Re: MacArthur [Was: Slow period for list]

[Marc James Small <msmall@infi.net>]

At 02:25 PM 12/20/02 -0500, Love Shack wrote:
>I get the feeling the books on MacArthur are gentle on his decisions.
>
>The Dutch during WW2 were in the Pacific area as well.
>They seemed better prepared to fight the Japanese then the Americans.
>The air combat records show this and that the Dutch fought with Distinction
>Reading about their Air Combat leads me to believe that the Americans
>ignored provacations by the Japanese.
>
>We were caught on the Ground in the Phillipines.
>There was no LOGICAL rotation of aircraft or preparation for an attack.
>The one time we were in the air against the Japanese wiped us out
>on one large air battle. That is just BAD planning for a Professional

Hmm.  Actually, the Dutch were much more understrength than was the US
military in the Philippines:  it had, after all, been stripped to defend
Holland in the spring of 1940, before the German invasion of the home
country.  Thus, other than a single submarine attack and the flaming
failure of the Battle of the Java Sea, the Dutch accomplished almost
nothing at the outset.  By 1943, however, they had developed a fine thuogh
quite small military force which contributed greatly in that year and the
next to the reconquest of New Guinea.

The Dutch have almost no air cover in the NEI.  Such air cover as was
present consisted of the air cover promised to USAFFE but diverted due to
the Navy's refusal to supply the Philippine garrison.  (Remember, the first
US CV, Langley, was sunk carrying P-40's to Java, as the Dutch had almost
no aircraft of their own.)

And it was the Finns who did well with the Brewster Buffalo.  The Dutch did
not have any.

Marc

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