 hours like you suggest, then it was still a failure on Kurita's part.
@@deidryt9944 My source is John Toland's The Rising Sun. Kurita's Center force had been under constant air attack and harassment by submarines since its close approach to the Philippines. You cannot simply relax and have crews take naps while your ships are being bombed and torpedoed frequently by some ~300 carrier planes at sporadic intervals. Kurita had no crystal ball which told him where the enemy was, so men had to remain at stations in case they were encountered, which could be any moment. By the time Kurita had to decide whether to pursue the American carriers and push into Leyte, they had been awake nonstop for 72 hours and in near continuous action or damage control.
@@_ArsNova What you're describing is very different from being at general quarters for the full period. And there is a huge difference from ships being on alert and looking for threats, vs. being at battlestations, vs. being "relaxed". Also, I find it difficult to believe that much of the crew was working on damage control. IJN doctrine was very specific on who does what, especially in the case of anything technical. In summary, was the fleet on alert for days? Yes, but this isn't anything special. Were repairs being made and a watch being kept? Yes, but again, this isn't anything special. Were they at battlestations for days on end? Unless there is a direct source, almost certainly not.
Some of my favorite quotes from the Battle of Leyte Gulf: Heard from the escort carriers, "Just wait a little longer, boys, we're suckering them into 40-mm range." and "Dammit boys, they're getting away" What one admiral said to "Ziggy" Sprague upon hearing the Japanese thought the escort carriers were making 30 knots, "I knew you were scared, Ziggy, but I didn't know you were that scared!" (escort carriers could make 18 knots at most). Source: Samuel Eliot Morisson, 1958, U.S. Naval Operations of World War 2 Volume 12: Leyte, June 1944 to January 1945. p. 298.
@cp1cupcake When Drachinifel was researching the Battle of(f) Samar for his video, he wasn't laughing so much whilst he was reading and distilling the official reports. But, like Indy and Fred (from Super Chicken), Drach knew the job was dangerous when he took it!
The actions by Taffy 3 in this battle is some of the most heroic and courageous in US Naval history. Hell there could've/should've been movies made about the actions of LCDR Evans and the USS Johnston alone. It's a shame most Americans today will never know what they did here. 22 Navy Crosses were earned from this one Task Force! Wow
There is enough material for 3 movies; the last battle between battleships, Taffy 2 and 3 against Kurita, and the destruction of the remains of the Japanese carrier fleet. Unfortunately, movie 3 is a bit anti-climatic.
It was exactly the culminating battle expected by both sides, where both sides thought it would be. A grand ship on ship duel to the death. And, it was still a footnote in the overall war.
@@WorldWarTwo It may have been the biggest naval battle, but it was far from the most important, there were many more important battles in history like Battle of Actium or The Battle of Trafalgar.
My great-grandfather was an aircraft machinist 3rd rate on USS Kalinin Bay CVE-68, one of the 6 escort carriers in Taffy 3. The ship took 15 direct hits, most of them armor-piercing rounds going straight through the ship instead of exploding on impact (the enemy ships thought she was a heavy cruiser) which actually saved the ship. One of these shells punched through 20 feet in front of him. They also got hit with 2 kamikaze attacks. Amazingly, he got through Leyte unscathed and his ship only lost 5 sailors. The ship was awarded a presidential unit citation. He joined up even though he was over the draft age with a family because he thought he was going to miss out -- and ended up in the largest-scale naval battle ever!
It’s amazing to see the three contrasts in the battle. Up north, a toothless Japanese force lured away most American striking power to get slaughtered, down with Kincaid it was the literal battle of David and Goliath, and at the Surigao strait it was a seal clubbing in the last ever battleship-on-battleship engagement. What a day in naval history
@@EscapeTheCloudsOfficial It is also quite inaccurate about a lot of what happened in that battle and gives too much credit to surface ships and not enough to American pilots.
I once met an elderly former gunner's mate who had served on the USS Roberts during that battle. A very interesting discussion ensued. A salute to those heroic men.
I was disappointed that this episode blows past the destroyer and destroyer escorts' magnificent achievements at the Battle Off Samar. The Johnson was bad-ass; its skipper won the Medal of Honor (posthumous).
My father was a machinist's mate (and Avenger turret gunner) aboard USS Santee (CVE-29) in Taffy 1. They took a Japanese torpedo and a kamikaze within fifteen minutes of each other.
As I mentioned on the community post, both Darter and Dace were submarines built in my own hometown of Groton, Connecticut. Groton is home to the Electric Boat Company, which made dozens of American submarines for the war effort. It remains one of only 2 shipyards in America capable of constructing nuclear powered submarines.
That's interesting! Groton's contribution with the Electric Boat Company is significant in naval history. It also produced the USS Nautilus which was the first nuclear submarine. Thank you very much for sharing your connection to history and thanks for watching.
The USS Johnston was a destroyer who charged the entire Japanese fleet and forced the Yamato into evasive actions to dodge its torpedos. It was like a chihuahua chasing off a grizzly bear.
@@Dem0nActual Her captain Earnest Evans, could be charitably described as a complete lunatic for engaging not just the Yamato but multiple other capital ships at once, falling back and then chasing off more than a half dozen destroyers in formation that were aiming to fire torpedos at the CVEs. The Johnston wouldn't survive the battle and neither would Evans, but both are remembered as the tin can who took on a battleship and the captain whos ship displaced a mass equal to one of the yamato's guns, but whos balls displaced more than the entire Japanese fleet.
can confirm. They are a lot longer than these episodes, but go into a lot more detail that really brings home some of the amazing stuff that happened this day. If you got a bit of time, and like naval history, watch/listen to that
I've been long awaiting this one... my grandfather and reason why I did a career in the US Navy was on the Princeton when she was sunk. He was the sole survivor in the Machine Shop that was just aft of the forward hanger when the bomb went through the flightdeck and exploded in the hanger. He survived only because whatever he was working on dropped and fell behind a giant lathe and he was trying to retrieve it. The blast killed all 8 others there but he was banged-up badly- but alive. The secondary explosion threw him off the ship and he was later fished-out by the USS North Hampton with a broken arm, broken nose, and shrapnel wounds. He was amazed a shark didn't finish him off!
Small world … My father was a 17-year old radarman on the Princeton when she went down. He was in the CIC and my understanding is that many of the men in his area were killed. He couldn’t swim, believe it or not, but somehow floundered in the water long enough to be picked up by one of the escorting destroyers. We never knew this story until not long before he died. Like so many veterans, he never spoke of his combat experiences
Nimitz message to Halsey was actually: "Where is. Repeat. Where is TF 34. The world wonders." The last bit added on by the radio man to throw off Japanese radio intercepts. This last line really pisses off Halsey. Also kind of sad that the heroics of the of the destroyers in the battle off Samar got glossed over...
@@cp1cupcake "Last Of The Tin Can Sailors", and Drachinifel's Samar video (with many pithy comments) more than makes up for Time Ghost's (somewhat more than necessary) editing to keep this episode under 30 minutes.
I think there's something much sadder than how Indie didn't spend much time on the DDs and DDEs. After all, he's only going to give a summary of a week's worth of combat covering up to five theaters. Hey, Indie! Maybe do a special on the Battle of Samar? The much sadder thing is that for all the courage of the little guys, only one Medal of Honor was given, to Cmdr Ernest Evans of the Johnston.
They are a bit error ridden. Last one has battleships leading the destroyers in Force C in their diagram for Surigao Strait when it's the other way around for example. 1st one too left 2nd Diversionary Attack Force altogether and had the carriers leave Japan on 24th! Indy was a bit the same here , he got a few events mixed up and ship names wrong BUT we knew what they meant even if we are naval historians. It's good enough for land warfare buffs. They won't care that much. It is a valiant attempt at a big and complex battle by both teams, but its best to read a book or 3 on the battle of Leyte Gulf
I'm convinced most historians writing about the Battle off Samar have not paid nearly enough attention to the effects of fatigue. Kurita's forces had suffered repeated air and submarine attacks for three days straight by the time they spotted Taffy 3. They must have been exhausted and that had to have affected their performance and decision making. Spragues' forces were relatively fresh by comparison, and Sprague clearly had a better grasp of the situation. Kurita said contradictory things about fatigue at various points in his later life, both admitting and denying it had been a problem, but it's amazing he was even upright and conscious by the time he chose to turn away. Fatigue probably had a hand in Halsey's poor decisions as well. And if anyone was using drugs to ward off sleep that would have affected their performance as well, though all of the histories I've read have been silent about that.
I'm not going to lie had I recently had to take a swim, recover from dengue fever, and then lose 2/3 of my forces only to then be charged by a bunch of destroyers and destoyer escorts that I have misidentified as cruisers and dealing with aircraft I probably would have retreated as well.
My great uncle Lawrence Gourley was a 19 year old seaman second class on the St Lo. He died in the sinking and family lore states that his mother ,my great grandmother never recovered from the loss and died a few years later. I know my grandfather never really got over the loss of his brother.
This week may be a good week to watch the second half of Episode 5 *Crossroads* of the 2001 television miniseries *Band of Brothers* , with the portrayal of Operation Pegasus, the evacuation of men from the British 1st Airborne Division near Arnhem after the failure to capture and hold the Arnhem bridge during Operation Market Garden, with help from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division.
