The New Stuermer 2006 Editions

I WILL RETURN, I WILL RETURN, I WILL RETURN

The 2nd World War was a victory of three empires over a handful of middle-European countries It had little to do with superiority of intellect. For the large part allied commanders were self-serving buffoons. Typical was all American boy Douglas MacArthur. When it comes to Press photographers being on the beach to greet the invaders nothing beats the image of General Douglas MacArthur wading ashore on his return to the Philippines. In fact, he waded up and down it several times until the right image was captured for public consumption back home. It is still being shown on the History Channels.

GB or U.S.?
In Britain a commonly used term for something that is useless is 'it is U.S.' This originated during the war when at British bases damaged or surplus material was sectioned off as being 'useless stock' or U.S. for short. The Americans retaliated by marking their similar dumps as 'GB' (gone bad).

OIL'S WELL
Apologists for the mass indiscriminate slaughter civilians via the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki claim it was necessary to hasten the war's end. Not so! The real reason for Japan's defeat was the USA's success in denying her essential oil supplies.

In 1942 only 40% got through. This was reduced to only 15% of the country's needs by 1943 and in 1944 only 5% got through. This was further reduced to zilch by 1945.

It wasn't the atom bomb, Soviet intervention, or the great naval battles that finished Japan off. They simply had no fuel left; her ships, armoured vehicles, submarines, railway system and aircraft just ground to a halt.

WHAT DID THEY HAVE TO HIDE?
When passions died after World War One the atrocity propaganda that had fuelled that war was owned up to. But in 1947 the Rockefeller Foundation invested €139,000, a considerable sum then, to the Council on Foreign Relations to prevent any recurrence of such honesty.

Charles A. Beard, the noted historian said, "The Foundation and the Council do not want journalists or any other persons to examine too closely and criticize too freely the official statements relative to our basic aims and activities during World War II. In short, they hope that, among other things, the policies and measures of Franklin D. Roosevelt will escape in coming years the critical analysis, evaluation and exposition that befell the policies of Woodrow Wilson and the entente allies after World War 1.' – Saturday Evening Post, October 4, 1947.

In other words, a decision was made and finance provided not only for the continued use of black propaganda but for the lies to be increased.

WOODROW WILSON ON THE POWER BEHIND THE SCENES
"Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided in me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organised, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it." – The New Freedom, p.13

GENERAL DOUGLAS MythARTHUR

That the British succeeded in turning the Dunkirk rout into a victory was bettered by the General Douglas myth. Following his ignominious but dramatic escape from the Philippines, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of all the allied armies assembling in Australia.

The Chicago Sun was at its thundering best when it announced that 'The United States is in the war with all its power and under the leadership of the best general the United Nations possesses.' (18 March 1942).

General George Brett, Commander of the allied air force let the cat out of the bag. "There was no great army and the airforce consisted of a few battered planes, and combat weary men. Of the eleven divisions of the Australian forces less than two were effective and only one approaching combat condition. The Royal Australian Air Force was equipped with obsolete aircraft and was short of spare parts and ammunition. The Royal Australian Navy didn't have a single carrier.

As for the 'best general the United Nations possesses' the truth was somewhat different. Just ten hours after Pearl Harbor the Japanese air force carried out a devastating attack on Clark Field in the Philippines.

Despite the fact that MacArthur had received more than adequate warning the delighted Japanese found his air armada all neatly lined up, wing to wing and offering a turkey shoot most airmen can only dream about. There had in fact been three cunning defence plans in readiness. The wretched General followed none of them.

MacArthur talked such a good fight that he retained the confidence of Washington but not so the troops under his command who were increasingly irritated by their general's swashbuckling bravado and 'the cavalry is on its way' fantasies. The carefully created aura of military genius and invincibility that he built on his persona was a sham. He spent so much time underground in his bunker at 'fortress Corregidor' that he became known as 'Dug-Out Doug.'

Accompanied by a small army of spin doctors he brilliantly announced on his arrival in Melbourne, "I have come through and I will return.'

Shortened by publicists to 'I shall return,' the expression rapidly became one of the most marketed sayings of the war. He made his first public appearance dressed like the Admiral of the Queen's Navy in HMS Pinafore, wearing thirty-six medal ribbons and nine rows of decorations. His personal photographer always accompanied him. It seems in war that image is more important than hardware, as Churchill had also realised.

AUSTRALIA
Had the Japanese attacked Australia it was decided to surrender Western Australia and everything north of Townsville. Perth and Darwin were to be abandoned. The First Army was to defend the coast between Brisbane to the Victoria State borders. The Second Army to protect Melbourne. Only for 'reasons of morale and psychology' some troops were left in place so as not to unsettle the inhabitants who were to be abandoned.

THE BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA
The first successful U.S. attack against the Japanese came at sea. This was the Battle of the Coral Sea and was the first naval action in history in which the surface ships never exchanged a single shot. The battle was fought entirely in the air. Although the result of the ferocious battle was about even it was presented as a major American victory, and the saving of Australia. Japan claimed the battle to be their victory too.

Had the Japanese intended to attack Australia? No because they simply lacked the means to do so. They had already worked it out that ten to twelve divisions would be required. To move them from Manchuria would have made their back door vulnerable.

THE CHURCHILL BLUFF THAT COST OVER 1,000 LIVES
A hammer blow to British Far Eastern prestige occurred on December 10 1941 when the Japanese sank both the battle cruiser Repulse and the battleship Prince of Wales. To quote Phillip Knightley the noted journalist and military historian, 'Churchill had sent the two British ships to the East in pursuit of one of his personal strategic fantasies – that it should be possible to bluff the Japanese out of the idea of war altogether.'

Incredibly, just three days after the Pearl Harbor debacle the two finest flagships of the Royal Navy were blundering around the Gulf of Siam. The two sitting ducks lacked air cover and were within easy reach of the Japanese Air Force.

The sinking of these two gallant ships was not only the worst setback suffered by the Royal Navy but by the allied cause in general. Churchill it was said 'was shocked.' The Japanese dropped wreaths on the positions where the two giant battleships finally rested.