Leyte

Leyte , island (1990 pop. 1,689,756), 2,785 sq mi (7,213 sq km), one of the Visayan Islands , the Philippines, between Luzon and Mindanao . A fertile agricultural land, it is the nation's leading producer of sweet potatoes and bananas and a major producer of corn and peanuts. It has commercial coconut plantations and extensive forest reserves; lumbering is an important industry. In World War II, Leyte was occupied by the Japanese in early 1942. It was the scene of the first main American landing (Oct. 20, 1944) in the campaign to recover the Philippines. That landing was followed by the battle of Leyte Gulf (Oct. 23-26, 1944), widely considered one of the greatest naval engagements of all time, in which American naval forces destroyed the Japanese fleet.

Bibliography: See T. J. Cutler, The Battle of Leyte Gulf (1994) and E. Thomas, Sea of Thunder (2006).

Leyte Gulf, Battle of (October 1944) A naval battle off the Philippines. In the campaign to recover the Philippines, US forces landed on the island of Leyte. Four Japanese naval forces converged to attack US transports, but in a series of scattered engagements 40 Japanese ships were sunk, 46 were damaged, and 405 planes destroyed. The Japanese fleet, having failed to halt the invasion, withdrew from Philippine waters.