Hunter Sniper

The fact that he called his junior staff by their rank and not their actual names had convinced them that the general did not consider them worthy of notice.

It was interesting that officers in different branches of the service seemed to favor a certain “type” or look. Senior naval officers preferred a thin appearance, skinny as the fox-faced Lord Nelson in an old oil painting. Sometimes it almost seemed as if those navy boys were having a competition to see who could be the leanest.

Army generals tended toward bulkiness, and MacArthur was no exception. Heavy through the shoulders and chest, with a thick neck, six feet tall, he somewhat resembled an old bull and could project an air of intimidation.

Early in the war, he had picked up the nickname “Dugout Doug” for keeping to his bunker while his troops fought on Bataan. Those who questioned his courage seemed to have forgotten that as a young officer, he had single-handedly killed several enemy soldiers in combat, both in Mexico and in the Philippines, sometimes against overwhelming odds.

Alone again, the general nodded with satisfaction at the updated map. Truth be told, he had most of the maps committed to memory, but they gave him something to look at while he strolled around the confines of his office. The general did his best thinking on his feet.

The lines showed his own forces were advancing and that the areas under Japanese control were shrinking. In other words, things were moving in the right direction. This was progress.

The only place where the positions were murky remained in the jungle interior of the island, where small US patrols battled like-size Japanese forces. Again, the general knew that “small” did not mean insignificant to the men fighting and dying in those battles.

He was sure that the Japanese commander, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, had similar maps on the damp walls of his cave or bunker or wherever the hell it was that he had gone to ground. The picture presented by Yamashita’s maps would be far bleaker, MacArthur knew.

MacArthur had successfully landed on Leyte, returning to the Philippines. His return had been a promise made and kept. Now that he had set foot on shore, he had to seize the rest of the nation from the Japanese.

He had not shifted his headquarters from USS Nashville to the shore, though that might have been more symbolic. From the general’s point of view, remaining at sea was strictly a practical consideration. The truth was that the ship enabled far better communication thanks to its powerful radios and electronics.

Simply staying in touch with commanders across the vast Pacific counted for a great deal in terms of military success. Also, the ship provided comfortable quarters and decent food.

There were also interservice rivalries to consider. MacArthur thought there was sound advice in the old saying about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.

Being a guest of the navy was a bit like staying at a hotel where one didn’t need to be concerned about practical matters such as changing the sheets or cleaning the bathroom. MacArthur found that he could focus all his energies on the needs of his forces.

The shore was a short boat ride away whenever he needed to get there in person. For now, the reports coming in and the occasional updates to the maps provided all the information he needed.

The maps were carefully marked with troop positions, both those of his own men and, to the extent that observation and intelligence reports allowed, the disposition of the enemy troops.

Enemy. It was a powerful word, he thought. He knew that it came from the Latin word inimicus. Julius Caesar would have used the word to describe the Gauls or the barbarians of Germania.

The word implied a certain amount of hostility, even hatred. MacArthur searched his mind, then shook his head. He didn’t feel hostility. Instead, he thought of the Japanese as his adversary or opponent. People like Admiral “Bull” Halsey crowed about “killing Japs” to the delight of the press and presumably of the folks back home as well, a growing number of whom had lost husbands, sons, or young men from their communities in the Pacific conflict. It was understandable if they wanted some blood.

Back home, the US government had even seen fit to round up Japanese Americans and put them in camps to keep an eye on them. That action had been motivated in part by hatred and bigotry toward the Japanese.

MacArthur didn’t feel the same way. However, MacArthur’s equanimity toward the Japanese went only so far. In particular, he was concerned about the treatment of American POWs held by the Japanese.

Long before the invasion of Leyte, reports had come in of Japanese cruelty to their prisoners of war. The prisoners were generally American, British, or Australian. The cruelty involved starvation, beatings, and brutality of all stripes, even murder. He believed that captured soldiers should be treated with honor.