What did General MacArthur do in world war 2?

Answer 1

mac was named commander of the southwest pacific theater and lead the army's attack on the island base's of Japan, mac was named as commander of the invasion of japan if that would have come to pass. he lead the us troops into Tokyo bay when the Japaneses surrendered in 1945. afterwards he was the leader of the us forces in japan after the war. mac died in 1964 at the age of 84

Answer 2

MacArthur was the General of the Pacific fleet Navy during WWII. He led a southern attack against Japan that began just above Australia and eventually captured every Japanese occupied islands except the mainland.

According to B. H. Liddell Hart's History of the Second World War (Da Capo Press paperback edition 1971, Page 346) "At the beginning of April (1942) the United States had assumed responsibility for the whole Pacific area, except Sumatra, While the British would remain responsible for Sumatra and the Indian ocean area." ... The Americam sphere was divided in two -- the South-west Pacific under General MacArthur, whose headquarters were now established in Australia and the Pacific Ocean area under Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Both were strong abd forceful men, likely to clash. The Japanese plan provided ample call on, and scope for, the activity of each. Moreover the borderline between their respective spheres came in the Solomon Islands, where the Japanese amphibious threat required the conjoint use of MacArthur's ground forces and Nimitz's naval forces."

As this quote indicates, MacArthur was not General of the Pacific fleet. He was an Army officer commanding the U.S. ground and non-naval air forces primarily responsible for the destruction of Japanese ground forces scattered on the many Pacific island locations. Whether all of these were captured by the General is best discussed under a topic directly related to that aspect of the war including those islands initially bypassed. The U.S. Paciific fleet including its naval aviation forces (as well as coordination with the British Pacific fleet) were under the overall command of Admiral Chester Nimitz.

At the outset of the War, MacAurther was in command of the US forces in the Philippines. During the initial attack, he was responsible for organized resistance there. When the situation in the became tactically hopeless, he was ordered to escape to Australia by President Roosevelt. His arrival in Australia allowed him to rally the rather demoralized Allied forces in the area, as he quickly assumed command of all local Allied forces in the area.

For mostly political considerations, the Allied war effort in the Pacific was actually divided into three major theaters: the Southwest Pacific Area, the Pacific Ocean Areas, and the Southeast Pacific Area. MacAurther (and, by inference, the Army) was assigned to coordinate all Allied forces in the Southwest theater - this included not just army, but also all naval forces and air forces in that area. Fundamentally, this left MacAurther responsible for the defense of Australia, and any action in the Indonesian/Malaysian archipelago down to New Guinea and up to the Philippines.

MacArthur commanded a very mixed group of forces, consisting primarily of American, Australian, and British, but also Dutch, Free French, and several indigenous nationalist groups. For the vast majority of the war, the fighting consisted mostly of smaller (but no less intense) land and naval actions, primarily defensive on the part of the Allies. The retaking of the Philippines was the major exception to this, with the overall command of the operation falling to MacArthur.

He was present at, and signed for the United States, the formal surrender of Japan on board the U.S.S. Missouri on 2 Sept 1945.
US general who served as chief and commanded the Allied forces in the South Pacific during WW2

Answer 3

During WWII, MacArthur was the army general in charge of all American army units in the Pacific campaign against Japan. His planning was closely tied to that of the overall naval commander, Nimitz. MacArthur was a career army man, West Point and all. He was near retired in 1941, stationed as commander of military forces in the American colony, Philipines. He disregarded warnings of potential Japanese attacks, bunched his planes together on runways, and had them destroyed in Japanese air attacks. He had underestimated the enemy (racism?) and concluded that they were incapable of launching such raids on his command. With the Japanese quickly gaining the upper hand, MacArthur retreated with his dwindling forces (well over half Philipino native) to the Bataan peninsula, near Manila. There, they fought well but were ultimately starved out and captured....excepting for a small group that held out on Corregidor Island in Manila bay. MacArthur planned to 'go down with the ship' at Corregidor but was saved by direct order from the President to get out and abandon his command. He escaped by submarine, then fast boat, ultimately getting to Australia where he began reorganizing his command. His operational decisions following these early debacles were nothing short of brilliant and he is often considered the second best American general in history (consensus #1 being R.E.Lee). His political career was also outstanding. Following the war he was given military governorship of all of Japan. There he reorganized the government and various social structures, setting the stage for a successful economic recovery by Japan. The Communists in the USSR and China next goaded a war in Korea, hoping thereby to not only seized all of that former Japanese colony, but destabilize Japan itself. MacArthur, now rather aged, took energetic command and oversaw the strikingly successful Inchon landing that destroyed the North Korean army. At this point he was removed from his position by President Truman, who did not want to expand the war in the direction of China, as did MacArthur. MacArthur went on to run a low key campaign seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 1952. He was rejected during the nomination process, the Republicans instead picking Eisenhower. Hearing this news, in one of his most famous statements, MacArthur said dismissively of his former aide, "Eisenhower.....best clerk I ever had".
he was a ww2 genral

Answer 4

He defeated the Japanese and pushed them back to the point where they were disheartened, and desperate.

More and more the Japanese would become more obsessed with winning, to the point where they used the technique of Kamikaze, or flying their airplanes into their enemy's ships, killing both the pilot, and anything near the crash.

The technique of Island Hopping was created by MacArthur to only attack the islands that were strategically important to Japan, therefore saving money, time, men, and resources.

When the Japanese were pushed back to Iwo Jima, the U.S. was then close enough to drop the Atomic Bomb, ultimately ending the War with Japan.

Answer 5

Commander of Pacific forces