Setting the Stage for Disaster: Japanese Invasion of the Philippines 1941 - Part 1 

Cool story bro. Thanks for sharing.

You need to bring this to a Philippine historical society group sites to preserve this document for future generations to see.

@@DVE-zq1hs yeah maybe once I inherit them along with his Purple Heart

My uncle was a scout, fought in defensive battles around Agno river, Carmen, Tarlac all the way to Bataan, he surrendered in Corregidor. My other uncle was in the Bataan death march, died in POW camp at Capas, Tarlac. Grateful to all who served and the people who supported and eventually suffered during the war.

YOUR LOLO IS A WWII HERO. HE MUST BE RECOGNIZED. PLEASE BE CONNECTED WITH THE PHILIPPINES GOVERNMENT AND THE PHILIPPINE HISTORICAL COMMISSION. ❤️🇵🇭🙏💪

I really enjoy reading the stories of their grandparents fighting in WW2. My grandfather is a Korean War Veteran. He was sent to Korea to fight against the Chinese soldiers and he just died last year at the age of 92 y/o. Just wanted to know, is your grandfather still alive until now?

aparri is the largest landing of japanese forces but not mentioned.

The name Philippine Insurrection was a deliberate mislabeling of the war launched by the Americans against a newly independent Philippine government that had won its freedom from Spain. In the 1990s, the US Library of Congress abandoned the term Philippine Insurrection and reclassified the conflict as the Philippine-American War, which is the way all modern accounts also classify it.

He is willing to fight until death. Without reinforcement that time. FDR order him to leave and his Forces left behind. And rest is History for Gen.Macrthur . All Filipino loves and owes him everything for his sacrifice.

How was it his fault? Did you watch the video. He was originally task with preparing the Philippines with a military as a field marshel. The soldiers could not speak each other's language and they were newly trained.

Douglas MacArthur made bad strategic decisions at the start of the war, but so did everybody else, including the British and the Dutch. However, upon reaching Australia, MacArthur learned from his earlier mistakes and became one of the best theater commanders and strategists of World War II, all the way to his work in Japan and Korea, and just before he was fired by President Harry Truman.

Bad strategic decision. Really we must understand the history and story and life of Gen Macarthur. He was only assigned. Followed the orders of FDR. To Organize and train Philippine military under the colony of American flag. As a Field marshall. He has no idea of war coming. He is given honorable discharge and retired plan to go home. When war broke out .He was reinstated by FDR. As over all commander. Of USSAFFE . He fled left the Island also by following orders. Now his strategic plan of war. For reconquest. And liberate every island occupied by enemy in the Pacific is not a mistake. But a careful skill. Of less casualty of his soldiers. If you compare the DDAY of Normandy. Period we all know that.✌️

​@@SelwynClydeAlojipan Lmao at the start of the war? No, he made a lot of bad decisions during the defense of Manila in the late stages of the war because he cared more about how he looked in the press. Him and his officers did not listen to Filipino guerilla intelligence reports about the Japanese setting up defenses in Manila that could have saved them time and planned a more strategic offense. Instead they chose to bomb the shit out of Manila. For god's sake, he planned a victory parade in the streets of Manila before Manila was secured. He told the press that the Battle of Manila was already won before it even took place. His decisions took a hit on his soldiers' morale because people back home (US) thought the war in the Philippines was already over when it wasn't. It took the US 1 month to clear out the Japanese in Manila when they thought they could clear them out in less than a week. McArthur fought for Manila because he was like a god in the Philippines. His life in Manila is nothing like his life back home. He lived in the penthouse of Manila Hotel (5-star hotel). For a brief time, he got himself a sugar baby and she called him 'daddy'. He got re-married. His son, Arthur MacArthur IV, was born in the Philippines.

It was already scrambled by Brereton under the orders from Hap Arnold.

Perhaps you need to review your response. Sutherland would not allow Brexton access to mccarthur in those crucial hours when the bomber force could have been well on their way to bomb the Japanese invasion/bomber fleets in Taiwan. Instead Mccarthur prevaricated until almost midday and then finally ok’d the order to fly. In the mean time Brereton then had to land his aircraft to fuel and arm and that’s when they were caught on the ground. Again, why hasn’t anyone in the US questioned, more closely, Mccarthur’s lack of interest and more importantly his disregard of plan rainbows for offensive operations.

There's also little to no advanced recon of the bases in Formosa and the Japanese Imperial fighters and bombers were delayed by deep cloud cover for 6 hours.

