Best American Military Commander in WWII? [View All]

[Zuni]

My vote goes to Douglas MacArthur. Now, before I get flamed, let me point out that his failures in the early hours of the war and in Dec. 1941 in general were extremely grave. He nearly lost the war in the Pacific, and the Phillipines were blitzed even though he had over 9 hours between Pearl Harbor and the begginning of the Japanese air attacks to prepare. His failure to do anything in the early stages of the war is extremely puzzling. He also made terrible errors in judgement regarding deployments of ground forces, and it was his errors that caused the hasty retreat to Bataan and Corregidor.
His nickname 'Dugout Doug' is unfair, because during WWI, WWII and virtually every campaign he ever participated in, he never showed cowardice at all. In WWI, as a Brigadier General he led trench raids into German lines! I do not know of any other officer with stars in all of WWI going on trench raids.
MacArthur's campaigns in the South Pacific after the debacle of Buna and Gona were masterpieces of military strategy. His leapfrogging up the coast of New Guinea, his seizing lightly defended Islands to isolate heavily defended ones, all the while losing less men than were lost in Anzio is remarkable. He managed to cut off the Japanese South Pacific base at Rabaul as well. He mastered the art of using naval, amphibious, airborne, and infantry forcesin concert with strategic and tactical air as well as opening shipping lanes at a low cost. His campaigns were complex, well coordinated and always fit into a larger strategy.
His campaign to retake the Phillipines, excepting the carnage caused by the ill fated Japanese attempts to turn the city into a tomb, was another masterful campaign. His forces made over 100 amphib landings, fought the largest naval battle in history and closed off the south pacific to Japanese ships and aircrafts.
Also, it must be remembered the MacArthur was a hero in the Phillipines, and even in Japan after the war and was far more popular in those countries than he was at home. His enlightened administration of Japan led the way to producing one of history's most sucssesful pacifist countries.
MacArthur is either hated or loved. But to me it is undeniable that he led the most creative and well planned American campaigns in WWII. Compare MacArthur's leapfrogging campaigns to the bloodbaths that the Marines encountered in the Central Pacific---Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo, Pelielu. MacArthur was able to neutralize more Japanese in the South Pacific with far less casualties than Nimitz was able to with heavy losses in the Central Pacific