Posted on 07/15/2020 7:23:52 AM PDT by rintintin
In 1942, the Japanese were bearing down on the Philippines, where Gen. Douglas MacArthur was based. To help him escape, the Navy relief on a small but heavily armed class of ships:
Video: https://youtu.be/0xm0CSY4WJ4
(Excerpt) Read more at youtu.be ...
He had an 8 hour warning after Pearl was attacked. Saturday night. Everyone was partying.
Sorry. Don’t do YouTube after they pulled a live feed to an active volcano on Bali due to their insane censorship policies.
Well, not insane, exactly, but the results of their actions are meant to feed the insanity.
So, throw out the baby with the bath water. The baby apparently has no value because the bath water is not pure any more
So you’re censoring us because you are against censorship?
I thought RF was telling us that HE/SHE doesn’t do youtube because of the Bali thing.
One of the best movies ever.
First thing I thought of when I saw the thread headline. I really like that movie. I have it recorded & set as a save.
As a side note, TCM has been showing John Does movies every Friday this month. I’ve recorded some wonderful movies! John Ford & Frank Capra are permanent record requests on my DVR. Ford used scenery like another character in his films & Capra brings a swell of patriotism to me!
In March 1942, the Japanese were NOT on “the verge of invading the Philippines,” but had done so in mid December, 1941. By March they controlled all of Luzon Island except for the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island and were landing on other Philippine islands to the south of Luzon.
Also, Lt (USN) John D. Bulkeley’s squadron in the Philippines was at half strength with 6 PT boats. The remaining 6 were on a tanker at Pearl Harbor, waiting for it to depart for the PI.
Robert Montgomery, a Naval officer himself, portrayed Lt. John Bulkeley who commanded the PT flotilla that delivered Mac Arthur. Bulkeley was a heroic American warrior who distinguished himself further in WW II and in the Cold War. When you read his biography the thought “Where do we get such men?” comes to mind. Sadly its not clear if such men are coming out of today’s service academies or universities. John Bulkrley was a fierce patriotic warrior and a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Not sure they produce the same sort of graduates.
Despite warning, the planes were destroyed on the ground.
McArthurs legacy is overrated.
One of those things everyone seems to know which is false.
McArthur had established a line of watchers with radios, several days before. Since it was new, they were getting some false reports.
McArther ordered the planes to stay in the air just to keep from being hit on the ground. As they were getting low on fuel, they had to land. They had gotten one report of Japanese planes but kept waiting for confirmation which never came.
As luck would have it, they hit just as the planes were refueling.
his legacy is overrated.
Spectacular achievements mixed with spectacular blunders
WWI daring and leadership was awesome. Island hopping victories in WWII were brilliant. Inchon landing in Korea was brilliant, against all odds and advice
McArther ordered the planes to stay in the air just to keep from being hit on the ground. As they were getting low on fuel, they had to land. They had gotten one report of Japanese planes but kept waiting for confirmation which never came.
As luck would have it, they hit just as the planes were refueling.
Where do you find this take on how it went down? I dont remember Manchester being so generous to MacArthur on this episode. Are there other historians you can point to?
I don’t remember. Look it up.
Wasn’t this the way it was portrayed in the movie Midway?
[Despite warning, the planes were destroyed on the ground.
McArthurs legacy is overrated.]
I’m inclined to think this represents a serious case of presentism as well as Monday morning quarterbacking. I’d be surprised if anyone at that time thought the Japanese were capable of near-simultaneous attacks at far-flung locations. This distance between Pearl Harbor and the Philippines is over 5,000 miles. The attack on the Philippines came 9 hours after Pearl Harbor. Was this something that *anyone* thought the Japanese were capable of doing? Wasn’t it the predominant view that the Japanese were incapable of flying aircraft competently? Was the US at the time capable of such simultaneous attacks? Why would they expect the Japanese to be? What was MacArthur’s fuel and spare parts situation? Could he afford to waste fuel and spare parts on recon in force missions when he might be cut off from resupply for the duration of the war?
Kimmel also didnt have a sense of the looming power of aircraft carriers. Aircraft carriers were only about 20 years old as a weapon. It was hard to imagine how much damage could be inflicted if 350 planes suddenly arrived from the sea, because that had never happened before. Nobody had put together a fleet with so many aircraft carriers at one time as the Japanese did on December 7.
We have to remember that in that day and age there were no satellites peering down, revealing all. So when the Japanese set sail on November 26, 1941, we did not know that. In their journey 3,000 miles across the Pacific, they never encountered a commercial ship, a search plane, a warship, and were never seen from above. It was the essential ingredient of their plan. They had to achieve surprise. If they didnt, everything would have failed.
I dont think there will be another Pearl Harbor because the ability to detect movement of armed forces is so much better, not just with satellites but also with listening devices and the ability of nations to suck up the radio transmissions of their opponents.]
And this piece, with your cited inaccuracies, is from the Smithsonian channel, America's museum.
For entertainment and to annoy my wife, when I watch the Smithsonian channel and the History channel I point out the errors.
Last night for example they said that MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender on the aircraft carrier, USS Missouri. (BTW The program was produced in Australia).
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