Word: kurita
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Halsey, was “the largest, most powerful fleet of warships ever assembled.” Not only did Halsey have the upper-hand on the high seas, but he dominated the air as well, with 1,000 warplanes at his disposal. (His rival, Admiral Takeo Kurita, had none.) In short, it should have been a blowout, not a battle...
...Kurita is a character who would command the reader’s sympathy but for the fact that he fought for the enemy. He was, according to Thomas, a “modest,” “amiable,” and “scholarly” man—“perhaps, a little gun-shy.” Halsey, on the other hand, is the sort of figure one would love to hate. He was an unapologetic adulterer and an unrepentant racist—he lived by the motto, “Kill Japs...
Without McCain, Halsey had a much smaller force defending Leyte Gulf. Halsey—in a testament to his terrible tactical judgment—then took all his ships out of the gulf and sailed northward to chase a Japanese “decoy” task force. Meanwhile, Kurita and his battleships cruised into Leyte Gulf unmolested...
...code, “bushido,” required self-sacrifice rather than surrender. But the Japanese military’s mantra repeated a fabricated history—according to Thomas, “many ancient Japanese warriors had been prisoners of war.” The scholarly Admiral Kurita penetrated through the “bushido” ruse. Too many of his countrymen...