It’s also very, VERY badly out of date and gives a very misleading picture of the battle, failing to give proper credit to American pilots (that were the biggest factor in the victory) and getting major details wrong.
@@bkjeong4302 I felt it gave a lot of credit to the pilots. It is one of the big takes aways I got from the book as well as the bravery of the destroyer crews. He mentions them going to Army fields to get actual bombs and their constant harrasement of the Japanese ships. I am pretty certain had the battle continued they would have done much more damage as I believe there were a few other Taffy fleets nearby and the picture of the battle became clearer. Certainly willing to hear where he had inaccuracies, but I definitely felt he gave credit to the air crews.
@@williamwade8119 While the actions of the air crews are covered in the book, most people’s takeaway after reading was that the destroyers ended up winning the battle through sheer courage (which is why 99% of the discussions on Samar are about them and not the pilots), and the title doesn’t help. As for errors; - the whole idea that the Japanese could have destroyed the American landing forces if they hadn’t been cowards; this comes straight from Morrison’s work on the Pacific War, which for some reason ignores that the American landings had already long since commenced by then, or that the Taffy groups were not actually the only ships that hadn’t been lured away (keep in mind that the job of supporting the landings was the responsibility of SEVENTH fleet, which Taffy 3 was a part of, and not the Third Fleet under Halsey which was the fleet that had been drawn away). - there’s are multiple major case of the wrong ship being credited on both the Japanese and American sides. On the Japanese side, Hornsfischer follows the traditional narrative that of the Japanese capital ships, only Kongo didn’t freak out and flee at the first sign of battle and that she scored all the major the hits on Taffy 3. It later turned out, however, that Kongo actually did pretty much nothing during this entire battle based on her own logs (in fact, she wasn’t even shooting at any ships when most of the hits credited to her took place, due to being badly out of position). Ironically it was Yamato that actually proved to be the biggest threat to Taffy 3, being responsible for nearly all the near misses on the CVEs at the start of the battle, the hits on Johnston, and possibly the fatal hit on Hoel (still not nearly enough to justify her existence, but that’s a WWII-era battleship issue in general); meanwhile Gambier Bay was likely sunk by Japanese cruisers (with Yamato possibly landing a hit or two, but there’s not much to support that). - on the American side there are also a few cases of miscrediting. The big one is the idea White Plains sank Chokai with gunfire due to the latter’s torpedoes exploding on deck due to a 5” hit from said CVE. This story has become a big part of Taffy 3’s legend, in large part because Hornsfischer popularized it. However, this narrative only came about because of a failure to look through all available American primary records, as the logs of other CVEs indicated Chokai was sunk by air attack, something also corroborated by Japanese sources. White Plains’s legend was finally completely shown to be false when Chokai’s wreck was found, showing that no, her torpedoes never cooked off let alone do so due to a 5” hit (Chokai did receive 5” hits from White Plains, but said hits weren’t why she sank). Some Japanese sources also suggest Kongo contributed to Chokai’s loss by mistakenly firing on her (which, if true, would further expose Kongo’s own reputation as being overblown as well).
For those who want the full story of Taffy 3’s insane bravery. Dracinifel did an excellent video on the whole battle, including the stories of the amazing bravery of ships like the USS Johnson, Samual B Roberts and others.
Shortly after the skirmish, the USS Darter ran aground and had to be scuttled. One Gato Class submarine (a couple thousands tons of displacement while submerged) in exchange for two cruisers sunk and a third neutralized, that's a pretty good deal as far as this war goes. Also, this whole battle hit home the importance of being careful for what you wish. The Japanese wanted a single decisive battle for the entire war and now they have it-- where they are the ones who are decisively defeated.
“This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can.” These were the words of Lt. Commander Robert W. Copeland of the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts to his crew on the morning of October 25, 1944.
To piggyback of your post, the Samuel B. Roberts managed a torpedo hit and multiple hits from its guns on its much larger and formidable opponents, before she eventually went down after hits from the battleship Kongo. 90 of it's crew went down with her. Due to the ship's heroic but suicidal last stand during the battle, it is sometimes referred to as "the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship."
Regarding Kurita, there was another thing about him discussed in the book, "Japanese Destroyer Captain." By that period in 1944, he had become very pessimistic about the war and viewed the mission as needlessly throwing away his men. Add that fact with losing his flagship Atago, swimming in the dark waters, losing scores of ships to include Musashi, many waves of air attacks, fanatic defense by the American Destroyers at Samar, his new flagship Yamato having to dodge scores of torpedoes, losing even more ships at Samar... Yeah, it stops being surprising to see why he turned Center Force around. You have to think of what the commander of a battle is experiencing at that moment. Not from the POV of a guy watching a youtube video 70+ years later with the luxury of hindsight. Kurita made this decision as smoke filled the area, torpedoes were going by, and Amerian aircraft attacking his fleet, and he was losing ships left and right.
Can't believe you didn't mention Commander Evans or his ship, the USS Johnston. Their actions as part of Taffy 3 has to have been the single most gallant and effective naval action of WW2.
Evans was a madman to have taken his ship on multiple runs not only against the largest battleship on the planet but he also chased off an entire destroyer squadron that was aiming to make a flanking attack on the escort carriers. You know why Evans was in command of a destroyer? Because it wouldn't be a fair fight if they gave him a full capitol ship.
Most gallant? Maybe, but my money’s on whoever was in command of USS Edsall (whose last stand was against FAR worse odds than what Taffy 3 faced off Samar). Most effective? Not even close.
Thank you for the lengthy coverage of Leyte Gulf! It truly is the death knell of the IJN, since they'll never sortie en mass again (unless you count the scratch force that was Ten-Go). There will be some sporadic fighting like in the Battle of Ormoc Bay, the IJN's and IJA's efforts to resupply Leyte, and of course the continuous raids by air and sea of Japanese convoys (particularly convoys HI-81 and MI-27 in mid November 1944), with the last surface engagement between IJN and USN warships being the Last Stand of the Hinoki in early January of 1945.
Glad you enjoyed, indeed Leyte Gulf was indeed a pivotal moment for the IJN wiping out a large part of their naval force. Thank you for watching and thanks for sharing.
The plus of the presentation is the maps. Finally, the battle of Leyte Gulf makes sense. Before, I had only partial presentation. You simply cannot do that with text.
I have been religiously watching every Week by Week since you first started covering the Great War back in 2014. I rarely comment, but I'd like to say thank you for keeping up such magnanimous works, some of which have brought me to tears, so none of us may ever forget horrors we are today spared from, and that so many died for. Least we repeat the rhyme of unlearnt past that leads into unfathomable death and destruction once more. "If this uncertain living, these days that mount directionless as terror, haunt us too deeply, help us find solution, to count deeds well-done which otherwise might fall behind anonymous as steel tracks speeding in sunlight, unchangingly away in train-momentum's vision." - Edwin Rolfe, April 1945.
Guess for the sake of time, Indy left out the full Nimitz telegram that infuriated Halsey, the message actually read " where is task force 34 the world wonders". Turns out "the world wonders" was added by a coding officer. I read that Halsey dashed his cap to the floor when he read the message.😂😂
Nonsensical stuff is frequently included in messages to throw off decryption. Users of Enigma, mostly German, though Axis partners also used versions of the machines, would often throw in stray letters and numbers, but rarely full phrases.
Yeah. That was the junk phrase of the day for encrypted messaging, but because the phrase just happened to make sense in the context of the actual message, the radio officer became confused and decided to include it in the read out to Halsey's staff. The reality was there were unnecessarily obtuse communications requirements in place between the major players in the Pacific theater. As overall theater commander, General MacArthur forbade Kincaid from communicating with Halsey directly. Messages were required to be encoded, sent to Manus in the Admiralties, and then retransmitted on the fleet radiobroadcast schedule. And due to issues with prioritization, urgent messages were often sent out of sequence. This was partially the source of confusion surrounding Halsey’s orders regarding Task Force 34 and why Nimitz shot out the interrogative of where they were. Due to this, both Kincaid and Nimitz assumed Halsey had left his battleships to protect the San Bernardino Strait prior to heading north to engage Ozawa’s force on the 25th.
The liberation of Tilburg on the 28th is important for my family, my mother, her older brother and their parents (my grand parents) came from Oosterhout (north of Nijmegen) and are evacuated from the Betuwe behind the allied lines, they will spend the rest of the war in Tilburg where my mothers younger sister (my aunt) is born.
Thanks for sharing your family's connection to this moment in time. It's a powerful reminder that behind every historical date and event, there are individual stories and experiences.
My mother, at the age of 12, plus her siblings and parents were liberated that day, since they all lived in Tilburg at the time. Not long after the liberation a V1 missile bound for Antwerp fell on Tilburg and hit the kindergarten which was attended by my uncle who was 5 years of age. Fortunately this happened late in the afternoon when all the kids were at home.
@@MrFzondervan I think I heard this story as well. I AM from EIndhoven. Also Phlips had a secret Tilburg Eindhoven telephone line which the resistan ce used
WHAT A BATTLE! I have a massive fascination with the Battle of Leyte Gulf and I've been looking forward to this episode for over a year, and you did not disappoint.
I'm just here to appreciate the fact that I didn't see Indy's eyes shift left-to-right-right-to-left while delivering that epic quote, meaning he almost certainly did it all from memory.
Ernest E. Evans, upon taking command of the USS Johnston: "This is going to be a fighting ship. I intend to go in harm's way, and anyone who doesn't want to go along had better get off right now." He was true to his word.
