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Originally Posted by melkor the first The battle of Leyte Gulf may have been the largest naval action in terms of total ships involved but,and I hate to disagree with John Keegan who in his History of Warfare proposes that as one of hif 15 most decisive(ala Creasey) but in the Pacific war , it was merely the last gasp and death of the Japanese Navy,completeing the war of attrition that ruined Japan. In real terms, it was less decisive than the Battle of the Phillipine Sea. In terms of WW2, idway remains the decisive battle of the Pacific war and ,as I've argued, of the war. I hope no one thinks that I do not recognize the significance of the Russian front, but I still feel that Midway freed up the US to take action in Europe and helped with Allied aid to Russia. I note that after Stalingrad that German and Russian envoys met to discuss a ceasefire but the Germans would not agree to fall back to prewar boundaries. How's that for what might have beens? |
I agree. Even if the Japanese plan had worked perfectly at Leyte Gulf, the destruction of the Seventh Fleet, they would still have to contend with the more formidable Third Fleet. And any losses taken by the American Fleet could be made up, while the Japanese had not the resources to do so.
Up until Midway, the Japanese held superiority in the Pacific. They were on the offensive and hoped by defeating the US Fleet, Japan would be uncontested on the open waters of the Pacific. After the US victory at Midway, things changed. Japan was no longer on the offensive - its carrier force destroyed. The US had evened the odds in the Pacific and really changed the war.
It was clear that the homeland would not be in immediate danger after the Japanese were defeated at Midway. And so, perhaps, more troops could be spared in the European theater. If the homeland were in danger, less troops would have traveled abroad to fight the Germans/Italians, who weren't immediately threatening the US.