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To: C19fan

BTW I wonder why the article keeps mentioning ‘combined US/Australia’ forces. They might as well throw in the British navy as well, as I think both countries had token forces present at Leyte.


12 posted on 03/04/2015 6:53:51 AM PST by skeeter
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To: skeeter
BTW I wonder why the article keeps mentioning ‘combined US/Australia’ forces.

While it's certainly absolutely reasonable to say that the Australian force was significantly smaller than the US one, it was significantly more than just a token force - two heavy cruisers - HMAS Australia and HMAS Shropshire, and eleven smaller vessels of the Royal Australian Navy were part of the combined force. But what actually generally leads to it being referred to as a combined force is the presence of the combined US/Australian Task Force 74 as part of the overall fleet. Task Force 74 was under the command of an Australian, Commodore (later Vice Admiral Sir) John Collins. Australia was hit by the first known Kamikaze attack in history, and Commodore Collins was severely wounded. HMAS Australia's Captain, Captain Emile Dechaineux, one of Australia's greatest naval heroes was killed.

Only one ship of the (British) Royal Navy was present - HMS Ariadne, which had been placed at the disposal of the US Seventh Fleet.

42 posted on 03/04/2015 4:40:27 PM PST by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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