The American headquarters also deliberately lined up all the bombers and fighters in the middle of the runways instead of scattering them along the sides near the trees. Ostensibly, it was to make it easier to rearm or refuel the planes but it seems that the air force HQ were more concerned about possible sabotage attempts by the Filipinos instead of a Japanese air attack. The result was that they made it very easy for the Japanese attack planes to destroy nearly all B-17 bombers and P-40 fighters in the first strafing run. This resulted in the near-total destruction of the Far East Air Force on the first day of war, similar to the fate of the American battleships at Pearl Harbor just a few hours before.

Mcarthurs blunder

Thank you!

Thanks!

Thank you for your comment.

I would say the campaign in and around Guadalcanal was the turning point. There were still several battles where the Japanese had the upper hand after Midway.

The Japanese back then were just obsessed with ridding Asia of all European influences. Took Vietnam from the French in one week, Singapore from the British in one week, and Malaysia-Indonesia from the Dutch in 3 months. Sine the Americans armed the Philippines, that took 5 months which screwed their timetable for Australia. To find your point, i think the Japanese were too blinded by their ambitions to be a world power and never anticipated the response coming from the Americas. Nobody back then knew how strong America really was.

Thank you!

YOU ARE WRONG!!!the 16th IJA division was a seasoned well experienced division prior to the invasion of the Philippines they are involved with many battles during the SINO-JAPANESE war in the late 30s including the Nanjing massacre!!

Thank you very much!

We have the benefit of hindsight. MacArthur did not. He thought he had until the late Spring of '42 to prepare the Commonwealth of the Philippines Armed Forces. He thought by then the Philippine Commonwealth Army would be well trained by then and be able to defend the beaches from landings. He was far from perfect, and failed once combat began to provide his Air Forces authorization to go on the offensive, this led to the debacle that befell the Far East Air Forces who were caught landing and refueling from being aloft. That said USAFFE forces fought valiantly, and held out far better than other allied forces in the Far East. They could have lasted longer if War Plan Orange was followed rather than the more ambitious Rainbow War Plan, but again that is hindsight. And even War Plan Orange would have led to a surrender given the plan was for US Navy forces to fight their way to the Philippines to provide relief, which would be a near impossible expectation given the loses during the attack at Pearl Harbor.

The War Plan Orange was created before the advent of air power anyway and therefore very archaic and didn't take into account the morale, organizational and logistic effects of civilian refugees moving with the retreating Allied troops.

@@Jalu3 Then explain why even AFTER the Pearl Harbor attack, he would not let the commander of the Far East Air Force Gen. Brereton disperse the planes much less bomb the Japanese airfields on Formosa (Taiwan today)? MacArthur's stupidity resulted in the loss of almost every plane of the FEAF and air cover after the Jap invasion.

Thanks!

Sounds like more Filipino pride hides the truth. There are lots of Spanish churches, forts, and Catholicism all over the Philippines that counters your misplaced pride.

Thank you! I also liked that old voice, but it seems this one has a better pronunciation of names and toponyms.

What did Manila massacre sites look like?

@@racooncity3325 Given a chance, Mother Earth will heal itself, and the jungle reclaimed our ugly scars. Seeing modern pictures of the same areas that I seen- I can’t tell too much the differences. It’s still a poor third world country.

Thank you very much!

Not true. Thats Hong Kong, not Japan.

Thanks, will do!

Thanks!!!

Manila was declared an Open City to save it from destruction.

The Filipinos are hopeless. They can’t get it together. Consider these neighbors: Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Jakarta. All have underground subway train stations. The Philippines does not have a subway from downtown to the airport. The airport is dated and needs to be replaced with a modern airport. All those other places also have modern airports. Years ago, I tried to take a taxi to a Christmas party. Stuck in traffic for hours and having to take a piss, I suffered holding it in. Hours later, the taxi arrived at the location, nobody there. The party had ended several hours earlier, but we did not make it, because stuck in traffic. The Philippines are hopelessly lost. They can not and will not ever get it together. Plus, they have stolen from me many times. In a bar, they spiked my drink with a very strong drunk which might have killed me. These people are no good! In 2024, they can not even keep the electricity turned on.

Underestimation really is just a symptom of an ongoing war, though. If underestimation wasn't such a popular sentiment, Pearl Harbor wouldn't have taken place. As did the Germans underestimating the Russians, and the Russians underestimating the Finns during the Winter War in 1941 - underestimation really was just an ongoing sentiment during WW2.

Your comment is a case of perfect hindsight.

There's literally a tourist destination in Davao City called 'D Japanese Tunnel' which was a tunnel built by the Japanese during WW2 lol it's a restaurant-resort now but they kept the tunnel. The Japanese invaded Davao along with other islands in the Southern part of the Philippines in 1942.

Total nonsense. Take your fake religion and your fake god somewhere else.

Which is more than we can say for Dime Bag Donnie.

That's not exactly right but that was the sentiment back then hence the nickname 'Dugout Doug.' He was ordered by Roosevelt to retreat to Australia.