re: Gen. Douglas MacArthur "dug out dug"

Very timely post

quote:

---

Remember, not only did Washington send MacArthur there, they also dispatched the 1st Marine Div there, which at that time was basically the only ground forces we could muster in the entire theater.

---

And no worse match between force and mission than to ask Marines to hold ground.

So, you know that's the last act of a desperate Pentagon.

The speed with which Japan seized control of the entire Western and Central Pacific is stunning, even in hindsight - at set up they were on their home islands, Manchuria, and Korea - they also had an army in Eastern China - but within a few weeks, it seemed like there was a Japanese garrison and airfield on every other island in the Pacific at least North of Australia and West of Midway.

And by Summer 1942 - after battles in the Coral Sea and at Midway - it was all over, except the counting for the Empire of Japan.

I want to credit them for following an aggressive and correct strategy - cut the lines of communication between the U.S./U.K. and Australia - and they could have contained the Aussies while focusing on China to the West and the U.S. to the East. But, just as the Confederacy simply didn't have the men and materiel reserves to absorb the losses associated with agggressive, offensive operations, the Japanese could not replace what they were losing - particularly the extraordinarily high losses in capital ships and trained pilots for much of 1942.

Generalship and admiralship counts for only a small part of that war. To put it in perspective - in December 1941 - the U.S. Pacific Fleet consisted of 9 battleships, 3 aircraft carriers, 12 heavy cruisers, 8 light cruisers, 50 destroyers, 33 submarines and 100 patrol bombers (plus the air wings of the 3 aircaft carriers).

By May 1945 - there were 29 carrier DIVISIONS - counting the training squadron and the escorts - just the CVs and CVLs (not counting Saratoga, as she was the flagship of the training squadron) numbered 26 - the majority of which were state of the art, Essex class carriers (the world's first "supercarriers").

The Japanese navy was doing ... not as well ... in May 1945, from a combat power standpoint.

Thank you for posting with perspective and accuracy. Now I don't have to do it myself, and can just call the OP a dumbass who can't spell Bataan.

I have a problem with his CMH. It was political cover for his unassing the Philippines under fire.

quote:

---

Abandoning his men on Batan

---

It's generally pretty good strategy to not let officer's in general command get captured. It's always good strategy when them getting captured would be for the sake of pride.

quote:

---

all the Marines he sacrifice retaking a island that didnt have to be taken. He did it out of pure pride. Sacrificed fathers,brothers and husbands for his pride.

---

This is another matter entirely, and I agree with you - this was a waste of fine Marines, and he never really answered to anyone for it, simply because he was so popular and powerful, no one would dare cross him/call him out.

quote:

---

He got himself awarded a MoH for the biggest defeat of WWII.

---

I always thought that was absolutely crazy. He basically got the Medal of Honor for retreating and leaving his men behind.

The worst thing that MacArthur did was to reject the proposed MoH in 1942 for General Jonathan Wainwright -- a man who actually stayed behind, fought and suffered with his men, experienced the horrors of captivity with his men, and looked like a skeleton upon his liberation in 1945.

quote:

---

He also used that arrogance and persona to quickly bring japan to heel postwar

---

wasn't he an advocate for letting of the top Japs off easy as war criminals for the supposed sake of post war stability?

quote:

---

wasn't he an advocate for letting of the top Japs off easy as war criminals for the supposed sake of post war stability?

---

Yep... as Supreme Commander of occupied Japan.

quote:

---

Expecting an imminent attack by the Japanese and armed with the knowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack, prudent actions by those in command in the Philippines should have alleviated the chance of a total surprise attack in the Philippines, and the initiation of proper defensive, if not offensive, operations could possibly have saved the Philippines. However, the failure of General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of United States Army Forces Far East (USAFFE), to initiate these and other actions directly led to the defeat of the American-Filipino forces in the Philippines during the initial phases of the Second World War, causing thousands of American and Filipino military and civilian personnel to suffer through years of brutal captivity at the hands of the Japanese.

In a matter of minutes, like at Hawaii earlier in the day, nearly all of the American combat aircraft stationed at Clark Field, the vast majority of the aircraft then stationed in the Philippines, were caught on the ground parked close to each other and destroyed in the first waves of Japanese air strikes, along with many of the aircraft crewmen. Although the pilots of the few surviving American aircraft made gallant attempts with some effect, the Japanese aircraft greatly outnumbered and out-machined the overwhelmed American pilots, leaving the skies over the Philippine Islands in nearly uncontested control of the Japanese Air Forces.[53] MacArthur's refusal to allow Brereton to attack the Japanese air bases on Formosa directly led to the American-Filipino loss of control of the skies over the Philippines.

---

While I pointed out his loss of the air forces at his disposal in the Philippines was perhaps his biggest and most inexcusable failure. Even had he saved all his aircraft from the initial Japanese onslaught, the Philippines were still doomed.

1. The Philippines was totally cut off from any resupply due to the Japanese seizure of the islands of the Central Pacific. This fact alone meant that the fall of the Philippines was only a matter of when, not if. But, like i said, MacArthur's actions in the Philippines did hasten the fall. He could have held out much longer than he did.

2. The air assets available in the Philippines to MacArthur were overmatched. He had basically:
4th Composite Group
and
20th Air Base Group
and
Far East Air Force

The 4th had only two squadrons of fighters. One was equipped with the totally outclassed P-35A's and the other the better P-40. The 20th had no modern aircraft to speak of. Only the FEAF could be said to be a decent formation. but even it had less than 100 modern fighters (P40's) and and handful of modern bombers (B-17's). The rest were obsolete P-35's and even P-26 Peashooter fighters and B-18 & B-10 bombers that were not much more than flying targets for the Japanese Zeros.