12. The Japanese attacked the Philippines in December, 1941
The attack on Pearl Harbor took place nine hours before the first Japanese attacks on the Philippines. During that time MacArthur was ordered to initiate the existing US war plan, known as Rainbow Five. Under the plan bombers from the Philippines were to strike Japanese targets at Formosa. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor permission to fly patrols was given, but no strikes against Formosa were authorized. The commander of the Far East Army Air Forces, General Lewis Brereton, requested permission to launch the strikes. Hearing nothing from MacArthur he asked again an hour later. Sutherland refused to authorize the strikes. Finally, at 10.15 am local time, nearly seven hours after learning of the Pearl Harbor attack, Brereton spoke with MacArthur and received permission to launch American attacks.
According to Brereton, that is. MacArthur later said the conversation never occurred. What is known is that MacArthur was ordered by General George Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff, to initiate Rainbow Five at 05:30 (local time), two hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. MacArthur simply ignored the order. At half-past noon Japanese planes appeared in the skies over Clark Field and nearby Iba Field, and found the aircraft below them neatly parked in rows in the open. Over half of the Far East Air Force’s aircraft were destroyed, most of it sitting on the ground. Any chances of successfully defending the Philippines from the Japanese were destroyed by them.
