The Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Death Knell of the Japanese Fleet. by Hoyt, Edwin P - 1972.

New York:: Weybright & Talley, 1972.. Book Club Edition.. Hardbound . BINDING/CONDITION: red binding; a Very Good book, with a Very Good dust jacket.. 8vo (8.5 inches tall) . Bibliography, index. Description: Includes a section of black and white photo plates. The publisher's blurb reads: ''In October 1944, the Japanese high command assembled a fleet of seven battleships, six aircraft carriers, nineteen light and heavy cruisers, and a host of destroyers. They split their forces into four commands and set out to surprise and annihilate the American naval forces at Leyte Gulf. Had the plan been successful, it would have inflicted the most devastating defeat on the U.S. Pacific Fleet since the attack on Pearl Harbor. How a would-be American defeat turned slowly but inexorably into a full-fledged Japanese disaster is the subject of this book. Using Japanese as well as American eye-witness accounts, quoting admirals, commanders, and enlisted men, Edwin P Hoyt has woven together the many threads of an immense naval confrontation, a three-day series of bloody and devastating encounters that has since been described in the history books as the last great sea battle of World War II.'' Rear gutter code ''42Q'' indicates a printing date of October, 1974.