The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-10-26

speed and trailing oil, while one of daInaged destroyers was left dead ln the water. All five vessels should nkove easy prey to the pursuing American planes and warships.
 Nlmit1 said further details" of the battle would be announced as they became known. Though he aIl- nb|inced yesterday that l60 Jap- allese planes had been shot down In tlb early stages of the battle, his lates comrlunique mentioned neither Japanese nor American air losses. MacArthur similarly was st. lent on the air losses, but said 53 enemy aircraft had ben shot down during an enemy attack on Amer ican shipping in Leyte Gulf Tuesday preceding the naval battle. ! Japan herself acknowledge In an imperial headquarters communique that one of her battleships two sunk in the two-day melee and aIi' other battleship substantially damaged" but claimed in return cruisers and destroyer had been that 77 American warships and land- snE craft had been sunk or dam- aged.
 Directly contradicting Tokyo's propagandists, naval spokesman on Admiral Thomas c. Kinkaids 7th fleet flagship in the Philippines told United Press War Correspondent Ralph Teatsorth:
 "Declsively Defeated"
 ssThe enemy has been decisively defeated with heavy losses. Our fleet ls without serious losses and 1t to Sight tomorrow"
 Admiral William P. Halsey, com. mander of the far-ranging Srd fleet, echoed the optimism prevail Ang throughout American forces in the Pacific with this formal report Co President Roosevelt:
 ''The Japanese Navy in the Philip. pines area has been defeated, seri- cusly damaged and routed by the Q. s, Navy in that area.
 MaeArthur issued formal state. Ynent proclaiming that the enemy finet had been dealt Its most crush ang defeat of the war its future efforts can only be on a dwindling scale"
 The Japanese flight fro mthe area indicated that the enemy high com mand had decided to abandon the Philippines to their fate, at least temporarily, without hope of more than q trickle of endorsements through the American air, sea ana submarine blockade.
 Stunning Blow
 Nimitz's communique for the first time revealed the full scale of the stunning defeat inflicted on the Jnpanese carrier task force which sailed down from its home waters into the Philippine sea to challenge Iialsey's Srd fleet from the north
 FIalsey hurled his surface forces, submarines and a great fleet of cRrrier-borne aircraft against the approaching enemy Armada Wed- Ylesday Tuesday, Pearl Harbor timO) and in the ensuing daylight hours and last night blew up and sanl: c large carrier, sank Q light carrier and two light cruisers, and probably sank two battleships and a large carrier.
 Two battleships, three havy cruis- CTS and Q number of destroyers withdrew to the north iia Q dari' aged condition.
 Though Japanese aircraft based in Luzon supported the enemy force, not @ single ship in Halsey's fleet was damaged.
 e Two Other Forces
 T1.e other two enemy naval forc- es, presumably coming from singa- pore or other bases in the South china Sea, conVerged on the cen tFal Philippines from the northwest and southwest in a daring attempt Co split the two American fleets, smash the invasion armada in Ley- te Gulf and wipe out the Leyte beachhead.
 ! A carrier task force from Halsey's Srd fleet rushed to the Leyte area Co help Kinkaid's 7th fleet and an Australian squadron intercept the two enemy forces.
 The enemy's southern force, coia- slsting of two battleships, one hea- M cruiser, one light cruiser and four destroyers, broke through the enrigao Strait from the Sulu Sea into the ship-crowded Leyte Gulf.
 Though temporarily outnumbered, the 7th fleet and Australian war. ships beat off this attack alone and
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