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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Speak Shenzhen -> 
The Battle of Leyte Gulf
    2020-10-19  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

James Baquet

The Second World War was fought in two main theaters: the European, and the Pacific. The war in the European theater (which embraced also the Mediterranean, African and Middle East theaters) was largely a land war; the Pacific theater, though it saw fierce fighting on land, also included a large amount of naval action.

The largest naval battle of World War II, and, depending on the criteria used, perhaps even the largest in history, was the Battle of Leyte Gulf, fought in an area of sea between the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar and Luzon, over four days in late October 1944.

A combined American and Australian force of about 300 ships (including 12 battleships and 166 destroyers and escorts) and 1,500 planes took on over 67 ships (including 7-9 battleships and over 35 destroyers) and over 300 planes of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Allies’ immediate goal was to deprive the Japanese of oil supplies and manufactured goods coming from Japanese-occupied countries in Southeast Asia.

The Allies were victorious, suffering around 3,000 casualties and the loss of six ships and over 200 planes, versus Japanese losses of around 12,500 casualties, 28 ships, and around 300 planes.

The battle occurred late in the war, by which time the Japanese had already lost a significant portion of their navy, leaving them at a disadvantage. Despite this disparity in strength, the Japanese mobilized nearly all of their remaining resources to repulse the Allied invasion of the Philippines.

It was the first time the Japanese used the “kamikaze” technique, in which Japanese planes crashed into Allied ships, sacrificing the lives of the pilots. One of its four major engagements, called “The Battle of Surigao Strait,” was also the last time in history that battleships exchanged fire.

The naval battle in the Leyte Gulf enabled the landing of the U.S. Sixth Army on Leyte Island, leading to the Battle of Leyte, as a result of which, by the end of 1944, the island was secured by the Allies under General Douglas MacArthur, the first stage in the liberation of the Philippine Archipelago and the end of the Japanese occupation of nearly three years.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. giving up for a greater purpose

2. gap, difference

3. traded, gave and got

4. included

5. act of making free

6. take away

7. chain of islands

8. in a worse position

9. obtained, gotten hold of

10. put into action

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