1942 was a bad year for MacArthur, when Old Mai, then commander of the U.S. Far East Army and commander-in-chief of the Philippines, was in a state of wanting nothing and being afraid of what was coming.
On December 22, 1941, the main force of the Japanese 14th Army rushed to the Bay of Renyain in the north of Luzon, and the next day there were Japanese troops landing along Ramon Bay in southern Luzon, which was good, the Philippines had become a sieve, and the devils grew out like mushrooms in the ground, and by the time Lao Mai reacted, the devils had already launched an attack on the philippine inland.
Old Mai this person is crazy, but he is not stupid, seeing that the devils are already blooming on all sides of the Philippines, Old Mai pondered that he could not be hard with the devils, so he simply ran the US-Philippine coalition army to the Bataan Peninsula and Corregido Island, and finally saved the living force at hand.
After that, it may be one of the few highlight moments in Lao Mai's life, with pre-set fortifications, Lao Mai blocked the attack of the devils from January to March 1942, and even once played a tactical advantage, almost encircling the Japanese 14th Army, scaring Honma Masaharu to retreat overnight.
The short victory did not make MacArthur happy, he felt as if something was wrong, he had been fighting in the Philippines for such a long time, the White House commendation telegram was not a lot, but the reinforcements were not seen, which was not a good sign.
MacArthur knew that if he continued like this, all these people would have to pounce on the street, but there was nothing he could do, so he could only send a telegram to the White House three times a day, hoping that Roosevelt would see that everyone would pull the brothers in the face of everyone serving "Amerika".
Roosevelt can only smile bitterly when he holds old Wheat's telegram, and now the Pacific Fleet is seriously injured, and the Atlantic Fleet has to go to the sea to deal with German submarines. I have only a sunken ship.
However, Roosevelt could not sit idly by and watch MacArthur being captured by the devils, and the former chief of staff of the US Army, Grand Marshal MacArthur of the Philippines, if he was smeared by the devils and dragged down to Tokyo for circular exhibition, it would undoubtedly have a dimensional impact on the morale of the US military and even the United States. However, in comparing the current strength of the two sides, Roosevelt felt that the reinforcements were out of the game, even if they were sent, they would be adrift, but he could fish the old wheat out of the Philippines.
However, Lao Mai belongs to the donkey, you can't go against the hair, you have to let him roll the donkey down the slope, otherwise this guy will be captured by the Japanese and will never come back. So Roosevelt drafted a telegram claiming that a million troops had been prepared in Australia, and now there was a lack of a commander-in-chief to direct the counterattack.
This telegram was immediately sent to Lao Mai, who was also clear in his heart, and if he continued to stay in the Philippines, he would have to go here, and he had to flee before the situation was irreparable, but he could not let his men perceive that he had been abandoned, and Roosevelt's telegram gave him a good reason.
So the actor general immediately sang a big play, and Old Mai was "furious" in front of everyone, claiming that the president's telegram insulted his honor as a soldier, and he wanted to stay and fight with the devil. When the people around him came to persuade him, he made a look of "Roosevelt trapped me in injustice", saying that he had to go to Australia to receive the army, command the counterattack, leave Wainwright, the big unjust seed, with a bunch of small grievances as a substitute for the dead ghost, and directly run it with his cronies.
Originally, Roosevelt arranged for a submarine to meet Old Wheat, but Old Mailley ignored the submarine, and he was to evacuate to Mindanao in a PT torpedo boat, and then transfer to a B-17 bomber to fly to Australia. Old Mai gave the argument that he would rather take a pistol and duel with the devil's warship than be killed by the devil's depth bomb, which is too bad.
But don't look at the way he seems to be very brave, he actually intends to use this way to save some reputation, after all, the devil declares that his sea blockade line can't even fly over the seabirds, if he can run away under the eyes of the devil, it is a beautiful thing to show his face.
MacArthur's little abacus crackled, and the commander of the 3rd Torpedo Boat Squadron, Lieutenant John Barkley, was confused, and he was basically alive and dead. It's not that Balkley is timid, it's that he really can't handle this situation.
First of all, the sea is full of devil's warships, and if the blind cat encounters a dead rat, it is estimated that there is no time to write a suicide note. Secondly, the Filipino soldiers who were bribed by the devils added soluble wax to the fuel, resulting in a blockage between the oil filter and the carburetor nozzle of the engine, and the torpedo boat needed maintenance to start normally, but now there was no spare hardware, and the old military hat could only be tied to the oil circuit as a filter. This method does not cure the symptoms, if the engine is turned off halfway, then they can only resign themselves to fate.
There is no doubt that this escape trip may be a husky walk - there is no going back!
But Marshal Mai's military orders have arrived, can his little lieutenant still be able to make a mistake? He could only carry out this suicidal task with a hard scalp.
On the evening of 11 March, MacArthur prepared to leave Correchido in a torpedo boat PT-41 under Balclay's personal command, with his wife and children, nanny, and five close officers, while the rest of his staff evacuated in three torpedo boats.
