When it comes to discussions of polarizing military leaders, Douglas MacArthur is one who definitely makes the grade. While he was definitely a gifted military leader and possessed several decorations for leadership and bravery, his personality, mannerisms and choices when it came to members of his support staff oftentimes make him a very hard person to appreciate.

In the opening days of World War II in the Pacific, there can be little doubt MacArthur made a series of blunders which ended up leading to Japan's dominant conquest of the Philippines. While author Mansoor doesn't downplay MacArthur's actions, his premise is that the subsequent campaign to liberate the Philippines ends up providing redemption for MacArthur's somewhat tarnished reputation.

Beginning with the Japanese conquest of the Philippines, Mansoor recounts MacArthur's long road back through New Guinea. The defense of Buna kicks things off, followed by a progressive crawl along the northern New Guinea coast as American and Australian forces gradually get closer to MacArthur's ultimate goal of the Philippines. The various battles are discussed in good detail, along with insights about the commanders under MacArthur who got the job done. Generals Kenney and Eichelberger receive high praise, while others such as Sunderland and Willoughby are viewed with a much harsher lens.

Once the Philippines are in view, the campaign strategy shifts, thus displaying both the capacity of the Americans to pivot from previous plans and MacArthur's strategic thinking. The great Battle of Leyte Gulf gets a prominent place in the narrative since it's a key part of the Philippine campaign, and the conquests of both Leyte and Luzon are described in very good detail. The Battle of Manila is covered extensively, but without much mention of the various Japanese atrocities committed. Don't worry, they are discussed, just not in large amounts of graphic detail as found in other books on the subject. After the re-capture of Manila is completed, the book takes the reader on a tour of the further campaign to liberate all of Luzon and the other main islands to the south of Leyte such as Cebu, Negros and Mindanao. I really appreciated this part of the book as much of what I'd previously read didn't provide as much detail about the Philippine campaign after Manila is taken.

So, where does MacArthur's redemption come in? Starting with the invasion of Leyte, MacArthur becomes somewhat obsessed with not only defeating the Japanese but removing them completely from all corners of the Philippines. MacArthur is given pretty much a free hand to run the campaign as he pleases and this time around he gets things right. He sets up the strategy to defeat the Japanese, puts very capable commanders such as Kreuger and Eichelberger in charge of the ground game to get the job done and then takes on the role of benevolent savior of the Filipino population. Since pretty much everything went sour when the Japanese invaded in the early days of the war, MacArthur is now able to exert his will upon the campaign thanks to a tremendous superiority in every phase of combat: air, sea and land. The land campaigns are helped tremendously by the extensive support of guerrilla units throughout the islands, as well as thousands of Filipinos who are overjoyed to be rid of the yoke of Japanese oppression.

The book concludes with the war crimes trials of the Japanese generals Homma and Yamashita, the latter being somewhat controversial to this day.

Overall, this is a really good book on the military campaigns in New Guinea and the Philippines. There is a fair amount of source material from the Japanese side, so this is a nice touch to round out the narrative a bit. Not a tremendous amount of photographs and while there are some good maps, a few more would have been helpful, especially when dealing with the campaigns on Luzon, Cebu and Mindanao.

Redemption is a sweeping new history of the largest and costliest campaign waged by US armed forces during the Pacific War. Peter Mansoor surveys the course of the Philippines campaign, from the Japanese invasion and the Filipino guerrilla operations which contested occupation to the US Army's return to Leyte and the subsequent battles of liberation.
This is quite comprehensive book.

It's good to read a book about one of my favorite people from history. Unfortunately, despite his "redemption" I'm not sure if the General deserves it.