December 8, 1941: MacArthur's Pearl Harbor

Ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, "another Pearl Harbor" of perhaps more devastating consequence for American arms occurred in the Philippines, 4500 miles to the west. On December 8th, 1941 at 12:35 PM, 196 Japanese Navy bombers and fighters crippled the largest force of B-17 four-engine bombers outside the United States and also decimated their protective P-40 interceptors. The sudden blow allowed the Japanese to rule the skies over the Philippines, removing the only effective barrier that stood between them and their conquest of Southeast Asia. This event has been called "one of the blackest days in American military history". How could the army commander in the Philippines - the renowned Lt Gen Douglas MacArthur - have been caught with all his planes on the ground when he had been informed in the small hours of that morning of the Pearl Harbor attack and warned of the likelihood of a Japanese strike on his forces? In this book, William H. Bartsch attempts to answer this and other related questions.