The Battle of Leyte

While we’ve talked about the world wars before on this blog, we haven’t focused directly on the Pacific Theater and how the Allies won WWII there. But as we come up not only on the anniversary of this pivotal battle but also Veteran’s day, we figured we should.

As summer turned to fall in 1944, the US high command had a decision to make: should they invade the Philippines and hope to cut off Japanese supply lines from the East Indies, or should they proceed to attack Taiwan or even Japan itself? The US had already seen enormous success that year “island-hopping” across the Pacific, reclaiming island after island until Allied forces controlled most of the world’s largest ocean. But not, of course, the most troublesome archipelagos: the Japanese-controlled East Indies and Philippines, and of course, Japan itself.

However, after receiving intel that Japanese defenses on the island of Leyte were unexpectedly weak General MacArthur pushed forward with an invasion of the Philippines. For him, it was personal: years ago he’d promised the people of the Philippines he would not permanently abandon them to Japanese rule, and here was the chance to keep his word.

The resulting Battle of Leyte was an enormous success. From October 23-26, US sailors, soldiers, and airmen launched a massive attack on the island of Leyte and quickly smashed the Japanese navy to bits. Although the fighting technically continued, Japan no longer had the resources to hold the Philippines, and without their navy, it was only a matter of time until they lost the whole war. Indeed, the The Battle of Leyte was “the greatest naval battle of World War II,” according to the National Museum of the US Navy.

ECC has plenty of numismatic items relating to not just the invasion and liberation of the Philippines, but to the war efforts all across Asia.