America's Second Pearl Harbor: Japan's Brutal Attack of the Philippines

[TomSea]

America's Second Pearl Harbor: Japan's Brutal Attack of the Philippines
Michael Peck
10:35 AM / Originally published onWarrior

Tokyo's attack did not come as a total surprise: war had been in the air for months before December 8.

At 3 a.m. Philippine Time on December 8, 1941, Gen. Douglas MacArthur was awakened from his slumber by a telephone call informing him that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor just an hour earlier.

At about noon in the Philippines, nearly two hundred Japanese Mitsubishi “Betty” bombers and “Zero” fighters struck Clark Field, America’s main military airbase in the Philippines. The attackers were supposed to arrive at the same time as the Pearl Harbor strike, to maximize surprise and catch American planes on the ground. But takeoff had been delayed by fog over their Taiwanese bases. Arriving at Clark Field after a grueling seven-hundred-mile flight, the tired Japanese pilots expected to find the skies swarming with American fighters.

Instead, the skies were clear. Even better, instead of being safely dispersed to secondary airfields, U.S. planes on the ground were parked wingtip to wingtip, perfect targets for bombs and machine-gun fire. Within minutes, the powerful U.S. air fleet at Clark Field—the backbone of America’s Philippine defenses—had been smashed.

This story was originally published by The National Interest

It was a catastrophe almost as devastating as Pearl Harbor. Yet at least Pearl Harbor’s defenders could offer the tepid excuse that they had been caught by surprise tactically, if not strategically. On the other hand, American forces in the Philippines had been alerted nine hours before the Japanese struck.

There would be much blame to go around. But the man who earned the most blame was Douglas MacArthur.

More: http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/story/1760354-america-s-second-pearl-harbor?s=196

[Joe Wooten]

More to blame was Richard Sutherland, MacArthur's Chief of Staff. He stopped Brereton from dispersing his planes and kept them milling uselessly in the air until they had to re-fuel and feed the crews. The planes were lined up to refuel, not for security like at Pearl Harbor. Trent Telenko over at Chicago Boyz site has written extensively on this subject.

http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/54377.html