We Shall Return! SOUTHWESTPACIFIC THEATEROFOPERATIONS 26JULY1942 MILES 500 0 500 1000 E3 Ell Fi LEGEND CHINA TheaterBoundary JapaneselineofPenetration : ,"Q ;Y///////////h BAruissbtraanlieanLiDneefenseAreas ) J~lMAWA O'ORMOSA HODIKon. 1300E 0 ......----~--HI-LlP-PI.N.E. 20N VI Mani' IS;'NDS /~VJf' ~ 'A1AU. ~t.?Yao lSgoE 0° TIMOR CORAL 1l1So"-SE SEA SEA Ir...~ I. NEW ~ CALEDONII<~ • TASMAN SEA We Shall Return! MacArthur's Commanders and the Defeat ofJapan 1942-1945 WILLIAM M. LEARY, Editor THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Publicationofthisvolumewasmadepossibleinpart byagrantfromtheNationalEndowmentfortheHumanities. CopYright©1988byTheUniversityPressofKentucky Paperbackedition2004 TheUniversityPressofKentucky ScholarlypublisherfortheCommonwealth, servingBellarmineUnIversity, BereaCollege,Centre CollegeofKentucky,EasternKentuckyUniversity, TheFilsonHistoricalSociety,GeorgetownCollege, KentuckyHistoricalSociety,KentuckyStateUniversity, MoreheadStateUniversity, MurrayStateUniversity, NorthernKentuckyUniversity,TransylvaniaUniversity, UniversityofKentucky, UniversityofLouisville, andWesternKentuckyUniversity. Allrightsreserved. EditorialandSalesOffices:TheUniversityPressofKentucky 663SouthLimestoneStreet,Lexington,Kentucky40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com Frontispiece. SouthwestPacificTheaterofOperations,July26,1942. Source: HughJ. Casey, ed.,Engineersofthe SouthwestPacific,1941-1945,vol.6(Washington,DC.,1951). PhotosonchapteropeningpagesarecourtesyofthefollOwing: MacArthur,Krueger,U.S.Army; Blarney,AustralianWarMemorial;Kenney,Whitehead,U.S.AIrForce;Kinkaid,U.S. Navy; Eichelberger,DukeUniversityLibrary;Barbey,U.S. NavalInstitute. TheLibraryofCongresshascatalogedthehardcovereditionasfollows: Weshallreturn! :MacArthur'scommandersandthedefeatofJapan. 1942-1945/William M. Leary,editor. p. em. Bibliography:p. Includesindex. ISBN0-8131-1654-6 1.WorldWar,1939-1945-Campaigns-PacificArea. 2. MacArthur, Douglas,1880-1964. 3. UnitedStates-ArmedForces-Biography. I.Leary,William M. (William Matthew),1934- D767.9.W42 1988 940.54'26'0924-dc19 88-2731 PaperISBN0-8131-9105-X Thisbookisprintedonacid-freerecycledpapermeeting therequirementsoftheAmericanNationalStandard forPermanenceinPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials. @(i} ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica. ~A~A~.~ MemberoftheAssociationof ~~. AmericanUniversityPresses CONTENTS ListofMaps vi Acknowledgments vii Preface ix Abbreviations xiii DouglasMacArthurandtheWaragainstJapan 1 STANLEYL. FALK BlarneyandMacArthur:TheProblemofCoalitionWarfare 23 D.M. HORNER WalterKrueger: MacArthur'sFightingGeneral 60 WILLIAMM. LEARY GeorgeC. Kenney: MacArthur'sPremierAirman 88 HERMANS. WOLK ThomasC. Kinkaid: MacArthur'sMasterofNavalWarfare 115 GERALDE. WHEELER RobertL. Eichelberger: MacArthur'sFireman 155 JAYLUVAASANDJOHNF. SHORTAL EnnisC. Whitehead:AerialTactician 178 DONALDM. GOLDSTEIN DanielE. Barbey:AmphibiousWarfareExpert 208 PAOLOE. COLETTA Notes 244 Maps 274 BibliographicalEssay 282 Contributors 292 Index 295 MAPS SouthwestPacificTheaterofOperations frontispiece PapuaandNortheastNewGuinea 275 TheCaptureofBuna 276 NetherlandsandNortheastNewGuinea 277 TheSixthArmyPlan, Leyte 278 TheBattleofLeyteGulf 279 LingayenArea, Luzon 280 CentralPlains, Luzon 281 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS WhenJohn GarratyaskedmetodoabiographicalsketchofGeneralWal