Your rants about MacArthur seem to.focuse on the Philippines but leave out they has no hope of holding them as the Japanese had overwhelming superior numbers..... and that he was order out by the President
Of course my rants focus on the Philippines — that was MacArthur’s Command. There probably was no hope of holding them, but MacArthur’s incompetence did not help.
If he had listened to Major General Brereton, Commander United States Far East Air Force, he could have eliminated significant portions of that overwhelming Jap force and maintained air superiority. MacArthur’s refusal to allow Brereton’s to attack Japanese air bases on Formosa (Rainbow 5 plan) directly led to the loss of control of the skies over the Philippines.
Instead, he left the planes on the ground to be destroyed. Even the Japanese expressed surprise at how unprepared the bases were. Due to weather delays, they were expecting a significant resistance and a counterattack at Formosa, neither of which MacArthur provided.
His staging the only combat ready Marines on Corregidor, his refusal to implement Rainbow 5 and the unconscionable delay of Operation Orange (Bataan supply and defense) caused what should have been a defensible retreat into the worst defeat ever suffered by American forces. He made those decisions and he is responsible for them.