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To: blueunicorn6

No.
The Japanese attacked Luzon with two divisions, an independent brigade, and two tank regiments, plus various supporting artillery, etc.
Luzon was defended by @ 90,000 Filipino and US troops in, nominally, one US division (understrength, 2/3 Philippine scouts), 9 Philippine Army divisions (all about regiment-sized, effectively), one battalion sized Scout cavalry regiment and one battalion sized Marine regiment, and two tank groups.
There were also a very large number of support, fortress, Navy and USAAF personnel, but these were not combat troops.
The big difference is that the Philippine troops could not be expected to hold anywhere by themselves unless concentrated in overwhelming numbers, and that because the Japanese could land anywhere, there were no positions they could be expected to hold, unless it was the short Bataan front. There were only the equivalent of 10 US/Scout infantry battalions that were combat effective in Dec 1941. That’s why Philippine defense reverted to War Plan Orange-3.


95 posted on 08/04/2013 2:18:17 PM PDT by buwaya
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To: buwaya

The Japanese were fighting a two front war. I believe that the Allied forces outnumbered their Japanese attackers.
I don’t know that I’ve ever been more depressed about my country than after I read the original article. It makes sense. The Soviets played FDR.
We knew the Germans didn’t have any aircraft carriers. We knew the Japanese did. The Germans couldn’t attack North America. The Japanese could. The logical choice would be to defeat Japan first. We didn’t. We were played by the friendly Soviets. God, I despise the Democrats even more.


112 posted on 08/04/2013 3:04:16 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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