My late father landed at Leyte Gulf with MacArthurs forces as an Arny Air Corps Engineer. He operatied a bulldozer working on airfields. He told me he spotted MacArthur riding in a jeep.
An additional interesting note about the destroyers USS Johnston and USS Samuel B. Roberts, sunk during the Battle of Samar: Their wrecks were only recently discovered- Johnston in March 2021, and Samuel B. Roberts in June 2022. Sitting at depths of 6,469 m and 6,895 m respectively, they are the deepest known shipwrecks in the world.
My grandfather was in the 104th. During this attack at one point when he set up his anti-tank gun, the muzzle was in the Netherlands and the breech was in Belgium.
The narrator of the William Wharton novel "A Midnight Clear" isn't entirely sure what country his squad is in - it could be Belgium, France, Luxembourg or even Germany. They are in a place where these countries more or less come together. William Wharton, real name Albert Du Aime, was in the US 87th Division during the Battle of the Bulge.
Fun fact: the battleships of the Northern Force were actually battle-carriers. Ise and Hyuga had their rearmost turrets replaced with a hangar and catapult (and a crane to recover planes from the sea), though thanks to the lack of pilots they never launched any aircraft.
I have to commend you for acknowledging Taffy 2’s role at Samar and the decisive role of airpower during the battle, as most narratives of Samar focus on Taffy 3’s tin cans at the expense of the big picture
@@bkjeong4302Everyone played their part. The destroyers played a huge role in making a mess of the Japanese formations while the planes were still in their hangars and flight decks.
The series cover the big picture of the war which is great, since this means that the episodes won't reach 2 hours long. But some things would have to be left behind, which is unfortunate.
For an excellent in depth account of the Battle Off Samar - Taffy 3 vs Yamato and her strike force - check out Drachinifel's video "The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?" It's a truly astonishing battle, and some of the key problems that result from the misidentification of escort carriers and destroyers as fleet carriers and heavy cruisers are covered in suitable depth.
@worldwartwo literal chills during that final quote. Absolutely amazing work! Been with you all since 2016 (1916) on the the Great War channel, love you Indy
Fantastic episode, as always. My hat's off to the visual/map team for helping the Battle of Leyte make more sense in space and time. I can't wait for next week as Hurtgen Forest jumps into it's next phase.
The Battle of Leyte was the final nail in the coffin of the Japanese Imperial Navy as a global power. No longer could they go mano-y-mano with the US Fleet on anything approaching equal terms; from here on in the Pacific was essentially a US lake in which a few sharks still patrolled in the form of deadly Japanese subs and much reduced carrier groups manned by a spent force of young and untrained pilots whose sole mission now was to die an honorable death by taking out a ship or two. But with the US now producing ships faster than the Japanese could sink them, this tactic spoke only to the growing desperation of Tokyo to halt or at least slow the Allied advance toward the home islands.
I’ve never left a comment on one of these videos before, but here I am on this one because I was left literally applauding out loud at Indy’s concluding Shakespearean-level recitation of a history book text, which was simply awesome in so many ways. It’s so inspirational to see him be able to bring these different loves and interests in his life, such as theater and acting together here with his love of history, into one presentable and educational moment like this. I don’t know Indy, but I can only imagine how much inner satisfaction and happiness was involved in being able to pull this off like that, and to have helped create such an original and groundbreaking forum for bringing two seemingly disparate loves together into one creation so expressively. Big salute to you, Indy.
Updates for Brazil this week: On the 22nd elements of the Task Force 45 substitute the II Batallion of the FEB's 4th Company in the western flank of their action zone. and the american IV Corps removed the brazilian troops from their direct command (the I Batallion of the 6th Infantry Regiment, and a rifleman corps of the II Batallion also from the 6th IR); The same day the shock between a 6th IR patrol with the enemy ends in casualties on the brazilian side, but also the capture of 80 POWs by the FEB. On the 24th Sommocolonia is occupied by the FEB, with the local italian guarisson guarding it surrendering to the brazilian troops without battle, and the FEB waiting for reinforcements to maintain the position, while the attempts to take over Mount San Quirico and Castelvecchio are frustated; The same day the First Fighter Group of the FAB (the brazilian air force) will start their activities in Tuscany under the USAF's 350th Fighter Group. On the 25th some changes are made: Gen. Zenóbio is returned to the command of the Divisionary Infantry while Cordeiro de Farias have the Artillery returned entirely under his command, and the Transport division goes under Gen. Mascarenhas; After the decision to hold their positions on the 26th by the command of 2nd Army Corps, and a fire barrage in the 27th by the FEB's Transport division, the week ends in the 28th with the consolidation of their position on Mount Faeto, the reveal of the italian Monterosa division on the FEB's transport division OZ, and Gen. Zenóbio expeding his General Operations Order nº 15, planning for the advance and takeover of the objectives in his own OZ later in the 30th.
John Erickson's way with words was beautifully complimented with Indy's excellent delivery. Bravo. Efforts like this make the TimeGhost team like the SAS of RUclips. (Stunningly effective in punching above their weight class.) Keep up the good work.
John Erickson would have loved Indy's recitation!!! I know I did. But while we're on the subject: Mr. Erickson once stole the show in a video trilogy detailing the role of each of the three great German army groups in Barbarossa...but I can't recall the name of that trilogy, nor have I been able to stumble on it again. Anyone? It was very cool.
Something else Kurita must have been aware of: that the whole area would have been crawling with Americans within 24 hours. There were probably already submarines en route.
It was actually much less than 24 hours. The main body of Seventh Fleet (not Third Fleet) was already moving back north from Surigao during the battle itself and would have intercepted Kurita had he continued.
After that end quote, I think we can safely say that John Erickson was the writer from the British ministry of information who wrote that quote about the nigerians. If you know, you know.
The allies have been like a large pot of water on a stove. Slowly heating up until it finally comes to a boil. Now that the allies are rolling it will be hard to stop.
My grandfather was in the invasion fleet Taffy 3 protected. His landing deception unit was on a transport that took a kamikaze to the deck this week, killing a large number. But I wouldn't be here at all if Taffy 3 hadn't kept Kurita busy until his nerve failed.
10:30 It's worth mentioning in Kurita's defense that judging the difference between a destroyer that's nearby and a heavy cruiser that's further away is incredibly challenging at the distances where naval battles happen in this war. He assumed he was facing heavy cruisers because heavy cruisers, though smaller than battleships, would still be expected to take them in a fight. Destroyers, to put it simply, would not be. For reference, Yamato alone outweighed the entirety of Taffy 3 and her largest gun outweighed any given destroyer she was up against. The mistaken identification allowed for the destroyers to survive much longer than anyone would have predicted though. The larger ships carried both armor piercing and high explosive shells, which they would switch out depending on what they were up against. Thinking they were facing heavy cruisers, they used armor piercing shells. The destroyers were too small to be worth heavily armoring, so those armor piercing shells went in one end of the ship, out the other, and detonated in the water. An eighteen inch hole in a ship is by no means a good thing, but it's better than an explosion in the hull. Once the Japanese ships realized their mistake and switched to high explosive shells, it was over for the destroyers.
I knew I recognized the 104th. The Timberwolves! I learned about them from a gift shop pin I picked up (which I have sadly since lost), solely because, well, wolves are cool, and as such I liked the division's insignia (a gray wolf howling with a dark green background). Nice to hear their division mentioned. "Nothing in Hell can stop the Timberwolves!" The American 104th, based in Fort Lewis, Washington, was formed in 1921 and, as the video showed, saw action in WWII, being active in Western Europe for the better part of a year (about 200 days). It would serve all the way until VE Day, May 7, 1945. After the war, it would be reorganized as a training unit for the United States Army Reserve. The 104th Training Division is still in operation to this day.
I've studied and read a lot on this battle, Halsey AND his staff got suckered big time, chasing after the carriers with his and Mitscher's tongues hanging out; and not detaching Willis Ching Lee's battleships or sending 7th fleet north to cover the landing forces. Admiral Lee saw the threat and sent multiple messages vainly pleading for Halsey's staff to "wake him" to send his BBs to cover the landing force also. Only the unbelievable bravery of the Taffy escorts saved that group. Read Battleship Commander for this.
Excellent summary, as always :) The Royal Hungarian Army did not switch sides (this was unacceptable for general staff and many officers), but instead, it started to slowly melt away, with more and more soldiers (and officers) deserting. Thus, the remaining formations were in a very bad shape already, and the process would continue in the coming months. Hungary was already capitulating, but it would take 6 more months (and a lot of lives) to remove the remaining German and Hungarian units from the country's territory. The Royal Hungarian Air Force would continue to fight the losing battle, up until the last days, along with a few regular and Waffen SS divisions. The Soviet "liberators" would rape and pillage in most places, establishing a reputation that would later lead to more violence.
21:20 the US 104th ID (Timberwolves) would be led by Terry Allen, who was returning to field command after being relieved of the 1st ID in Sicily by Bradley. The 104th remain the only US unit to led by Canadians in the war.
I did not come upon this series until well into it and will endeavor to go back later and start from the beginning ... Although it might leave out some details that is to be expected... It is however a great overall view of the war in a week-by-week fashion I appreciate...
