School of War Ep 222: Peter Mansoor on MacArthur’s Return to the Philippines
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Aug 15, 2025 
Colonel Peter Mansoor, a retired U.S. Army officer and military historian at Ohio State University, dives into the intense liberation of the Philippines during World War II. He reveals the significance of Douglas MacArthur's overlooked strategies and the critical role of guerrilla warfare. Mansoor shares personal insights on military leadership and decision-making, drawing parallels between historical and modern conflicts. He also addresses troubling war crimes and the complexities of command responsibility faced by military leaders during this tumultuous campaign.
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Scale Of The Philippines Campaign
- The Philippines campaign was the largest U.S. Army campaign in the Pacific and rivaled major European operations in scale.
- Its size and casualties make it a distinct, often-overlooked theater rather than a minor subset of Pacific island fighting.
MacArthur’s War Plan Orange Revision
- MacArthur altered War Plan Orange by forward-deploying forces and moving Bataan supplies to the beaches, which the Japanese captured.
- When he finally withdrew to Bataan, the peninsula lacked supplies and the defenders starved despite a valiant defense.
Limits Of Early Airpower And Strategy
- Even if early B-17 employment had gone perfectly, it would not have changed the Philippines' initial defeat trajectory.
- MacArthur misread U.S. 'Germany-first' strategy and overestimated immediate reinforcement prospects.
