Comments by "Colonel K" (@Paladin1873) on "When the USAF Attacked a Soviet Airbase - Sukhaya Rechka 1950" video.

  1. That's a very interesting story, but I see no evidence the attack was anything other than an accident caused by the fog of war. I can understand why some historians might think otherwise, though it is quite a stretch of the imagination. MacArthur and Truman did not like each, and MacArthur was not above bending orders, policies, and suggestions to fit his own world view or current desires. From what I've read I do not think MacArthur exactly refused an order from his Commander-in-Chief to return to the USA for a briefing. His rationale that he could not in good conscience leave his Far East Command in time of active war was plausible, even if his true motives were obtuse. He was responsive to the suggestion he meet informally with the President at Wake Island. Truman, realizing how popular the general was among the American people, saw it as an opportunity to tie his political fortunes to MacArthur's recent military successes. One thing that is obvious is that the men had limited respect for each other. MacArthur viewed Truman as an uneducated and temperamental political hack who lacked good family connections and breeding. Of course, Truman returned the favor with equal contempt, privately complaining that MacArthur was a pompous, arrogant, pampered ass who was not so subtly defying him. I think both views have merit. Such is usually the case with great men.
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