I just have to say, thank you very much in detailing what the Canadian Army was doing in Europe. Canada's contributions are almost always overlooked or just lumped in with the British, even in our own history books.
God this shit is such a highlight of every week for me. I'm a tour guide in Charleston, SC and it's wild how much my delivery, tempo, and general tenor have been shaped by this and the Great War week-by-week over time. It's effective!
Also on the 28th, after the official end of organised resistance in Slovakia, Ivan Konev calls off the Dukla-Carpathian offensive. However, this week sees the heaviest fighting of the operstion so far, with the Soviet and Czechoslovak forces fighting well-preparred German defenses in a valley north of the town of Svidník. The fighting is brutal as its fought in terrible autumn weather, and the Soviets do lose a lot of armor in the valley, with a tank battle sometimes called "a miniature version of Prokhorovka" culminating at the end of the fighting.
This week's video reminds me of the words that Tom Clancy put into his submarine commander Marko Ramius' mouth, in "The Hunt for Red October." He has Ramius, in response to Jack Ryan telling him about his book about Halsey, saying "I have read this book! Your conclusions are all wrong, Ryan - Halsey acted stupidly."
7:39 "chunks of debris" and massive waves of shrapnel, killing or wounding roughly one third of the crew of Birmingham. For anyone with questions about American battleship gunnery, USS West Virginia scores hits on Yamashiro with the first salvo at a tange of over 20,000 yards. It had just arrived with the 7th Fleet after being tebuilt following its sinking during the Pearl Harbor attack.
IIRC, although six battleships were in the battle line, only 2 had modern fire control radar, and only one (West Virginia) fired a significant amount of shells because the others could not clearly identify targets at that range at night.
History is sometimes poetic. In the last major naval battle waged by the IJN you have American battleships that were damaged at Pearl Harbor getting a measure of revenge in savaging the Japanese fleet in the war's last battleship on battleship engagement, and Zuikaku - the last surviving Japanese carrier to participate in the Pearl Harbor attacks - is hit by 7 torpedos and 9 aerial bombs, before rolling over and sinking.
Great high-level coverage of Leyte, it's a massive series of events over space and a fairly long period of time, with no one involved having half the data. The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors probably too specific for this which is a shame, as some of the quotes are intense.
Taffy 3! Shame the USS Johnston and Samuel B Roberts didn't get talked about specifically but I understand the time constraints of the show and things get cut.
On the same note as other comments, I remember when the war was so small that episodes lasted around 15 minutes, and now it's been two consecutive episodes lasting over 26 minutes! I hope the war ends soon, but also not because this seried would be over lol
In the sprawling canvas of naval warfare with massive fleets, daring strategies, and the echo of cannons, a pivotal moment emerges: The Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Kinda ironic that Leyte Gulf itself didn't see any direct naval confrontation.
I loved the video! But quick question:
At 17:00, did the Soviets reach the Finnish-Norwegian border on October 27th, AFTER clearing Petsamo on the 23rd?
RUclips's stupid notification system not telling me about this video existing... I wanted so badly to tell you about this in the livestream.
I got a book from a local bookstore that is basically the instruction manual for British soldiers who were about to enter Germany about how to behave and the local language. I wanted to know if you guys wanted some scans and if so to what email address.
@@robertjarman3703Nice, any cool info or tidbits you like to share about it?
@@Ronald98 Not really any sections, but it does have a few instances of being typically British, like dissing on German tea, admiring their coffee skills, and praising German beer and sausage.
Boy time really flies.I remember when the Germans were in control of most of mainland Euope and America was not in the war. Now, France had been liberated and Aachen has been taken by the Americans. The Germans in complete retreat in the east nd the Japanese imperial Navy has been crippled. Its been a fast five years. Thank you Timeghost for taking us on this journey.
Time does fly indeed, thanks for joining us on the journey and thanks for watching.
@@WorldWarTwo Real Time coverage of the Cold War next? ;)
@WorldWarTwo My grandfather, who served in the US Navy during the war, used to say, "Time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like a banana." He had some great dad jokes.
@@_ArsNovadecades of job security!!! 😂
I think Rome and Carthage had larger naval battles by ship counts but yeah not by tonnage 👍
14:20 The reason Halsey was so angry was because the message he recevied from Nimitz was :"Where is, repeat, where is Task Force Thirty Four? The world wonders.". The last 3 words are part of the Encryption padding and should have been removed by the communication officer, but because it was still there Halsey interpreted the phrase as a harsh and sarcastic rebuke.
Also I can highly recomend the book: Last stand of the tin can sailors, if you want to learn more about the battle of Samar.
you beat me to it on this comment.... found it after I posted.... thought for sure it would have been mentioned...
In addition to the radio officer's screw up, the real confusion came from an overly obtuse communications plan in the Pacific Theater. As overall theater commander, General MacArthur forbade Kincaid (or any of the Task Group commanders) from communicating with Halsey/3rd Fleet directly. Messages were required to be encoded, sent to Manus in the Admiralties, and then retransmitted on the fleet radiobroadcast schedule. And due to issues with prioritization, urgent messages were often sent out of sequence. This was partially the source of confusion surrounding Halsey’s orders regarding Task Force 34. Due to this, both Kincaid and Nimitz assumed Halsey had left his battleships to protect the San Bernardino Strait prior to heading north to engage Ozawa’s force on the 25th. But when Nimitz started seeing fragmented reports that might not be the case, he shot out the interrogative for clarification.
Halsey's reaction to the message was legendary, though. :V
My favorite quote about Leyte Gulf comes from the docuseries Victory at Sea:
"The Japanese decoy has worked, but it avails them nothing. All three of their forces are butchered, beaten, broken. In 4 days of far flung fighting, the Japanese lose...26 of their finest ships. Japan ceases to be a naval power. That dream is over. The once magnificent Imperial Fleet is no more. It dies in the Battle for Leyte Gulf, and it dies in vain.
Fleets are made by nations. Battles are won by men.
But when battle is done, the young and the brave sleep. Heedless of their greatest victory at sea."
Admiral Chester Nimitz at Pearl Harbor to the flagship of Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., Commander Third Fleet. As delivered to Admiral Halsey on the bridge of USS New Jersey, a part of Task Force 34, it was a gem of sarcasm: “WHERE IS TASK FORCE THIRTY-FOUR THE WORLD WONDERS?”
@@finscreennameHalsey flipped out about that message. He supposedly threw his hat on the ground, stomped on it and shouted curses at Nimitz, before sinking to his knees and letting out an anguished sob.
Robert Carney grabbed Halsey by the shoulders and shook him out of it, yelling “What the hell’s the matter with you?! Pull yourself together!”
@@finscreenname "THE WORLD WONDERS" was padding at the end of the message (it was the anniversary of the Charge of the Light Brigade). Fun fact, the padding at the front of the message was "TURKEY TROTS TO WATER."
Overdramatic blather to try and sell books.
'26 of their finest ships'.
They lost 28 ships.
11 of which were destroyers.
This guy is calling their destroyers 'their finest'?
Here is a more accurate and far less dramatic/'entertaining' version:
'Japan tried to decoy the US Navy (under Admiral Halsey) to free up the Japanese Navy to attack the American landing beaches at Leyte Gulf.
And even though Halsey took the bait, the overall plan failed.
The result was the Imperial Japanese Navy lost 17 capital ships. And with them? Their ability to challenge the US Navy in any meaningful capacity, ever again.'
☮
Halsey got played and would have gone down as the admiral that lost the largest naval battle in history. He was lucky that the Japanese got cold feet and allowed themselves to be driven off by the escort carriers and bombardment battleships. If they had stayed the course Halsey would have been a disgrace, instead of becoming a 5 star after the war. Which goes to show that luck can matter as much as good insight and preparation.
The battle of the Surigao Strait is historically important because it was the last battleship against battleship gunnery duel, and also the last of the classic "crossing the T" manuever
Thanks for highlighting some elements of the battle, and thanks for watching!
It's also poetic since most of the battleships involved were the same ships sunk during Pearl Harbor.
I like to consider it as Pearl Harbor's revenge.
@@Marex5341 Not you again
Did the Japanese battleships fire on the American battleships in that battle?
@seneca983 technically. One was already sunk by the time of the exchange. It was 6 vs 1 at long range and a night ambush. US ships tracked Yamashiro via radar and her return fire was ineffective to say the least
Something important to keep in mind regarding Kurita's decision to retire: He & his crew had been at general quarters for *72 hours* straight by the time the Battle off Samar took place. There was no coffee or other luxuries for these men, they were awake and alert purely on superhuman willpower.
Combine that with the horrific losses, uncontested enemy air power, and overall state of the war, Kurita, according to his own testimony, elected to save the lives of his men instead of committing them to almost certain destruction, and wasting thousands more lives in what he saw as an unwinnable war.
It’s extremely impressive all considered
I've heard they didn't even have the CVEs in their recognition books to explain even more why they were sure they were facing fleet carriers (on top of the sheer gutsiness of the defense convincing him the whole Third Fleet was about to fall on him)
You would need to cite a source that Center Force was at general quarters for 72 hours. Was the fleet under alert and watching for attacks -- almost certainly. But that is very different from all the fleet's crews being at their battlestations since the torpedo attack by US submarines.
One of the primary responsibilities of fleet and ship commanders is to ensure their crews are at their best condition when battle is expected. If his crews had been awake and at battle stations for 72 hours like you suggest, then it was still a failure on Kurita's part.