terKruegerforthe DictionaryofAmericanBiography, Ihadnoideathat thetaskwouldleadtoavolumeofessaysonMacArthur'sseniorfieldcom manders inWorldWarII. Kruegerprovedan intriguingtopic, however. During the course ofmy research, I was surprised to learn that so little had beenwritten abouthim or about his associates in the Southwest Pa cific. I decided that a more extended treatment oftheircontributions to MacArthur's triumphant return to the Philippines wouldfill a significant gapintheliteratureofthewar. D. ClaytonJames ofMississippi State University, MacArthur's fore mostbiographer, generouslyencouragedmeandadvisedmeattheincep tion ofthe project, while Stanley L. Falk came to my rescue at several crucial points along the way. This volume would not have been possible without their support. Alvin D. Coox of San Diego State University, a source of wise counsel over two decades, made several helpful sug gestions. Lester D. Stephens, head of the history department at the UniversityofGeorgia, providedhis usualfull measureofsympatheticun derstanding. I amindeedfortunatetocountthembothasfriends. Mywife Margaret suggested the title; I am grateful to herfor that-and for a lot more. I havededicatedthisbooktothememoryofamanwhomI nevermet butwhose letters over the years gave me great insight into the nature of war. TOTHEMEMORYOF LieutenantColonelRaymondC. Mullen, Jr. (1926-1986) PREFACE General Douglas MacArthurreached theendofwhatsometimesseemed apersonalcrusadeonSeptember2, 1945. Standingonthedeckofthebat tleship Missouri in the calmwaters ofTokyo Bay, he watched with deep satisfactionas representatives oftheJapanese governmentsigned the in strumentofsurrender that endedWorld War II. "Todaythe guns are si lent,"MacArthurannouncedtotheworldonradioattheconclusionofthe ceremony. He spoke about the winning ofa great victory, the end ofa great tragedy, and he recalled the "long, tortuous trail from those grim daysofBataanandCorregidor."l The road to Tokyo Bay had begun in March 1942, when MacArthur reachedAustraliatiredandfrustrated aftersufferingaseriesofbitterde feats in the Philippines. The president ofthe United States, he told re porters at Adelaide, had ordered him to leave Corregidor, but this departure did not signalan endofthe battlefor the islands. He intended to lead a reliefforce back to the Philippines. "I came through," he an nounced, "andIshallreturn."2 MacArthur made good on his promise, if not as quickly as he had hoped. He had good reason to be proudofhis triumph, andhe deserved theacclaimthatitbroughthim, buthehadalotofhelp. In many ways, MacArthur's subordinates were the forgotten men of World WarII. While European battlefieldcommanders such as Bradley and Patton becamefamiliar names to the American people, Krueger and Eichelberger were relatively unknown. MacArthur dominated press re leases from his theater. "Like everyone else in the Southwest Pacific," amphibiouscommanderViceAdmiral DanielE. Barbeylaterrecalled, "I soonfound myselffullyintothehabitofreferringto'MacArthur'stroops,' 'MacArthur's planes,' and 'MacArthur's ships.' When General Eichel "3 berger did receive favorable notice following the Battle ofBuna, he in curred the wrath of his superior. Eichelberger quickly learned that MacArthurwasnotabouttoallowanyoneto "riseupbetweenhimandhis place in history."4Thereafterhe maintained alow profile. On the eve of theplannedinvasionofJapan,awarcorrespondentfeltabletowriteabout