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Re: MacArthur [Was: Slow period for list]
Right you are......in Korea Partridge had the chimerical conscept of interdiction,
and was able to commendeer the Marine Air Wing, depriving us of the Tac Air
support we sorely needed, because the Army limited our Arty support to four
rounds per tube per day. (excluding motars). We suffered excessive casualties
and lost key COP's because of this lack of support. Gen. Clark, CG 25th Army
Division,like most Army Commanders, didn't understand Marine war fighting
doctrine.
SDonell73@aol.com wrote:
In a message dated 12/20/02 8:45:40
AM Pacific Standard Time, Home@DanSources.com writes:
Yet history FORGIVES MacArthur. IMO
this attitude also prevailed in Vietnam.
Those who save the spirit of MacArthur are mostly the radical right
Conservatives today. They were his source of protection against the military
bureaucrats in both WW II and Korea.
IMO The attitude that was made manifest in Korea and continued into Vietnam
was the spirit of the Air Force crowd who clung to their myth of air power
being capable of winning wars. They had many of the highest ranked industrial
community supporting this cause with their new gidgets and gadgets that were
claimed to make air power a force that couldn't be beaten. However, as in
Korea, when they came across sophisticated AAA batteries, and decent pilots
who could almost hold their own against the Air Force, Navy and Marine fighter-bombers,
allied air power was found once again to fail as the be all and end all in
Viet Nam. Further, the attempt to cut logistic support lines failed, as it
had done in Korea.
And, once again, the Air Force, got into scrapes with Marine Corps aviation
leaders who wanted to use their aircraft in close air support in accordance
with Marine Corps doctrine. I don't know that much about Vietnam, but I think
that the Air Force lost more interservice battles this time than they did
in the Korean War.
Sandy