@@deidryt9944 My source is John Toland's The Rising Sun. Kurita's Center force had been under constant air attack and harassment by submarines since its close approach to the Philippines. You cannot simply relax and have crews take naps while your ships are being bombed and torpedoed frequently by some ~300 carrier planes at sporadic intervals. Kurita had no crystal ball which told him where the enemy was, so men had to remain at stations in case they were encountered, which could be any moment. By the time Kurita had to decide whether to pursue the American carriers and push into Leyte, they had been awake nonstop for 72 hours and in near continuous action or damage control.
@@_ArsNova What you're describing is very different from being at general quarters for the full period. And there is a huge difference from ships being on alert and looking for threats, vs. being at battlestations, vs. being "relaxed".
Also, I find it difficult to believe that much of the crew was working on damage control. IJN doctrine was very specific on who does what, especially in the case of anything technical.
In summary, was the fleet on alert for days? Yes, but this isn't anything special.
Were repairs being made and a watch being kept? Yes, but again, this isn't anything special.
Were they at battlestations for days on end? Unless there is a direct source, almost certainly not.
Some of my favorite quotes from the Battle of Leyte Gulf:
Heard from the escort carriers, "Just wait a little longer, boys, we're suckering them into 40-mm range." and "Dammit boys, they're getting away"
What one admiral said to "Ziggy" Sprague upon hearing the Japanese thought the escort carriers were making 30 knots, "I knew you were scared, Ziggy, but I didn't know you were that scared!" (escort carriers could make 18 knots at most). Source: Samuel Eliot Morisson, 1958, U.S. Naval Operations of World War 2 Volume 12: Leyte, June 1944 to January 1945. p. 298.
I thought it also was really funny that Admiral Sprague was also serving under Admiral Sprague (no relation).
@cp1cupcake When Drachinifel was researching the Battle of(f) Samar for his video, he wasn't laughing so much whilst he was reading and distilling the official reports.
But, like Indy and Fred (from Super Chicken), Drach knew the job was dangerous when he took it!
"Where is Task Force 34? The world wonders" is my favorite.
Thanks for sharing these memorable quotes. They add a personal touch to the scene of Leyte Gulf. Thanks for watching!
The "little boys" were using their 40 mm and 20 mm against the superstructures against the superstructures of the cruisers, which made a mess of them.
The actions by Taffy 3 in this battle is some of the most heroic and courageous in US Naval history. Hell there could've/should've been movies made about the actions of LCDR Evans and the USS Johnston alone. It's a shame most Americans today will never know what they did here. 22 Navy Crosses were earned from this one Task Force! Wow
The destroyers that fought like battleships.
Should be taught at school, not how to emasculate, one's self.
Agree. I am a little disappointed by the gloss-over here by Indy.
there's a memorial in San Diego. it's small, but at least it's something i suppose
There is enough material for 3 movies; the last battle between battleships, Taffy 2 and 3 against Kurita, and the destruction of the remains of the Japanese carrier fleet. Unfortunately, movie 3 is a bit anti-climatic.
My great grandfather served aboard the U.S.S. St. Lo and survived the ordeal. I just wanted to say how proud I am to call him my grandfather!
Leyte Gulf, besides being the largest naval battle in history, was also the last true naval battle between large opposing fleets.
It was exactly the culminating battle expected by both sides, where both sides thought it would be. A grand ship on ship duel to the death. And, it was still a footnote in the overall war.
It's certainly a defining moment in naval warfare, marking the end of an era in many ways. Thanks for watching!
@@WorldWarTwo It may have been the biggest naval battle, but it was far from the most important, there were many more important battles in history like Battle of Actium or The Battle of Trafalgar.
@cpj93070 Also the defeat of the Spanish Armada. If England had lost, the East Coast of the USA might have featured a city called New Madrid.
@@ChrisCrossClash bullcrap it was for the Pacific not a little britsh corner of the world,could,woulda,shoulda
My great-grandfather was an aircraft machinist 3rd rate on USS Kalinin Bay CVE-68, one of the 6 escort carriers in Taffy 3. The ship took 15 direct hits, most of them armor-piercing rounds going straight through the ship instead of exploding on impact (the enemy ships thought she was a heavy cruiser) which actually saved the ship. One of these shells punched through 20 feet in front of him. They also got hit with 2 kamikaze attacks. Amazingly, he got through Leyte unscathed and his ship only lost 5 sailors. The ship was awarded a presidential unit citation. He joined up even though he was over the draft age with a family because he thought he was going to miss out -- and ended up in the largest-scale naval battle ever!
The names "Johnston", and, "Samuel B. Roberts" will echo through history forever.
The Sammy B. wasn't mentioned in this video; Indy only mentioned the DDs in Taffy 3.
@@cp1cupcake He counted it among the sunk destroyers. He said they were 3, and the 3 DD and DE sunk were Johnston, Hoel and Sammy B.
It’s amazing to see the three contrasts in the battle. Up north, a toothless Japanese force lured away most American striking power to get slaughtered, down with Kincaid it was the literal battle of David and Goliath, and at the Surigao strait it was a seal clubbing in the last ever battleship-on-battleship engagement. What a day in naval history
Wow! Indy hits us with a Shakespearean-quality monologue there at the end, quoting John Erickson. Put that man on the stage in the Globe Theatre!
The heroism of those American destroyers attached to Taffy 3 is unmatched. If you don’t know their stories, you need to research them.
Drachinifel does a good job of recounting the Battle off Samar.
The book The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors is one hell of a recounting of the battle.
@@EscapeTheCloudsOfficial
It is also quite inaccurate about a lot of what happened in that battle and gives too much credit to surface ships and not enough to American pilots.
I once met an elderly former gunner's mate who had served on the USS Roberts during that battle. A very interesting discussion ensued. A salute to those heroic men.
I was disappointed that this episode blows past the destroyer and destroyer escorts' magnificent achievements at the Battle Off Samar. The Johnson was bad-ass; its skipper won the Medal of Honor (posthumous).
@@ArizonaJoeHines The Roberts charging the Yamato wasn't shabby either. :)
@@kenibnanak5554you mean Yamato. Yamamoto was at that time a dead admiral.
@@benterbenter9281 spelling corrected, thanks
I couldn't breathe or blink during the final quote by Indy. Unreal.
My father was a machinist's mate (and Avenger turret gunner) aboard USS Santee (CVE-29) in Taffy 1. They took a Japanese torpedo and a kamikaze within fifteen minutes of each other.
As I mentioned on the community post, both Darter and Dace were submarines built in my own hometown of Groton, Connecticut. Groton is home to the Electric Boat Company, which made dozens of American submarines for the war effort. It remains one of only 2 shipyards in America capable of constructing nuclear powered submarines.
That's interesting! Groton's contribution with the Electric Boat Company is significant in naval history. It also produced the USS Nautilus which was the first nuclear submarine. Thank you very much for sharing your connection to history and thanks for watching.
Thanks so much to TimeGhost for keeping these stories alive
Thank you for watching!
The USS Johnston was a destroyer who charged the entire Japanese fleet and forced the Yamato into evasive actions to dodge its torpedos.
It was like a chihuahua chasing off a grizzly bear.
Reminded of the old saw. Something about it not being the size of the dog in the fight but rather ........ .
Her captain kept his word.
Yup, a very apt analogy: o
One of the main turrets on Yamato weighed more than the Johnston.
Chihuahuas will fuck you up
@@Dem0nActual Her captain Earnest Evans, could be charitably described as a complete lunatic for engaging not just the Yamato but multiple other capital ships at once, falling back and then chasing off more than a half dozen destroyers in formation that were aiming to fire torpedos at the CVEs.
The Johnston wouldn't survive the battle and neither would Evans, but both are remembered as the tin can who took on a battleship and the captain whos ship displaced a mass equal to one of the yamato's guns, but whos balls displaced more than the entire Japanese fleet.
Drachinifel did a great series of videos about these pacific naval engagements.
can confirm. They are a lot longer than these episodes, but go into a lot more detail that really brings home some of the amazing stuff that happened this day. If you got a bit of time, and like naval history, watch/listen to that
He also has done serie of videos of "Salvaging Pear harbor"
Your performance there at the end when speaking of the final Soviet push to Berlin was extraordinary.
I've been long awaiting this one... my grandfather and reason why I did a career in the US Navy was on the Princeton when she was sunk. He was the sole survivor in the Machine Shop that was just aft of the forward hanger when the bomb went through the flightdeck and exploded in the hanger. He survived only because whatever he was working on dropped and fell behind a giant lathe and he was trying to retrieve it. The blast killed all 8 others there but he was banged-up badly- but alive. The secondary explosion threw him off the ship and he was later fished-out by the USS North Hampton with a broken arm, broken nose, and shrapnel wounds. He was amazed a shark didn't finish him off!
Woozers!
Small world … My father was a 17-year old radarman on the Princeton when she went down. He was in the CIC and my understanding is that many of the men in his area were killed. He couldn’t swim, believe it or not, but somehow floundered in the water long enough to be picked up by one of the escorting destroyers. We never knew this story until not long before he died. Like so many veterans, he never spoke of his combat experiences
Fascinating. My late grandfather also served as a Machinist on the Princeton (the CV-37, not the CVL-23 that sunk in this battle).
