re: Gen. Douglas MacArthur "dug out dug"

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.