We Shall Return!

MacArthur's Commanders and the Defeat of Japan, 1942-1945

William M. Leary

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780813191058, 9780813116549
• eBook ISBN: 9780813187419
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

They were the forgotten commanders of World War II. While the names of Bradley and Patton became household words for Americans, few could identify Krueger or Eichelberger. They served under General Douglas MacArthur, a military genius with an enormous ego who dominated publicity from the Southwest Pacific during the American advance from Australia, through New Guinea, to the Philippines. While people at home read about the great victories that were won by "MacArthur's navy" and "MacArthur's air force," his subordinates labored in obscurity, fearful lest attention from the press lead to their replacement.

Historians too have paid little attention to the men who fought so well in the far reaches of the Pacific, and not a single biography has appeared in the decades since V-J Day. Yet General Blamey played a key role in the early battles of New Guinea. Generals Krueger and Eichelberger led American armies to major victories over the Japanese. General Kenney was one of the foremost air strategists of the war, while few airmen could match General Whitehead's tactical brilliance. Admiral Kinkaid took a crucial part in one of the greatest naval engagements in history. Admiral Barbey was an acknowledged master of amphibious warfare.

We Shall Return! addresses a serious shortcoming in the literature of World War II. Revealed for the first time is the full extent of the contributions made by MacArthur's commanders to the defeat of the Japanese. As the authors of these essays so ably demonstrate, many of MacArthur's bold decisions and innovative tactics were urged upon him by his subordinates. Clearly, these men deserve more credit for his successes than they have received.

NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS

AMF	Australian Military Forces
AWM	Australian War Memorial
CAB	Cabinet Office (Great Britain)
CCS	Combined Chiefs of Staff
CG	Commanding General
CIGS	Chief of the Imperial General Staff
COS	Chiefs of Staff
LCMD	Library of Congress, Manuscript Division
Msg	Message
NOA	Navy Operational Archives
ONH	Office of Naval History
OPD	War Department Operations Division
OpOrder	operation order
OpPlan	operation plan
Phib For	amphibious force
PREM	Prime Minister’s Office (Great Britain)
RG	record group
USAF	U.S. Air Force
USNI	U.S. Naval Institute
WO	War Office (Great Britain)

PREFACE

1. Douglas MacArthur, Reminiscences (New York, 1964), pp. 275-76.

2. Ibid., p. 145.

3. Daniel E. Barbey, MacArthur’s Amphibious Navy (Annapolis, 1969), pp. 24-25.

4. Jay Luvaas, ed., Dear Miss Em: General Eichelberger’s War in the Pacific, 1942-1945 (Westport, Conn., 1972), p. 20.

5. Gordon Walker, “General Walter Krueger: Mystery Man of the Pacific,” Christian Science Weekly Magazine, June 9, 1945, p. 3.

6. See Roger Olaf Egeberg, The General (New York, 1983), pp. 40-41, and Weldon E. Rhodes, Flying MacArthur to Victory (College Station, Tex., 1987).

7. D. Clayton James, The Years of MacArthur, 3 vols. (Boston, 1972-85), 2:538.

8. Leary, Interview with C.D. Eddleman, August 24, 1985.

DOUGLAS MACARTHUR AND THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN

1. The definitive biography of Douglas MacArthur is D. Clayton James, The Years of MacArthur, 3 vols. (Boston, 1970-85), of which vol. 2 covers World War II. Carol Petillo, Douglas MacArthur: The Philippine Years (Bloomington, 1981), explores the general’s obsession with the islands and offers psychological insights into his personality. The volumes of the official series, The United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific, provide basic material on strategy, operations, and logistics. Louis Morton, Strategy and Command: The First Two Years (Washington, D.C., 1962), in the official series, and Ronald H. Spector, Eagle against the Sun: The American War with Japan (New York, 1984), are basic overall accounts.

2. Louis Morton, The Fall of the Philippines (Washington, D.C., 1953), pp. 79-90; Walter D. Edmonds, They Fought with What They Had (Boston, 1951), pp. 73-109; Robert F. Futrell, “Air Hostilities in the Philippines, 8 December 1941,” Air University Review 16 (January-February 1965):33-45.

3. Carol M. Petillo, “Douglas MacArthur and Manuel Quezon: A Note on an Imperial Bond,” Pacific Historical Review 48 (1979):107-17. See also Petillo, MacArthur, pp. 203-13. Petillo suggests that Washington approved the gift from fear that MacArthur was losing his nerve and needed this encouragement in order to continue a maximum effort against the Japanese.

4. Douglas MacArthur, Reminiscences (New York, 1965), p. 158.

5. Lida Mayo, Bloody Buna (Garden City, 1974), pp. 171-77.

6. Australia’s military role is described in the multivolume official Australian and British histories, Australia in the War of 1939-1945 and History of the Second World War: The War against Japan. Blamey is quoted from John Robertson, Australia at War, 1939-1945 (Melbourne, 1981), p. 179, a separate one-volume account. See also David M. Horner, Crisis in Command: Australian Generalship and the Japanese Threat, 1941-1943 (Canberra, 1978).

7. MacArthur to Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall, January 10, 1943, quoted in Morton, Strategy and Command, p. 375.

8. The statement was made by his chief of staff, apparently quoting MacArthur; ibid., p. 542, n. 60.

9. James, MacArthur, 2:864, n. 43; MacArthur, Reminiscences, pp. 181-82.

10. Quoted in James, MacArthur, 2:349.

11. Maurice Matloff, Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1943-1944 (Washington, D.C., 1959), chap. 17; Robert W. Coakley and Richard M. Leighton, Global Logistics and Strategy, 1943-1945 (Washington, D.C., 1968), chaps. 16-20.

12. Forrest Pogue, “The Military in a Democracy: A Review of American Caesar,” International Security 3 (1979):60-62, 66-68.

13. E.B. Potter, Nimitz (Annapolis, 1976), p. 280.

14. James, MacArthur, 2:189.

15. MacArthur, Reminiscences, pp. 178-79.

16. Ronald Lewin, The American Magic: Codes, Ciphers, and the Defeat of Japan (New York, 1982), chaps. 8 and 12; Alexander S. Cochran, “MacArthur, ULTRA, et La Guerre du Pacifique,” Revue d’histoire de la deuxième guerre mondiale et des conflits contemporains 34 (January 1984);17-27; Edward J. Drea, “ULTRA Intelligence and General Douglas MacArthur’s Leap to Hollandia, January-April 1944,” in Michael Handel, ed., Intelligence and Military Operations (forthcoming). I am indebted to Dr. Drea for a prepublication copy of his manuscript.

17. MacArthur to the Chief of Military History, March 5, 1943, quoted in John Miller, jr. [sic], CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul (Washington, D.C., 1959), p. 173.

18. The most reliable accounts of the L...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Maps
• Acknowledgments
• Dedication
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Douglas MacArthur and the War against Japan
• Blamey and MacArthur: The Problem of Coalition Warfare
• Walter Krueger: MacArthur’s Fighting General
• George C. Kenney: MacArthur’s Premier Airman
• Thomas C. Kinkaid: MacArthur’s Master of Naval Warfare
• Robert L. Eichelberger: MacArthur’s Fireman
• Ennis C. Whitehead: Aerial Tactician
• Daniel E. Barbey: Amphibious Warfare Expert
• Notes
• Maps
• Bibliographical Essay
• Contributors
• Index