Nimitz message to Halsey was actually: "Where is. Repeat. Where is TF 34. The world wonders." The last bit added on by the radio man to throw off Japanese radio intercepts. This last line really pisses off Halsey.
Also kind of sad that the heroics of the of the destroyers in the battle off Samar got glossed over...
The DDEs weren't even mentioned as having been there.
@@cp1cupcake "Last Of The Tin Can Sailors", and Drachinifel's Samar video (with many pithy comments) more than makes up for Time Ghost's (somewhat more than necessary) editing to keep this episode under 30 minutes.
I think there's something much sadder than how Indie didn't spend much time on the DDs and DDEs. After all, he's only going to give a summary of a week's worth of combat covering up to five theaters. Hey, Indie! Maybe do a special on the Battle of Samar? The much sadder thing is that for all the courage of the little guys, only one Medal of Honor was given, to Cmdr Ernest Evans of the Johnston.
Because most sources focus way too much on the destroyers and ignore that the battle was actually won by airpower.
Operations Room had some great videos on the Battle of Leyte Gulf just a few days ago. A missed chance at a crossover event.
They are a bit error ridden.
Last one has battleships leading the destroyers in Force C in their diagram for Surigao Strait when it's the other way around for example. 1st one too left 2nd Diversionary Attack Force altogether and had the carriers leave Japan on 24th! Indy was a bit the same here , he got a few events mixed up and ship names wrong BUT we knew what they meant even if we are naval historians. It's good enough for land warfare buffs. They won't care that much. It is a valiant attempt at a big and complex battle by both teams, but its best to read a book or 3 on the battle of Leyte Gulf
I'm convinced most historians writing about the Battle off Samar have not paid nearly enough attention to the effects of fatigue. Kurita's forces had suffered repeated air and submarine attacks for three days straight by the time they spotted Taffy 3. They must have been exhausted and that had to have affected their performance and decision making. Spragues' forces were relatively fresh by comparison, and Sprague clearly had a better grasp of the situation. Kurita said contradictory things about fatigue at various points in his later life, both admitting and denying it had been a problem, but it's amazing he was even upright and conscious by the time he chose to turn away. Fatigue probably had a hand in Halsey's poor decisions as well. And if anyone was using drugs to ward off sleep that would have affected their performance as well, though all of the histories I've read have been silent about that.
I'm not going to lie had I recently had to take a swim, recover from dengue fever, and then lose 2/3 of my forces only to then be charged by a bunch of destroyers and destoyer escorts that I have misidentified as cruisers and dealing with aircraft I probably would have retreated as well.
My great uncle Lawrence Gourley was a 19 year old seaman second class on the St Lo. He died in the sinking and family lore states that his mother ,my great grandmother never recovered from the loss and died a few years later. I know my grandfather never really got over the loss of his brother.
This week may be a good week to watch the second half of Episode 5 *Crossroads* of the 2001 television miniseries *Band of Brothers* , with the portrayal of Operation Pegasus, the evacuation of men from the British 1st Airborne Division near Arnhem after the failure to capture and hold the Arnhem bridge during Operation Market Garden, with help from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division.
Ill probably have to do that myself.
Great shout! Thanks for the recommendation and thanks for watching.
I didn't watch this week's ep on time, but this was also the week that the tirpitz mission in the original call of duty featured
For those who want to read more on Leyte Gulf, the book "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" by James D. Hornfischer is an excellent read.
It’s also very, VERY badly out of date and gives a very misleading picture of the battle, failing to give proper credit to American pilots (that were the biggest factor in the victory) and getting major details wrong.
@@bkjeong4302 I felt it gave a lot of credit to the pilots. It is one of the big takes aways I got from the book as well as the bravery of the destroyer crews. He mentions them going to Army fields to get actual bombs and their constant harrasement of the Japanese ships. I am pretty certain had the battle continued they would have done much more damage as I believe there were a few other Taffy fleets nearby and the picture of the battle became clearer. Certainly willing to hear where he had inaccuracies, but I definitely felt he gave credit to the air crews.
@@williamwade8119 While the actions of the air crews are covered in the book, most people’s takeaway after reading was that the destroyers ended up winning the battle through sheer courage (which is why 99% of the discussions on Samar are about them and not the pilots), and the title doesn’t help.
As for errors;
- the whole idea that the Japanese could have destroyed the American landing forces if they hadn’t been cowards; this comes straight from Morrison’s work on the Pacific War, which for some reason ignores that the American landings had already long since commenced by then, or that the Taffy groups were not actually the only ships that hadn’t been lured away (keep in mind that the job of supporting the landings was the responsibility of SEVENTH fleet, which Taffy 3 was a part of, and not the Third Fleet under Halsey which was the fleet that had been drawn away).
- there’s are multiple major case of the wrong ship being credited on both the Japanese and American sides. On the Japanese side, Hornsfischer follows the traditional narrative that of the Japanese capital ships, only Kongo didn’t freak out and flee at the first sign of battle and that she scored all the major the hits on Taffy 3. It later turned out, however, that Kongo actually did pretty much nothing during this entire battle based on her own logs (in fact, she wasn’t even shooting at any ships when most of the hits credited to her took place, due to being badly out of position). Ironically it was Yamato that actually proved to be the biggest threat to Taffy 3, being responsible for nearly all the near misses on the CVEs at the start of the battle, the hits on Johnston, and possibly the fatal hit on Hoel (still not nearly enough to justify her existence, but that’s a WWII-era battleship issue in general); meanwhile Gambier Bay was likely sunk by Japanese cruisers (with Yamato possibly landing a hit or two, but there’s not much to support that).
- on the American side there are also a few cases of miscrediting. The big one is the idea White Plains sank Chokai with gunfire due to the latter’s torpedoes exploding on deck due to a 5” hit from said CVE. This story has become a big part of Taffy 3’s legend, in large part because Hornsfischer popularized it. However, this narrative only came about because of a failure to look through all available American primary records, as the logs of other CVEs indicated Chokai was sunk by air attack, something also corroborated by Japanese sources. White Plains’s legend was finally completely shown to be false when Chokai’s wreck was found, showing that no, her torpedoes never cooked off let alone do so due to a 5” hit (Chokai did receive 5” hits from White Plains, but said hits weren’t why she sank). Some Japanese sources also suggest Kongo contributed to Chokai’s loss by mistakenly firing on her (which, if true, would further expose Kongo’s own reputation as being overblown as well).
For those who want the full story of Taffy 3’s insane bravery. Dracinifel did an excellent video on the whole battle, including the stories of the amazing bravery of ships like the USS Johnson, Samual B Roberts and others.
Shortly after the skirmish, the USS Darter ran aground and had to be scuttled. One Gato Class submarine (a couple thousands tons of displacement while submerged) in exchange for two cruisers sunk and a third neutralized, that's a pretty good deal as far as this war goes.
Also, this whole battle hit home the importance of being careful for what you wish. The Japanese wanted a single decisive battle for the entire war and now they have it-- where they are the ones who are decisively defeated.
“This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can.”
These were the words of Lt. Commander Robert W. Copeland of the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts to his crew on the morning of October 25, 1944.
To piggyback of your post, the Samuel B. Roberts managed a torpedo hit and multiple hits from its guns on its much larger and formidable opponents, before she eventually went down after hits from the battleship Kongo. 90 of it's crew went down with her. Due to the ship's heroic but suicidal last stand during the battle, it is sometimes referred to as "the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship."
What a team, what brave heroes!!!@@ahorsewithnoname773
Regarding Kurita, there was another thing about him discussed in the book, "Japanese Destroyer Captain." By that period in 1944, he had become very pessimistic about the war and viewed the mission as needlessly throwing away his men.
Add that fact with losing his flagship Atago, swimming in the dark waters, losing scores of ships to include Musashi, many waves of air attacks, fanatic defense by the American Destroyers at Samar, his new flagship Yamato having to dodge scores of torpedoes, losing even more ships at Samar... Yeah, it stops being surprising to see why he turned Center Force around.
You have to think of what the commander of a battle is experiencing at that moment. Not from the POV of a guy watching a youtube video 70+ years later with the luxury of hindsight. Kurita made this decision as smoke filled the area, torpedoes were going by, and Amerian aircraft attacking his fleet, and he was losing ships left and right.
Can't believe you didn't mention Commander Evans or his ship, the USS Johnston. Their actions as part of Taffy 3 has to have been the single most gallant and effective naval action of WW2.
The Johnston did not sink. She assumed a submersible position to make sure Yamato doesn't get any funny ideas
Evans was a madman to have taken his ship on multiple runs not only against the largest battleship on the planet but he also chased off an entire destroyer squadron that was aiming to make a flanking attack on the escort carriers.
You know why Evans was in command of a destroyer? Because it wouldn't be a fair fight if they gave him a full capitol ship.
Most gallant? Maybe, but my money’s on whoever was in command of USS Edsall (whose last stand was against FAR worse odds than what Taffy 3 faced off Samar).
Most effective? Not even close.
Thank you for the lengthy coverage of Leyte Gulf! It truly is the death knell of the IJN, since they'll never sortie en mass again (unless you count the scratch force that was Ten-Go). There will be some sporadic fighting like in the Battle of Ormoc Bay, the IJN's and IJA's efforts to resupply Leyte, and of course the continuous raids by air and sea of Japanese convoys (particularly convoys HI-81 and MI-27 in mid November 1944), with the last surface engagement between IJN and USN warships being the Last Stand of the Hinoki in early January of 1945.
