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having brought up the Philippines...…….that helps dispel your previous contention that the united states was not really involved in a "ground war" against Japan...…...130,000 Japanese against 150,000 united states troops...…...lasted for 6 months.
It was not continuous fighting against the Japanese. The US troops held out on a peninsular - Battan, defensively. BTW, one of my best friends is Filipino.
Nepal was never in the British empire. Gurkhas are mercenaries approved by the Nepalese government. The British supplied, trained and commanded Gurkhas. The British should not take credit for soldiers in their own army? Ho odd.
In Singapore, the Japanese went to the table ready to surrender. Then they realised the British were doing the same, so they bluffed. Very embarrassing. The situation in Singapore at the time was dire for civilians with water cut off. Percival thought the Japanese were well supplied going to lay siege. If that was the case, then his motives were honourable.
I found Singaporeans quite amenable to the British, having been there many times. Many Filipinos were not too enamoured with Americans having allowed the Japanese to land unopposed, after a lengthy sea journey.
The unopposed Japanese landings in the Philippines was deliberate. The Americans never had the forces available to meet the Japanese head on. The plan was to take up defensive positions in Bataan until reinforcements came.
Most of the Filipinos and Singaporeans who went through the war have passed. The younger generation in both countries have little or no knowledge of the war and don’t share the animosities of the older generation. The Gurkhas are still in Singapore and have been recruited into police units and special security services.
Yah. McArthur apparently botched his orders to bomb the IJ air force staging airfields @ Formosa. & he tried to forward defend @ the Philippine (Luzon) coast - losing his supplies, ammo in the first round. (He also counted on B-17s to attack & sink any IJ Navy units. A common mistake, the B-17s - attacking from high altitude - were ineffective in the anti-shipping role.) The IJ destroyed his air force mostly on the ground, & the bulk of Philippine regular military weren't trained nor equipped to fight IJ - who were excellent troops, in terms of their doctrine. The US had been ramping up ground forces, air forces, military materiel & supplies in the Philippines (federalized in July 1941 - McArthur in command), but the war overtook events.
McArthur did recover, though, & later did quite well in the PTO. But his troops (US & Philippine) paid a high price for his failure to execute the plan for a war with Japan.
MacArthur was a buffoon, as Korea greatly emphasised. He insisted on retaking the Philippines when most others said "no". The aim was to go directly for Japan. The Japanese on the Philippines were isolated unable to contribute anything, so best left there using the resources to aim directly at Japan getting the war over quickly reducing casualties. Compared to the British the US did not have a lot of boots on the ground against the Japanese, so using what they had for a diversion was not that bright with many US generals voicing their disapproval.
It was not continuous fighting against the Japanese. The US troops held out on a peninsular - Battan, defensively. BTW, one of my best friends is Filipino.
Did you know that Stilwell was in Burma helping the British as early as January 1942?
Link to an interesting article that details the British being shall we say.... less than adapt at holding Burma...….
It was not continuous fighting against the Japanese. The US troops held out on a peninsular - Battan, defensively. BTW, one of my best friends is Filipino.
ya,there was that two month gap between that and that small skirmish on Guadalcanal...………
The Japanese lost 24,000 men...…….on the ground.
The unopposed Japanese landings in the Philippines was deliberate. The Americans never had the forces available to meet the Japanese head on. The plan was to take up defensive positions in Bataan until reinforcements came.
Most of the Filipinos and Singaporeans who went through the war have passed. The younger generation in both countries have little or no knowledge of the war and don’t share the animosities of the older generation. The Gurkhas are still in Singapore and have been recruited into police units and special security services.
Yah, the war plan that MacArthur was to implement was not to defend the beaches. He was to launch a spoiling air attack on the IJ air bases in Formosa, thereby shorting IJ's fighters & bombers from destroying the USAAF in Philippines. For whatever reason, MacArthur never launched those attacks, & consequently lost his air force, & the IJ tac air was free to support the IJ landings & bomb & attack tactical targets - roads, supply dumps, arty positions, any hardened positions. He lost his forward supplies (on the beaches) to the invading IJ troops, & his troops weren't in position, & I don't think they were dug in. MacArthur had altered the Philippines war plans - but without making the logistical & training (of the Philippine regular army units) preparations necessary. Nor did he construct bunkers & beach obstacles, arty positions covering all the likely beaches (on Luzon) - think the first 20 minutes or so of Saving Private Ryan. That would have stymied the first wave, @ least - if the arty & ammo & crews & bunkers & obstacles had been in place. & supporting troops to seal off any leakers.
The opening of the Philippines campaign was not MacArthur @ his best.
The US did not continually fight the Japanese on the ground. US boots on the ground was small to the British contribution against the Japanese. The US Navy focused, quite rightly, to destroy as much as possible of the Japanese navy - the only way they could get at them. If the US Navy had fixed the MK 14 torpedo immediately the war in the Pacific would have been over much sooner. They were pretending that there was nothing wrong with the torpedo. US subs were hitting even aircraft carriers as well as the many transport ships, but they were not sinking.
In 1942 US subs fired 1,442 torpedoes and sunk only 109 mainly small ships. The MK 14 was a dud. All hey had to do was go to the British who had an excellent torpedo, with them guiding them to rectify the problems.
Last edited by John-UK; 03-24-2019 at 08:34 AM..
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