Saturday, October 26, 2024

Thursday, October 26, 1944. End of the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Damaged  Japanese cruiser Kumano bombed by planes of Task Force 38 on 26 October 1944,

The Battle of Leyte Gulf ended as a complete Japanese defeat, effectively ending the Imperial Japanese Navy as a cohesive force.  On this day the Japanese lost the cruisers Abukuma, Kinu and Noshiro, destroyers Hayashimo, Nowaki and Uranami and submarine I-26.

Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria's youngest child, died at age 87.

Gertrude Tompkins Silver and the P-51D she was flying disappeared in a delivery flight from Los Angeles to Newark, NJ.


She was 33 years old and had jointed the WASPs after a boyfriend died fighting in the RAF.  She was the only WASP pilot to be classified as missing during the Second World War.

Sarah Sundin notes in her blog:

German 20th Mountain Army begins scorched-earth retreat in Finnmark region of northern Norway; 43,000 will be evicted & evacuated, their homes destroyed.

Last edition:

Wednesday, October 25, 1944. The biggest day of the biggest naval battle in history.

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