Glad you enjoyed, indeed Leyte Gulf was indeed a pivotal moment for the IJN wiping out a large part of their naval force. Thank you for watching and thanks for sharing.
The plus of the presentation is the maps. Finally, the battle of Leyte Gulf makes sense. Before, I had only partial presentation. You simply cannot do that with text.
I have been religiously watching every Week by Week since you first started covering the Great War back in 2014. I rarely comment, but I'd like to say thank you for keeping up such magnanimous works, some of which have brought me to tears, so none of us may ever forget horrors we are today spared from, and that so many died for. Least we repeat the rhyme of unlearnt past that leads into unfathomable death and destruction once more.
"If this uncertain living, these days that mount directionless as terror, haunt us too deeply, help us find solution, to count deeds well-done which otherwise might fall behind anonymous as steel tracks speeding in sunlight, unchangingly away in train-momentum's vision." - Edwin Rolfe, April 1945.
One ship that was in Taffy 3 was the USS Samuel B. Roberts. It's gone down as "The destroyer escort that fought like a battleship."
Guess for the sake of time, Indy left out the full Nimitz telegram that infuriated Halsey, the message actually read " where is task force 34 the world wonders". Turns out "the world wonders" was added by a coding officer. I read that Halsey dashed his cap to the floor when he read the message.😂😂
And the heroics of USS Johnston and USS Samuel B Roberts.
Nonsensical stuff is frequently included in messages to throw off decryption. Users of Enigma, mostly German, though Axis partners also used versions of the machines, would often throw in stray letters and numbers, but rarely full phrases.
Yeah. That was the junk phrase of the day for encrypted messaging, but because the phrase just happened to make sense in the context of the actual message, the radio officer became confused and decided to include it in the read out to Halsey's staff.
The reality was there were unnecessarily obtuse communications requirements in place between the major players in the Pacific theater. As overall theater commander, General MacArthur forbade Kincaid from communicating with Halsey directly. Messages were required to be encoded, sent to Manus in the Admiralties, and then retransmitted on the fleet radiobroadcast schedule. And due to issues with prioritization, urgent messages were often sent out of sequence. This was partially the source of confusion surrounding Halsey’s orders regarding Task Force 34 and why Nimitz shot out the interrogative of where they were. Due to this, both Kincaid and Nimitz assumed Halsey had left his battleships to protect the San Bernardino Strait prior to heading north to engage Ozawa’s force on the 25th.
MacArthur really was a narcissistic talentless twat.
One of my wife's uncles was KIA aboard the USS Princeton at Leyte.
I stood up and clapped after that passionate moment at the end.
Bravo, Indy, Bravo!
The liberation of Tilburg on the 28th is important for my family, my mother, her older brother and their parents (my grand parents) came from Oosterhout (north of Nijmegen) and are evacuated from the Betuwe behind the allied lines, they will spend the rest of the war in Tilburg where my mothers younger sister (my aunt) is born.
Hey my grandmother lived in Tilburg hoi ik ben de Brabo Brigadeer onder de naam Marc en Fleuke die in Tilburg woonde. Any stories let us know
Thanks for sharing your family's connection to this moment in time. It's a powerful reminder that behind every historical date and event, there are individual stories and experiences.
Oosterhout is now part of Nijmegen. The city just keeps on expanding.
My mother, at the age of 12, plus her siblings and parents were liberated that day, since they all lived in Tilburg at the time. Not long after the liberation a V1 missile bound for Antwerp fell on Tilburg and hit the kindergarten which was attended by my uncle who was 5 years of age. Fortunately this happened late in the afternoon when all the kids were at home.
@@MrFzondervan I think I heard this story as well. I AM from EIndhoven. Also Phlips had a secret Tilburg Eindhoven telephone line which the resistan ce used
I can't believe we're six months away from THAT happening.
WHAT A BATTLE! I have a massive fascination with the Battle of Leyte Gulf and I've been looking forward to this episode for over a year, and you did not disappoint.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! The Battle of Leyte Gulf is indeed a monumental event in naval history. Thank you for watching.
I'm just here to appreciate the fact that I didn't see Indy's eyes shift left-to-right-right-to-left while delivering that epic quote, meaning he almost certainly did it all from memory.
I've read it was USS Mississippi that shot the last shell at another battleship in combat. That night.
Ernest E. Evans, upon taking command of the USS Johnston: "This is going to be a fighting ship. I intend to go in harm's way, and anyone who doesn't want to go along had better get off right now."
He was true to his word.
this episode's sign-off was chef's kiss
Indy's acting chops really coming into play there!
Thanks for watching.
My late father landed at Leyte Gulf with MacArthurs forces as an Arny Air Corps Engineer. He operatied a bulldozer working on airfields. He told me he spotted MacArthur riding in a jeep.
Thanks to your dad and others who made the liberation of the Philippines possible.
Thanks for sharing your fathers history and thank you for watching.
This series is a monumental masterwork. Thank you so much for your hard work and vision.
Appreciate the kind comment, thank you for watching!
An additional interesting note about the destroyers USS Johnston and USS Samuel B. Roberts, sunk during the Battle of Samar: Their wrecks were only recently discovered- Johnston in March 2021, and Samuel B. Roberts in June 2022. Sitting at depths of 6,469 m and 6,895 m respectively, they are the deepest known shipwrecks in the world.
Small correction: the USS Samuel B Roberts was a destroyer escort
14:44
Man! Even 79 years later, those numbers are absolutely _DEMORALIZING!_
Been watching since the beginning and all of ww1 the videos just keep getting better
Thanks for watching!
My grandfather was in the 104th. During this attack at one point when he set up his anti-tank gun, the muzzle was in the Netherlands and the breech was in Belgium.
The narrator of the William Wharton novel "A Midnight Clear" isn't entirely sure what country his squad is in - it could be Belgium, France, Luxembourg or even Germany. They are in a place where these countries more or less come together. William Wharton, real name Albert Du Aime, was in the US 87th Division during the Battle of the Bulge.
Fun fact: the battleships of the Northern Force were actually battle-carriers. Ise and Hyuga had their rearmost turrets replaced with a hangar and catapult (and a crane to recover planes from the sea), though thanks to the lack of pilots they never launched any aircraft.
I have to commend you for acknowledging Taffy 2’s role at Samar and the decisive role of airpower during the battle, as most narratives of Samar focus on Taffy 3’s tin cans at the expense of the big picture
Disappointed the destroyer heroics got barely mentioned.
Ziggy Sprague!
@@Maverick0420
They get excessive attention as is, it’s about time the real stars of the battle got their due.
@@bkjeong4302Everyone played their part. The destroyers played a huge role in making a mess of the Japanese formations while the planes were still in their hangars and flight decks.
The series cover the big picture of the war which is great, since this means that the episodes won't reach 2 hours long. But some things would have to be left behind, which is unfortunate.
For an excellent in depth account of the Battle Off Samar - Taffy 3 vs Yamato and her strike force - check out Drachinifel's video "The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?" It's a truly astonishing battle, and some of the key problems that result from the misidentification of escort carriers and destroyers as fleet carriers and heavy cruisers are covered in suitable depth.
@worldwartwo literal chills during that final quote. Absolutely amazing work! Been with you all since 2016 (1916) on the the Great War channel, love you Indy
Battle off samar, gives me chills every time I hear it.
I learned something new here today! I never knew the Soviets took hold of a bit of Nazi occupied Norway.
Fantastic episode, as always. My hat's off to the visual/map team for helping the Battle of Leyte make more sense in space and time. I can't wait for next week as Hurtgen Forest jumps into it's next phase.
You can thank our map maker Daniel for that! I'll pass the kind words onto him. Thanks for watching.
Thanks :) Much appreciated.
The Battle of Leyte was the final nail in the coffin of the Japanese Imperial Navy as a global power. No longer could they go mano-y-mano with the US Fleet on anything approaching equal terms; from here on in the Pacific was essentially a US lake in which a few sharks still patrolled in the form of deadly Japanese subs and much reduced carrier groups manned by a spent force of young and untrained pilots whose sole mission now was to die an honorable death by taking out a ship or two. But with the US now producing ships faster than the Japanese could sink them, this tactic spoke only to the growing desperation of Tokyo to halt or at least slow the Allied advance toward the home islands.
I’ve never left a comment on one of these videos before, but here I am on this one because I was left literally applauding out loud at Indy’s concluding Shakespearean-level recitation of a history book text, which was simply awesome in so many ways. It’s so inspirational to see him be able to bring these different loves and interests in his life, such as theater and acting together here with his love of history, into one presentable and educational moment like this. I don’t know Indy, but I can only imagine how much inner satisfaction and happiness was involved in being able to pull this off like that, and to have helped create such an original and groundbreaking forum for bringing two seemingly disparate loves together into one creation so expressively. Big salute to you, Indy.
After this last speech, I really want to see Indy in a Shakespeare's play
My Goodness Indy, Bravo sir! 🌹🌹🌹
Wonderfully done by all of the crew as well! Thank you for yet another brilliantly done episode!
Thank you for watching!
