Why do Aussies and Kiwis hold grudges about Douglas MacArthur?

[Officer of Engineers]

So why were they not relieved?

[Albert1981]

I think maybe it had something to do with damaging morale even further by changing commanders in the midst of a war. I don't know the answer to that question.

[Officer of Engineers]

You mean like when Mac himself was relieved?

[bolo121]

Well im trying to get my friend to send me the coldest winter. Supposed to be a really good study of Mac A screwing things up in Korea written by david halberstam just before he died. The only other Korea book I recall reading was In Mortal combat by toland, which was pretty decent. The impression of walker i got from that was of a good man doing all he could for his men.

Amazon.com: The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War: David Halberstam: Books

[Officer of Engineers]

Either way, MacArthur was satisfied with both Walker and Almond. Otherwise, he would've relieved them. Again, whatever failures of Inchon and the Pusan breakouts fall straight back to MacArthur's feet.

As stated elsewhere, he would have been toast if he came up against any of the European Generals. He simply is not in that league nor in fact in Nimitz, Stillwell's, and Slim's league either.

[Albert1981]

You mean like when Mac himself was relieved?

Yes. I believe his dismissal did anger many professional soldiers who wanted a more aggressive military policy against the Chinese.

[Officer of Engineers]

Yes. I believe his dismissal did anger many professional soldiers who wanted a more aggressive military policy against the Chinese.

Not the professionals. No one ups the chain of command. No one. They may have liked him being relieved but it was a no brainer. Mac shot himself.

[Albert1981]

I disagreed with the decision to relieve MacArthur, but I do believe he was blatantly asking for it. I do not think he wanted to conduct a limited war, and refused to fight one. To him, in war there was no substitute for victory...And the Truman administration and their fellow travelers in the British Foreign Office denied him the means to achieve that victory.

[Blademaster]

Well at that time, MacArthur was pretty popular with the public and the public wanted Truman's head for relieving MacArthur. It caused the Democratic Party some points and Eisenhower used that as a plank to discredit the Democrats for being weak against Communists. However the real truth started coming out later and the public realized that Truman was right after all.

[Officer of Engineers]

Sure. Win in Korea to lose in Europe.

For all his supposed strategic insight, the ego maniac failed to see the big picture. He asked for 41 atomic bombs either forgetting or not knowing that it was more than the entire US arsenal at the time.

He wanted more troops which means denying Europe the re-enforcements needed to stare down Stalin. Stalin in turn was perfectly happy to allow the Americans to bleed in Korea, maybe even China. He couldn't care less. Not one Soviet motorized regiment even stood to.

In other words, Mac wanted to fight the exact fight Stalin wanted him to fight. Yeah, real smart.

[Albert1981]

The problem with the Truman administration and their European friends is that they never understood MacArthur. MacArthur worked and lived in the Far East for a good portion of his life. He understood the Oriental mindset better than any other American commander. He personified America to Asia for much of the first half of the 20th century. MacArthur knew that Orientals respected a winner (militarily) and he was one throughout his glorious military career.

[Albert1981]

Didn't the soviets swarm all over an IJA incursion into Russia first?

Yes, but this was before the Soviets became part of the Allies.

[Officer of Engineers]

MacArthur knew that Orientals respected a winner (militarily) and he was one throughout his glorious military career.

HORSE PUCKY!

He lost the Philipines for one. His air force was still on the ground 10 hours after Pearl Harbour. He was beaten by the Chinese. And he had the gall to flip off his CIC.

I would've relieved him.

[Triple C]

I have read some Chinese sources on the Korean War. Essentially the Chinese saw MacArthur's forces as national security threat which, considering MacArthur's anti-communism and insubordination to Trumman, had a firmer basis than mere paranoia. They also saw MacArthur's race to Yalu as a reckless move which set himself up for a decisive PLA counterblow.

More to the point, the Chinese sources agree that the PLA exhausted itself in trying to catch the motorized Americans in a pocket. The PLA leadership did not anticipate the difficulties of trying to bring up supplies through Korean terrain, or to outrun a motorized army on foot. The exact number of Chinese losses was unclear, but reportedly it was huge, many inflicted by frostbite and hypothermia.

The Chinese apparently believed that Ridgeway was a harder enemy to fight; they were not thrilled to fight positional warfare, and found Ridgeway's deliberate assaults difficult to parry.

Btw: If Mac knew Asians so well, why didn't he realize that Mao would attack him inspite of the tremendous casaulties that he believed would deter a Chinese move?

[astralis]

The problem with the Truman administration and their European friends is that they never understood MacArthur. MacArthur worked and lived in the Far East for a good portion of his life. He understood the Oriental mindset better than any other American commander. He personified America to Asia for much of the first half of the 20th century. MacArthur knew that Orientals respected a winner (militarily) and he was one throughout his glorious military career.

LOL, the "oriental" mind-set, someone stuck in the 1950s still?