THE ROAD TO MANILA
Villard, Oswald Garrison
The Road To Manila By Oswald Garrison Villard Villard HOWEVER disappointing the delays in the Leyte campaign, it is impossible to withhold admiration for the successful landing of our large army...
...The chief danger is whether the manpower pool will hold out, as is proved by the Army's announcement that they will draft 150,000 more men in the next two months, and 900,000 by July 1. Evidently, however, Gen...
...Yet with quite unexpected swiftness came Geh...
...Nothing could more clearly illustrate the almost boundless resources of the United States than the-fact, that Gen...
...Gen...
...But Washington has wisely warned that we may be facing a long, difficult, and bloody campaign before we finally retake Manila...
...Douglas Mac Arthur was able to get together a fleet of 800 transports and warships with which to land an army of probably much more than 100,000 men on Luzon immediately after the Leyte campaign...
...He is now on territory which he thoroughly knows, in which he has conducted maneuvers in peacetime, and the Japanese decision not to put up any fight on the shore but to let MacArthur's troops come into Luzon gives Gen...
...Without meaning in anyway to detract from the admirable defense made by the American forces in Bataan, the fact probably is that the stand of the Mac-Arthur-Wainwright forces on the Bataan Peninsula could have been shortened a great deal if the Japanese had decided that that was their best move...
...But the observers stress the fact that his strategical moves are excellent and that he is one general who is really determined to sacrifice just as few American lives as possible...
...They admit that he is egotistical and stagey...
...MacArthur is confident that he has been given the forces that he needs or he would certainly not have attempted the great and final task of winning the Philippines by conquering Luzon and taking Manila...
...Only those familiar with the difficulties of supplying armies at a long distance from their bases can fully realize what an achievement this has been in terms of logistics...
...That the Japa- nese have deliberately planned not to oppose the invasion in the Lingayen Gulf area is shown by the fact that they themselves took Manila in the same way in 1941...
...Instead of that, they contained our troops in Bataan while they spread in other directions over Luzon, knowing that no reinforcements or supplies of any importance could reach our troops...
...It will be worth watching to see if Gen...
...MacArthur's prestige...
...MacArthur's leadership...
...MacArthur will also duplicate this Japanese strategy or whether he will decide to put everything he has into the Lingayen drive...
...Mac-Arthur is handling his job with remarkable skill...
...By Dec...
...The speed of this latest blow against the Japanese is bound to have a tremendouus effect upon the enemy morale and will indubitably increase Gen...
...MacArthur's attack upon Luzon...
...The Leyte invasion called for hundreds of vessels, and although hostilities seem pretty nearly at an end it is obvious that a considerable garrison must still be maintained there...
...28 Manila was already gravely threatened...
...7 to Dec...
...28,1941, the Japanese made six landings on Luzon and one in Mindanao which, it is believed, completed the conquest of the latter island in that short time...
...In any event, he has made a splendid start with practically no losses, and at this writing the prospects of a relatively short campaign in Luzon are hopeful...
...Competent authorities who have returned from the Pacific, including high officers, are outspoken in their admiration of Gen...
...No one can doubt what the outcome of any such open clash will be...
...That it can be undertaken on such a scale, especially in view of the increasing demands upon the United States for more ships and more men and more material for the warfare on the frontiers of Germany and elsewhere, is, I repeat, an extraordinary testimonial to the almost boundless powers of the United States...
...Indeed, the Lingayen approach is the only possible one that would not involve campaigning through mountains over difficult terrain...
...Soon after the Japanese landings on the Lingayen Gulf in 1941, they also put ashore invading forces at Atimonan and Mauban on the shores of Laman Bay on the southeast coast only 90 to 100 miles from Manila, with excellent macadam roads to that city though they lead over hills and mountains...
...There is no doubt that this is steadily rising...
...MacArthur a first-class opportunity to land large forces in readiness for the first large-sized battles in open country between the Japanese and ourselves...
...Japan's 1941 Strategy It is interesting to recall that, during the first three weeks 6f war, from Dec...
...MacArthur's Skill There is still considerable question as to whether the Philippines should have been invaded at this time, but, granting that, the opinion prevails that Gen...
...The Road To Manila By Oswald Garrison Villard Villard HOWEVER disappointing the delays in the Leyte campaign, it is impossible to withhold admiration for the successful landing of our large army in the Lingayen Gulf area of Luzon and the rapid advances toward Manila...
...Every time we take an island and put a garrison on it we increase the burden upon our military transportation in the Pacific, and require more ships with which to carry on...
Vol. 9 • January 1945 • No. 5