Updates for Brazil this week: On the 22nd elements of the Task Force 45 substitute the II Batallion of the FEB's 4th Company in the western flank of their action zone. and the american IV Corps removed the brazilian troops from their direct command (the I Batallion of the 6th Infantry Regiment, and a rifleman corps of the II Batallion also from the 6th IR);
The same day the shock between a 6th IR patrol with the enemy ends in casualties on the brazilian side, but also the capture of 80 POWs by the FEB. On the 24th Sommocolonia is occupied by the FEB, with the local italian guarisson guarding it surrendering to the brazilian troops without battle, and the FEB waiting for reinforcements to maintain the position, while the attempts to take over Mount San Quirico and Castelvecchio are frustated;
The same day the First Fighter Group of the FAB (the brazilian air force) will start their activities in Tuscany under the USAF's 350th Fighter Group. On the 25th some changes are made: Gen. Zenóbio is returned to the command of the Divisionary Infantry while Cordeiro de Farias have the Artillery returned entirely under his command, and the Transport division goes under Gen. Mascarenhas;
After the decision to hold their positions on the 26th by the command of 2nd Army Corps, and a fire barrage in the 27th by the FEB's Transport division, the week ends in the 28th with the consolidation of their position on Mount Faeto, the reveal of the italian Monterosa division on the FEB's transport division OZ, and Gen. Zenóbio expeding his General Operations Order nº 15, planning for the advance and takeover of the objectives in his own OZ later in the 30th.
John Erickson's way with words was beautifully complimented with Indy's excellent delivery. Bravo. Efforts like this make the TimeGhost team like the SAS of RUclips. (Stunningly effective in punching above their weight class.) Keep up the good work.
John Erickson would have loved Indy's recitation!!! I know I did. But while we're on the subject: Mr. Erickson once stole the show in a video trilogy detailing the role of each of the three great German army groups in Barbarossa...but I can't recall the name of that trilogy, nor have I been able to stumble on it again. Anyone? It was very cool.
Indy, you missed " the world wonders?" One of the best gaffs in Ww2
Admiral Nimitz's complete message was: "Where is Task Force 34? The world wonders."
Fair Winds and Following Seas to Commander Evans and the fearless crew of the USS JOHNSTON DD-557! 🇺🇲
THE EPISODE OF TAFFY 2 AND 3. OH HOW LONG I HAVE BEEN WAITING!!!
Something else Kurita must have been aware of: that the whole area would have been crawling with Americans within 24 hours. There were probably already submarines en route.
It was actually much less than 24 hours. The main body of Seventh Fleet (not Third Fleet) was already moving back north from Surigao during the battle itself and would have intercepted Kurita had he continued.
After that end quote, I think we can safely say that John Erickson was the writer from the British ministry of information who wrote that quote about the nigerians. If you know, you know.
The allies have been like a large pot of water on a stove. Slowly heating up until it finally comes to a boil. Now that the allies are rolling it will be hard to stop.
My grandfather was in the invasion fleet Taffy 3 protected. His landing deception unit was on a transport that took a kamikaze to the deck this week, killing a large number. But I wouldn't be here at all if Taffy 3 hadn't kept Kurita busy until his nerve failed.
They said it couldn't be done in 34 minutes, those naysayers and catcallers, but here's what you should know about The Battle of Leyte Gulf.
10:30 It's worth mentioning in Kurita's defense that judging the difference between a destroyer that's nearby and a heavy cruiser that's further away is incredibly challenging at the distances where naval battles happen in this war. He assumed he was facing heavy cruisers because heavy cruisers, though smaller than battleships, would still be expected to take them in a fight. Destroyers, to put it simply, would not be. For reference, Yamato alone outweighed the entirety of Taffy 3 and her largest gun outweighed any given destroyer she was up against.
The mistaken identification allowed for the destroyers to survive much longer than anyone would have predicted though. The larger ships carried both armor piercing and high explosive shells, which they would switch out depending on what they were up against. Thinking they were facing heavy cruisers, they used armor piercing shells. The destroyers were too small to be worth heavily armoring, so those armor piercing shells went in one end of the ship, out the other, and detonated in the water. An eighteen inch hole in a ship is by no means a good thing, but it's better than an explosion in the hull. Once the Japanese ships realized their mistake and switched to high explosive shells, it was over for the destroyers.
Surprisingly good pronunciation of Nyíregyháza.
This is it. The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
I knew I recognized the 104th. The Timberwolves! I learned about them from a gift shop pin I picked up (which I have sadly since lost), solely because, well, wolves are cool, and as such I liked the division's insignia (a gray wolf howling with a dark green background). Nice to hear their division mentioned. "Nothing in Hell can stop the Timberwolves!"
The American 104th, based in Fort Lewis, Washington, was formed in 1921 and, as the video showed, saw action in WWII, being active in Western Europe for the better part of a year (about 200 days). It would serve all the way until VE Day, May 7, 1945. After the war, it would be reorganized as a training unit for the United States Army Reserve. The 104th Training Division is still in operation to this day.
I stayed awake until 0200, but now it's 0800 Sunday & I'm 'off-watch'. Ok, I'll watch now! Cheers from Australia all.
Thanks for watching!
I've studied and read a lot on this battle, Halsey AND his staff got suckered big time, chasing after the carriers with his and Mitscher's tongues hanging out; and not detaching Willis Ching Lee's battleships or sending 7th fleet north to cover the landing forces. Admiral Lee saw the threat and sent multiple messages vainly pleading for Halsey's staff to "wake him" to send his BBs to cover the landing force also. Only the unbelievable bravery of the Taffy escorts saved that group. Read Battleship Commander for this.
Excellent summary, as always :)
The Royal Hungarian Army did not switch sides (this was unacceptable for general staff and many officers), but instead, it started to slowly melt away, with more and more soldiers (and officers) deserting. Thus, the remaining formations were in a very bad shape already, and the process would continue in the coming months. Hungary was already capitulating, but it would take 6 more months (and a lot of lives) to remove the remaining German and Hungarian units from the country's territory.
The Royal Hungarian Air Force would continue to fight the losing battle, up until the last days, along with a few regular and Waffen SS divisions. The Soviet "liberators" would rape and pillage in most places, establishing a reputation that would later lead to more violence.
21:20 the US 104th ID (Timberwolves) would be led by Terry Allen, who was returning to field command after being relieved of the 1st ID in Sicily by Bradley. The 104th remain the only US unit to led by Canadians in the war.
I did not come upon this series until well into it and will endeavor to go back later and start from the beginning ... Although it might leave out some details that is to be expected... It is however a great overall view of the war in a week-by-week fashion I appreciate...
Great, insightful episode, as always, but, man, Indy's delivery of that last quote is absolutely amazing!
I just have to say, thank you very much in detailing what the Canadian Army was doing in Europe. Canada's contributions are almost always overlooked or just lumped in with the British, even in our own history books.
God this shit is such a highlight of every week for me. I'm a tour guide in Charleston, SC and it's wild how much my delivery, tempo, and general tenor have been shaped by this and the Great War week-by-week over time. It's effective!
My granddad was on one of those LST's that would have been wrecked without the actions of taffy 3
Thanks for another great episode! However, I am surprised that there was no mention of Commander Evans and the Johnston.
Also on the 28th, after the official end of organised resistance in Slovakia, Ivan Konev calls off the Dukla-Carpathian offensive. However, this week sees the heaviest fighting of the operstion so far, with the Soviet and Czechoslovak forces fighting well-preparred German defenses in a valley north of the town of Svidník. The fighting is brutal as its fought in terrible autumn weather, and the Soviets do lose a lot of armor in the valley, with a tank battle sometimes called "a miniature version of Prokhorovka" culminating at the end of the fighting.
This week's video reminds me of the words that Tom Clancy put into his submarine commander Marko Ramius' mouth, in "The Hunt for Red October." He has Ramius, in response to Jack Ryan telling him about his book about Halsey, saying "I have read this book! Your conclusions are all wrong, Ryan - Halsey acted stupidly."
The Samar battle is notable for resulting in the world's deepest military shipwrecks.
7:39 "chunks of debris" and massive waves of shrapnel, killing or wounding roughly one third of the crew of Birmingham.
For anyone with questions about American battleship gunnery, USS West Virginia scores hits on Yamashiro with the first salvo at a tange of over 20,000 yards. It had just arrived with the 7th Fleet after being tebuilt following its sinking during the Pearl Harbor attack.
IIRC, although six battleships were in the battle line, only 2 had modern fire control radar, and only one (West Virginia) fired a significant amount of shells because the others could not clearly identify targets at that range at night.
History is sometimes poetic. In the last major naval battle waged by the IJN you have American battleships that were damaged at Pearl Harbor getting a measure of revenge in savaging the Japanese fleet in the war's last battleship on battleship engagement, and Zuikaku - the last surviving Japanese carrier to participate in the Pearl Harbor attacks - is hit by 7 torpedos and 9 aerial bombs, before rolling over and sinking.
Great high-level coverage of Leyte, it's a massive series of events over space and a fairly long period of time, with no one involved having half the data.
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors probably too specific for this which is a shame, as some of the quotes are intense.
That book contains far too many errors to be considered a reliable source.
been waiting for this sence the beggining, the story of taff-3 was always my favorite
Taffy 3! Shame the USS Johnston and Samuel B Roberts didn't get talked about specifically but I understand the time constraints of the show and things get cut.
On the same note as other comments, I remember when the war was so small that episodes lasted around 15 minutes, and now it's been two consecutive episodes lasting over 26 minutes!
I hope the war ends soon, but also not because this seried would be over lol