Leyte Gulf is a body of water immediately east of the island of Leyte in the Philippines, adjoining the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, at 10°50′N 125°25′E / 10.833°N 125.417°E / 10.833; 125.417Coordinates: 10°50′N 125°25′E / 10.833°N 125.417°E / 10.833; 125.417. The Gulf is bounded on the north by the island of Samar, which is separated from Leyte on the west by the narrow San Juanico Strait, and on the south by Mindanao, separated from Leyte by the Surigao Strait.Dinagat Island partly encloses the Gulf to the southeast, and the small Homonhon Island and Suluan Island, sit astride the eastern entrance to the Gulf. It is approximately 130 km (80 mi) north-south, and 60 km (40 mi) east-west. Leyte Gulf was also the scene of the largest naval battle of the second world war, the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Once captured by the Allies, the islands in the Gulf became bases for the B-29's that bombed Japan in 1945.

Leyte (also Northern Leyte; Filipino: Hilagang Leyte) is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran. To the west of Leyte across the Camotes Sea is Cebu Province.

The explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, first came to the island in 1543 and named it Las Islas Felipinas.

During World War II under the Japanese Occupation, the 9th and 92nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army was reestablished from 1942 to 1946 at the military general headquarters and military camps and garrisoned in Tacloban and Ormoc before the liberation of the Philippines was the military unit organization and started by the Anti-Japanese military operations in the province of Leyte from 1942 to 1945 to helping the local guerrilla groups under by Colonel Ruperto Kangleon and the American liberating forces and fought against the Japanese Imperial forces.