According to Barkley's plan, the four torpedo boats would first pass through Tagahuayan Island in the Cuyo Islands and then sail to Cagayan Bay in Mindanao, the southernmost tip of the Philippine Archipelago, for MacArthur to fly to Australia via Del Monte Airport. The total journey is about 1100 kilometers, the fastest time is 35 hours, and it is necessary to break through several sea blockade lines of the Japanese army, and the risk factor is naturally needless to say, just the bumps and winds and waves at sea can be daunting.
To be on the safe side, each torpedo boat will carry eight torpedoes, and if there is a devil on the road, Balclay will flee with old wheat at the speed of light, and the other three torpedo boats will launch a death attack on the devil, saying that nothing can be handed over to the devil.
Lao Mai and his party were mostly dry ducks of the Army, and soon after the operation began, they suffered a lot, and after the big waves hit the cabin of the torpedo boat, almost everyone became a chicken in the soup, and the bumps in the sea alone made them all seasick and vomit.
Old Mai is still the most powerful one in the vomit, don't look at his usual majesty, but at the moment he is like a sick cat, he can only lie on the mattress half-dead, the three souls and seven spirits are estimated to fly out of the two souls and six spirits, especially the old Mai has lost 11 kilograms before, the whole person's shape is close to the Huainan Skeleton King, just by virtue of his current dignity, I don't know that he thought he was about to open the table.
Although Old Mai was miserable now, Balkley did not care about him at all, because he found that the three torpedo boats accompanying him were missing, and he did not know whether they had dispersed or been intercepted by the devils, and Balkley was extremely nervous, and could only drive the torpedo boats to Tagavayan Island to escape.
As the torpedo boat sailed near Kafra Island, the lookout suddenly noticed something unusual, and it turned out to be a patrol boat with a ghost in front of it. Everyone's hearts went up to the throat eyes, but fortunately the devils did not find them, and the group continued to hurry unharmed.
At dawn, Old Mai and his party encountered abnormal situations, and even almost lost their lives, and Lieutenant Vincent Schumacher, the captain of the AMERICAN PT-32 torpedo boat, found that there was a ship approaching him, he thought that it might be an enemy ship, but the other side seemed to have only one ship, and it seemed to be half a pound on his side, and Lieutenant Schumacher immediately issued a battle order, ready to let the boys use torpedoes to greet the enemy.
In fact, the ship found by Lieutenant Schumacher was the PT-41 torpedo boat commanded by Barkley, and if it were not for the light of day, coupled with the excellent eyesight of the lookout on the PT-32 torpedo boat, the PT-41 torpedo boat was seen in time, and I am afraid that old Mai would have to go to Marshal Balbo of Italy to exchange experience.
The two torpedo boats so awkwardly picked up, and after arriving at Tagavayan Island, they met the PT-34 torpedo boat, and then discovered an even more embarrassing thing - the PT-35 torpedo boat did not come.
This made Lao Mai break out in a cold sweat, PT-35 was missing, it must have encountered an emergency, if the torpedo boat was sunk, it was okay, in case they were captured by the devils, and also explained the escape route, then his old life was not to be protected.
Panicked, Old Mai hurriedly called a meeting to discuss whether to evacuate in a torpedo boat or let the submarine pick them up. General Rockwell, who was riding the PT-34 torpedo boat, believed that it was not realistic to wait for the submarine to rush over, and the best way was to run quickly in the torpedo boat, otherwise they might be caught by the devils and go to Tokyo for exhibition.
This statement was recognized by everyone, and MacArthur quickly made a decision to continue running in a torpedo boat, and the PT-41 and PT-34 torpedo boats set off at six o'clock in the afternoon, and the PT-32 torpedo boat that almost killed MacArthur stayed in the local area to forward the news, and then marched to Mindanao.
Old Mai was in danger again shortly after they set out, it turned out that a ghost cruiser had spotted them and approached them, and now it was impossible to escape, the torpedo boat had entered the range of the ghost cruiser, everyone was desperate, And Barkley ordered the engines to be turned off and prepared to make a final attempt with the torpedo.
Just when Old Mai thought he was about to go to God, the Devil Cruiser actually changed direction and drove away, it turned out that the Devil's Lookout mistakenly regarded the torpedo boat as a fishing boat, which made Old Mai pick up a life and come back.
Balclay then marched west with his torpedo boats, circling in circles to avoid possible Japanese ships. I don't know if it was a bad day, or if God made a little joke with Old Mai, the group suddenly fell heavily on the way to escape, and the sea conditions became worse, if it were not for the superb navigation of Barkley, I am afraid that the two torpedo boats would not have been able to approach The island of Hillino on time at two o'clock in the morning.
In fact, the island of Hillino has been occupied by the devils and deployed heavy artillery, and the old mai has no intention of dueling with the devils, they just want to sneak out of the devil's encirclement from here.
