Thomas W. Schaaf Sr., a
retired naval aviator whose aircraft carriers frequently moored in Subic Bay, Philippines,
offers a review in the Washington Times of James M. Scott's Rampage: Macarthur, Yamashita, and
the Battle of Manila.
“Rampage” is the story of Gen. Douglas
MacArthur’s return to the
Philippines after his escape from Corregidor on April 9, 1942, with
this family and a small staff aboard four PT boats. Barely one month later
Bataan fell followed by the surrender of Corregidor a little more than three
weeks later.
The rugged Philippine
peninsula where thousands of MacArthur’s men had fought and died had become an
emotional brand burned deep into the general’s conscience. By mid-1944 the Navy
and Marine Corps had battled the Japanese across the central Pacific and some
senior naval leaders were advocating bypassing the
Philippines and saving American lives by avoiding a costly invasion
of the
Philippines when the imminent fall of Japan would end their
occupation.
This proposal had outraged MacArthur and he refused to back down. In a showdown in a beachfront mansion in Hawaii where the Joint Chiefs and the president were meeting, MacArthur fought to bend American strategy in his favor going so far as to threaten Roosevelt.
This proposal had outraged MacArthur and he refused to back down. In a showdown in a beachfront mansion in Hawaii where the Joint Chiefs and the president were meeting, MacArthur fought to bend American strategy in his favor going so far as to threaten Roosevelt.
Before World War II, Manila was
known as the “Pearl of the Orient.” In the chapters leading to the deadly and
destructive Battle of Manila
in February 1945, Mr. Scott describes how our policymakers after the Spanish
American War (1898) realized Manila would
need a face-lift if it were to be the front door to the markets of China, India
and Malaya. Manila
had blossomed into a 14-square-mile modern city, one whose population had
tripled to 623,000 residents by the eve of the war in the Pacific.
And a brutal war it was. “The
stage was now set for the Battle of Manila, a
battle distinguished for ferocity and destruction. It is the story of how that
beautiful city was sacked by the Japanese Army when General MacArthur returned
to Manila.
The carnage followed for 29 days.”
You can read the rest of the
review via the below link:
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