How a False Report of 11 Sunk U.S. Carriers Doomed Japan's Army on Leyte

Tokyo announced the greatest naval victory in Japanese history in October 1944: 11 American carriers sunk off Formosa, with 2 battleships and 3 cruisers, and the Emperor sent his congratulations. Not one carrier had gone down. Japanese airmen had seriously damaged two U.S. cruisers, and on the strength of the false report the high command made Leyte the decisive battle of the Philippines. Prefer to listen? Battlewatch Documentaries is on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2nnWOCN... The story runs mostly through Japanese eyes, from Vice Admiral Fukudome watching his fighters fall "like eggs thrown at a stone wall" to Toyoda's order to chase a beaten fleet, Halsey's reply that his sunk ships were "retiring at high speed toward the enemy", and the decision, over General Yamashita's doubts, to send an army to Leyte by sea, where nearly 50,000 Japanese soldiers died. Alongside it: Canberra and Houston towed 1,400 miles as bait, David McCampbell's nine kills in one mission, and the convoys to Ormoc Bay, where USS Cooper broke in two. Did someone in your family serve with the Third Fleet or on Leyte? His name and ship or unit are welcome in the comments. Chapters: 0:00 The Victory That Never Happened 8:05 The Announcement 14:31 The Army's Battle 26:25 Towing the Bait 37:09 The Bait 40:23 October Sixteenth 51:50 The Morning McCampbell Couldn't Stop 1:00:04 Scramble 1:06:30 Nine 1:17:41 The Convoys to Ormoc 1:24:22 The Eleventh 1:32:18 Thirteen Minutes Past Midnight Thumbnail: U.S. National Archives, 111-SC-407101 (NAID 531424) / U.S. Army Signal Corps (colourised), public domain Sources: CINCPAC Press Release No. 707, The Naval War in the Pacific During 1944 (1945): https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/comms/194... Shigeru Fukudome, "Strategic Aspects of the Battle off Formosa," USNI Proceedings (1952): https://www.usni.org/magazines/procee... M. Hamlin Cannon, Leyte: The Return to the Philippines (1954), ch. VI: https://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-... M. Hamlin Cannon, Leyte: The Return to the Philippines (1954), ch. XIII: https://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-... U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, Interrogation Nav No. 58, Cdr Kokichi Mori (1945): https://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/USSB... Naval History and Heritage Command, USS Canberra (CA-70) War Damage Report No. 54: https://history.navy.mil/research/lib... Naval History and Heritage Command, DANFS: Houston III (CL-81): https://history.navy.mil/research/his... J. Ed Hudson, A History of the USS Cabot (CVL-28), ch. 6, The Streamlined Bait: https://stexboat.com/books/cabot/cab0... Naval History and Heritage Command, H-Gram 038-2: The Battle of Leyte Gulf in Detail: https://history.navy.mil/about-us/lea... U.S. Naval Institute, Commander David McCampbell, Proceedings (2007): https://www.usni.org/magazines/procee... U.S. Naval Institute, "We Were Knocking Them Right and Left," Naval History (2024): https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-... DANFS: Cooper (DD-695): https://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destro... This video uses archival film and photographs and keeps the language of the period, for history and teaching. A few moments with no surviving film may be shown as reconstructions, labelled on screen. It is not meant to glorify war or to offend any person, nation or group. #Leyte FOOTAGE AND IMAGE SOURCES Archival film, most screen time first: US Carrier Task Force in the Philippine Islands (111-ADC-9619): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/23383 Japanese Air Raid, Japanese Planes Shot Down, Fueling at Sea (428-NPC-4499): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77142 Invasion of Palau, Aerial Views (428-NPC-5538): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77541 Ormoc Bay (111-ADC-9694): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/23459 Pilots Briefed, Man Planes, USS Wasp, Aerial Views of Manila Bay (428-NPC-5665): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77611 Third Fleet Activities, Philippine Island Area (111-ADC-3270): https://catalog.archives.gov/id/17073