But it is not easy to avoid the sight of the devils, who deploy heavy artillery here to prevent American ships from trying to escape. God seemed to have taken care of old Wheat once again, and the devils on the island mistook the sound of the torpedo boat engine for the sound of the aircraft engine, and just as old Mai crossed the blockade line, the devils on the island were still busy looking for planes in the sky, and no one cared about the movement on the sea.
After lao Mai and his party passed through the Blockade Line of Hillino Island, even if the escape journey was half completed, the PT-35 torpedo boat that had been left behind before also followed, and everything was developing in a good direction.
As soon as Lao Mai saw that the situation had improved, he seemed to have recovered his whole body and began the performance he was best at. He gave an impromptu speech on deck to his aide-de-camp Hove, haggard and agitated about how painful he had been in his evacuation, and that he had long asked Congress for funds to strengthen the Philippines' defenses, but unfortunately no one listened to him, and he now regretted leaving his troops behind.
In fact, with Lao Mai's temper, he will most likely not suffer from the evacuation of the Philippines and the abandonment of the troops, and nine times out of ten he wants to leave a "good impression" on the people around him and help himself set up a famous general. The reason for this is because on the morning of the 13th, when the torpedo boat arrived at the dock in Mindanao, MacArthur was standing at the bow of the boat and stepped on the dock with a very arrogant style, which showed that he was not haggard and painful in his heart, even if there was, it was bumpy, after all, he vomited on the way, and almost spit out the bitter guts.
But when Old Mai arrived at Del Monte Airport, he was stunned by the sight in front of him, there was only a tattered B-17 bomber on the airport, and he had asked four brand new planes to pick him up before, and now this pile of broken copper and iron did not embarrass him?
What Lao Mai did not know was that there were originally four bombers, but two returned to the sea due to a malfunction on the road, one was forced to land at sea due to a malfunction, and the remaining one was also a malfunction. The angry old Wheat told Roosevelt on the radio that he would starve to death unless a new bomber was sent, and that he would never leave from this sea.
Old Mai waited for three days, and finally the U.S. Army Aviation on the Australian side was out of the way, and could only send two freshly wiped bombers three days later. Old Mai was satisfied, and took someone to Australia in the early morning of the 17th, and before leaving, he promised to win the Silver Star Medal for Balclay, and said that he would not forget Balclay's life-saving grace.
But perhaps old Mai's bad luck, the original scheduled landing in Darwin Harbor was attacked by ghosts, the bombers could only land at Buckler Airport, and Old Mai had to change to a transport plane to Melbourne.
Old Mai was about to be scared out of the psychological shadow at this time, who dared to take a transport plane, what if he encountered the devil's plane in the sky? But this place is not, the nearest Alice Springs train station is a full 1600 kilometers, you can only go by transport plane. No way, MacArthur had to pluck up the courage to take a transport plane to Alice Springs and then transfer to a train to Melbourne.
On March 20, Lao Mai took a train through the Traoi railway station, Lao Mai was warmly welcomed by the locals, and he did not miss this opportunity to promote himself, and hurried to give an impromptu speech to pull a wave of popularity for himself. On March 21, MacArthur finally arrived in melbourne, where he was loyal, and immediately held a press conference announcing that he would definitely counterattack the Philippines, and Old Macarthur's escape trip was a successful end.
Those American soldiers who were abandoned by Lao Mai did not wait for Marshal Mak's "heavenly soldiers" to rescue them, and the abandoned officers and soldiers helplessly compiled a song "MacArthur in the Bomb Shelter" to mock Lao Mai who had run to Australia. As for Old Mai's escape, the ghost next door angrily called him a coward, and Goebbels, the propaganda minister of Nazi Germany, also gave him the nickname of "Escape General".
Despite the controversy and ridicule, at least the United States won the war, and MacArthur eventually returned to the Philippines as a victor. As for the American-Filipino coalition forces that were left behind, they were not so lucky, And Weinwright surrendered to the devils on May 6 after the troops ran out of ammunition, and what awaited them was a dark prisoner of war, a Bataan death march alone that broke more than 15,000 people, and when the war was over, they were rescued, one by one, just like the Jews who had entered the concentration camp.
This is a great irony, the honor will go to the old wheat in the future, but the suffering will now go to these poor people.
It is worth mentioning that old Mai also faced a new problem in Australia, that is, his lies were exposed, Australia did not have reinforcements prepared by Roosevelt, in order to prevent his staff from thinking that he was greedy and afraid of death, the famous "actor" Old Mai began his performance again - he first angrily denounced Roosevelt as a liar, tricked him into abandoning the soldiers who trusted him, and then he gave all the responsibility to Roosevelt through various fancy speeches and throwing pots.
In this way, Lao Mai not only fled the Philippines, but also used his acting skills to cover up the fact that he left his troops and fled alone, but what about the American and Filipino soldiers who entered the prisoner-of-war camp? Then they could only warmly greet the eighteenth generation of Lao Mai's ancestors.
Reference: Sea Wolf: Biography of John D. Bulkeley
《American Caesar：Douglas MacArthur 1880–1964》
《MacArthur's Escape：John "Wild Man" Bulkeley and the Rescue of an American Hero》