Operation Stalemate II by Lt.-Col. Daniel C. Hodges

Author:Lt.-Col. Daniel C. Hodges [Hodges, Lt.-Col. Daniel C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, United States, Europe, General, Germany, Asia, Japan
ISBN: 9781786250506
Google: ayZwCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2015-11-06T05:07:20+00:00

Recommendation to Cancel Stalemate II

Prior to 15 September 1944 Operation Stalemate was seen as unnecessary. Admiral Halsey, Nimitz’s commander responsible for conducting Operation Stalemate, recommended that the Palaus could be bypassed. On 12 and 13 September 1944 Halsey’s Task Force 38 attacked Japanese forces in the central Philippines. Task Force 38 destroyed almost 200 Japanese aircraft, inflicted considerable damage to Japanese facilities and sunk a dozen Japanese support ships. Only eight US airplanes were lost during the attacks. During the fighting a downed US naval aviator was rescued by Filipinos. His rescuers told the pilot that there were no Japanese troops defending Leyte. The weak Japanese defensive response against Task Force 38 and the information brought back by the downed Task Force 38 pilot convinced Halsey that the Japanese were weak in the central Philippines. He saw an opportunity to speed up the planned timetable for attacks in the Philippines. Halsey suggested the cancellation of several intermediary operations planned for execution prior to MacArthur’s Musketeer Operations. He suggested that operations against the Talauds, which were just south of the Philippines, and operations against the Palaus and Yap be cancelled. He felt that all forces and shipping planned for use against those objectives should be given under MacArthur’s control to support operations in the Philippines. He also suggested that the first Philippines objective of Mindanao be bypassed in lieu of attacks against Leyte.{93}

Before Task Force 38’s 12 and 13 September 1944 attack against the Philippines Halsey had already had reservations about the plans for Operation Stalemate. Those plans included seizing the Palaus, Yap, and Ulithi Islands. With US forces firmly in control of the Marianas Islands he felt that Japanese air power in the Caroline Islands was no longer a threat to US forces. He also felt that the Palaus and Yap could not be reinforced from Japan. In his opinion Ulithi was the only objective worth seizing. Attacks against Japanese forces in the Palaus and on Yap would be a waste of time and American lives.{94} Halsey recognized that the thousands of Japanese troops defending the Palaus were isolated and posed no threat to US operations against the Philippines.

Halsey submitted his recommendations to Admiral Nimitz. Nimitz did not agree with Halsey’s entire proposal. Nimitz did not want to cancel the Palau operation. Nimitz believed that the airfield on Peleliu and the Palaus’ Kossol Passage anchorage would be useful for supporting forces in Leyte. Despite his disagreement with Halsey’s suggestions Nimitz forwarded them to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With an abbreviated form of Operation Stalemate in mind Nimitz offered MacArthur the Third Amphibious Force and the XXIV Army Corps. But he insisted that the Palaus Operation still take place.{95} The Joint Chiefs were attending the OCTAGON conference in Quebec, Canada. Upon receiving Halsey’s recommendations, with Nimitz’s caveat to retain Stalemate, the Joint Chiefs immediately sought the opinion of General MacArthur. MacArthur was at sea observing radio silence so his Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Richard K. Sutherland, responded for him.

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