The_Lone_Troll
Rookie
- Apr 22, 2012
- 11
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OK, MacArthur was informed of the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor 3:AM Philippine time. According to records he took no significant action until 12:30 Philippine time when the attack came. The "war plan" called for MacArthur's bombers to bomb Formosa upon receiving information of a Japanese attack and it would have taken the Japanese by surprise with loaded and fueled planes on the ground but he did nothing. The Japanese couldn't believe their luck when they destroyed the American planes on the ground. True to form MacArthur blamed subordinates for his own lack of leadership.
lets see those records. he had no idea the invasion force was that close to him just like Kimmel and short were clueless
With Pearl Harbor still burning what kind of clue did MacArthur need? Nine hours after the Pearl Harbor attack the commander of the Far East Air Force went to see MacArthur twice that morning and MacArthur was too busy to see the General, and so MacArthur's planes sat waiting on the ground to be destroyed.
No official inquiry has ever been done on why MacArthur let his air force be destroyed on the ground. Kimmel and short were removed and MacArthur was to end up with command of the SW Pacific theater.
There are numerous clues that The US knew Yamamoto was on the way, at least 12 hours before the attack, im not going to list them, you can find them on the net easily. They made sure the Aircraft Carriers were safely out the way, because the US had already seen the future of pacific naval warfare was in deck borne aircraft, not lobbing shells at each other from ten miles apart.
Dreadnaught vs Deadnaught had already been demonstrated at the Battle of the River Plate in 1939 as being the end of the line, in the same war trench warfare was recognised as defunct in 1918. New methods, new weapons, new technology was needed. Letting the Japanese destroy the old US Destroyer based fleet gave the Navy the unassailable excuse to build a new aircraft carrier force afterwards. Furthermore, it gathered and channeled the anger of the US electorate, sweeping aside the remaining opposition to war.
Pearl Harbour was sacrificed to allow the US to enter WW2, in the same way WTC was sacrificed to allow the US to conduct war against Al-Queda.
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BTW, ive read history avariciously for 50 years, but in my opinion, the courage of the pilots from the US Naval fleet, at the Battle of the Philippine Sea, who set out from the carriers after the Japanese fleet even though there were only 75 minutes until sunset , knowing they would almost certainly not have enough fuel to get back to the carriers, and even if they did, they would have to locate them in the pitch black in the vast ocean, was one of the outstanding acts of mass bravery in US Naval History.
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