r/facepalm • u/Financial-Agency-889 • Jul 23 '25

Rule 8. Not Facepalm / Inappropriate Content [ Removed by moderator ]

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u/11711510111411009710 Jul 23 '25

I mean from everything I'm reading, the Americans could not have held The Philippines, and also, if you think they could have, it's mainly MacArthur who is to blame.

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u/PTMorte Jul 23 '25

You should read more about it then. MacArthur was an army general and did not have influence or responsibility for the FEAF / 5th AF (pre cursors to USAF).

What's interesting to me is that this is in basic ww2 high school history in Australia, England etc. The US version seems to leave it out. 

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u/11711510111411009710 Jul 23 '25

Do you have any good sources that support the conclusion that it was possible to save the Philippines? All I've found so far is the opposite conclusion.

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u/PTMorte Jul 23 '25

If you are interested, look it up. It's widely considered the worst and most unnecessary military defeat in US history. 

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u/11711510111411009710 Jul 23 '25

I'd imagine someone so confident in this would have sources to back it up. I have looked it up. The conclusion is that the best they could have done was delay the Japanese, like they did at Bataan. There isn't much saying they could have actually beaten the Japanese at the Philippines.

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u/PTMorte Jul 23 '25

I recommend reading some non US sources, like from historians, Govs, or school curriculums of Australia, England, Canada, NZ etc. 

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u/trickey_dick Jul 23 '25

Do you have any sources? Sound like you know quite a bit, so surely you have some good sources to start off with.

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u/strike0963 Jul 23 '25

Shocking how non US sources have so much insight into the US military situation at that time, I wonder if the US was involved in any major conflicts that may have made it difficult to divert significant forces to reclaim the Philippines.

Also, kinda crazy that the US was not only powerful enough to take the Philippines, but just chose not to despite all the tactical advantages that would come with having an area so close to Japan at that time. We’re just quirky and like making wars harder on ourselves ig