Nowtilus - La batalla del Golfo de Leyte

Conozca la batalla del golfo de Leyte, la segunda batalla del mar de Filipinas, la confrontación aeronaval más grande de todos los tiempos, tanto por el número de barcos, aviones y hombres enfrentados como por la gran extensión del escenario de la batalla.
Cuando parecía que la lucha por el dominio del océano Pacífico se encontraba dando los últimos «coletazos», el alto mando naval japonés diseñó un plan aparentemente suicida, en el que decidieron «poner toda la carne en el asador» y jugarse el todo por el todo. En principio, ni los propios japoneses apostaban nada por su victoria, sin embargo, contra todo pronóstico el plan constituye un éxito y las fuerzas que habían iniciado la invasión de Filipinas van a ser aplastadas. Tan solo una modesta fuerza de segundo orden se interpuso entre la poderosa fuerza japonesa y los buques de desembarco que se encontraban en la cabeza de playa.
José Manuel Gutiérrez de la Cámara Señán, capitán de navío de la Marina española y especialista en armas submarinas, le acompañará en esta travesía marina haciendo el seguimiento de las acciones a que tuvieron que enfrentarse las aludidas fuerzas de segundo orden hasta el desenlace final de la acción, precisamente en la fecha en que los kamikazes iniciaron su peligrosa andadura. Un periplo digno de vivir y de leer en una aventura sin precedentes durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial

WAR OF THE PACIFIC: THE BATTLE OF LEYTE GULF

Considered the greatest naval confrontation in history —from Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Guadalcanal to Leyte— this work will unfold the keys to understanding naval warfare in the Pacific during World War II.

Learn about the battle of the Gulf of Leyte, fought in Philippine waters, considered the largest naval confrontation in history; to a great extent due to the number of ships, planes, destroyers and men that faced the battle scene. When it seemed that the struggle for the domination of the Pacific Ocean was coming to an “end,” the Japanese naval high-commanders designed a seemingly suicidal plan; in which they decided to “put all their eggs in one basket" and give it their all. At first, not even the Japanese themselves bet on their victory, but against all odds the plan was a success and the forces that had initiated the invasion of the Philippines were crushed. Only a modest second-order force was interposed between the powerful Japanese force and the landing ships that were located at the Beachhead.

José Manuel Gutiérrez de la Cámara Señán, Spanish Navy Captain and specialist in submarine weapons, will accompany the reader on this journey by following up the actions the aforementioned forces had to face until the final actions, precisely on the date when the kamikazes began their dangerous journey. A journey worth living and reading in an unprecedented adventure during World War II.

THE AUTHOR

José Manuel Gutiérrez de la Cámara Señán is a Navy Captain (RR). Born in Madrid on 25 December 1943, he entered the Naval Academy on 1 August 1961, a specialist in Submarine Weapons. Deployed in several ships of the Navy; he was the Second Commander of the destroyer Admiral Valdés and Commander of the minesweeper Duero and the transporter Contramaestre Casado. He was deployed to the General Staff of the Navy and was professor of the School of Underwater Weapons. As a reservist he was Secretary General of the Institute of History and Naval Culture, where he is currently an adviser, in addition to being a member of the Naval Thinking Group of the War School. He has also published many written works such as: Una visión sobre la historia marítima española, and La Marina española contra la piratería berberisca.

SALES PITCH

• An essay about the greatest naval battle of all time: the Battle of the Leyte Gulf. Also called the Second Naval Battle of the Philippines; it is sometimes compared by its magnitude with the Battle of Lepanto, which took place during World War II. A confrontation around the Philippine Islands that supposed a before and after in the War of the Pacific and caused McArthur to return to the Philippines.
• In this battle were the world saw for the first time the attacks of Japanese suicidal airplanes, the so-called "kamikaze" (Divine Wind) in a systematized way.
• There aren’t many published works that fully explain the Pacific War, from Pearl Harbor and Midway to Guadalcanal. The whole warfare scenario allows the reader to understand the importance of the Battle of the Gulf of Leyte giving a complete view of the most important episodes of the War of the Pacific.
• This essay examines the battle more in depth, the reasons for the strategic decisions, the combats, the reasons that led to the war in the first place, and its influence on the rest of the actions that took place during that period in the Pacific.
• Profusely illustrated with more than fifty photographs and graphs on this conflict that will allow for the contextualization of the confrontation.
• Gutiérrez de la Cámara is a Spanish Navy Captain and specialist in submarine weapons. He was the Secretary of the Institute of Naval History and Culture. He has published several articles and written works related to naval subjects such as "Cruceros de combate en acción" (Navy Publications Service), "Una visión de la historia marítima española" (Editorial Navantia).