Liliputin -5845

Arrogant General Mcarthur reported to me from Manila on December 8th, 1941, that his tails are up in the air and then fleeing shortly after to Australia with his tail between the legs ... "
FDR

Liliputins. What, the heck, is this?
http://stihi.ru/2025/03/08/5867


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"Our tails are in the air!"
General Mcarthur
December 8th, 1941

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tails are up
with (one's) tail up (redirected from with their tails up)
with (one's) tail up
Having an optimistic, confident, or happy outlook, mindset, or attitude.
We know we have a huge challenge ahead of us, but we'll be going out onto the field with our tails up, and we'll do everything in our power to get a win.
See also: tail, up
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
with your tail up
If you do something with your tail up, you are happy and confident when you do it. We'll go to court with our tails up. Note: People sometimes vary this expression, for example by saying that someone has their tail up or that something puts their tail up. They have their tails up being ahead of us in the league. There was no doubt that Mary Rand's outstanding performance on the first day put everybody's tails up. Note: Dogs often raise their tails and wag them when they are happy or excited.
See also: tail, up
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
with your tail up in a confident or cheerful mood. informal
See also: tail, up
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
See also:
with your tail up
put (one's) tail up
have (one's) tail up
well disposed to
well disposed to (someone or something)
wait-and-see attitude
regard (someone or something) with (something)
regard with
well disposed toward (someone or something)
with (one's) head in the clouds

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with (one's) tail between (one's) legs (redirected from with his tail between his legs)

with (one's) tail between (one's) legs

Displaying embarrassment or shame, especially after losing or having to admit that one was wrong. Likened to a dog literally putting its tail between its legs after being disciplined.

Poor Jeff left the meeting with his tail between his legs after being called out on all his miscalculations.
The former star walked off, with tail between legs, after striking out for the third time.
See also: between, leg, tail
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
with one's tail between one's legs
Fig. appearing frightened or cowardly. (Fig. on the image of a frightened or defeated dog going off threatened or humiliated.) John seems to lack courage. When people criticize him unjustly, he just goes away with his tail between his legs and doesn't tell them that they're wrong. The frightened dog ran away with its tail between its legs when the bigger dog growled.
See also: between, leg, tail
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
tail between one's legs, with one's
Dejected, cowed, ashamed, especially after a defeat or being proven wrong. For example, After bragging about her great musical ability, she lost the competition and went off with her tail between her legs . This idiom alludes to a dog's slinking away in this manner. [First half of 1800s]
See also: between, tail
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
with your tail between your legs
If someone goes somewhere with their tail between their legs, they go there feeling very ashamed or embarrassed. I ran out of money, lost my job, my house, my girlfriend. I came home to Sydney with my tail between my legs. When Emma had left America last, it had been with her tail between her legs. Note: Dogs often go off with their tails down when they have been hit or shouted at.
See also: between, leg, tail
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
with your tail between your legs in a state of dejection or humiliation. informal
See also: between, leg, tail
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
with your tail between your ;legs (informal) feeling ashamed, embarrassed or unhappy because you have been defeated or punished: They thought they would win easily, but they’ve gone home with their tails between their legs.
This idiom refers to the way a dog behaves when it is punished.
See also: between, leg, tail
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
with (one's) tail between (one's) legs
In a state of humiliation or dejection.
See also: between, leg, tail
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
with one's tail between one's legs, (to go off with)
With a feeling of shame or embarrassment. The expression alludes to a dog that slinks off in defeat, a usage dating from about 1400. The transfer to human beings had taken place by the 1800s. W. E. Norris used it in Thirlby Hall (1884), “We shall have you back here very soon . . . with your tail between your legs.” The French have an identical phrase, s’en aller la queue entre les jambes.
See also: between, go, off, tail
The Dictionary of Clich;s by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
See also:
(one's) tail between (one's) legs


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World War II
Philippines campaign (1941–1942)
Main article: Philippines campaign (1941–1942)
A long column of men on horseback moving down a road. A tank is parked beside the road.
26th Cavalry (Philippine Scouts) move into Pozorrubio past an M3 Stuart tank.
Defense of the Philippines
On 26 July 1941, Roosevelt federalized the Philippine Army, recalled MacArthur to active duty in the U.S. Army as a major general, and named him commander of U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). MacArthur was promoted to lieutenant general the following day,[158] and then to general on 20 December.[159] On 31 July 1941, the Philippine Department had 22,000 troops assigned, 12,000 of whom were Philippine Scouts. The main component was the Philippine Division, under the command of Major General Jonathan M. Wainwright.[160] The initial American plan for the defense of the Philippines called for the main body of the troops to retreat to the Bataan peninsula in Manila Bay to hold out against the Japanese until a relief force could arrive.[161] MacArthur changed this plan to one of attempting to hold all of Luzon and using B-17 Flying Fortresses to sink Japanese ships that approached the islands.[162] MacArthur persuaded the decision-makers in Washington that his plans represented the best deterrent to prevent Japan from choosing war and of winning a war if worse came to worst.[162]

Between July and December 1941, the garrison received 8,500 reinforcements.[163] After years of parsimony, much equipment was shipped. By November, a backlog of 1,100,000 shipping tons of equipment intended for the Philippines had accumulated in U.S. ports and depots awaiting vessels.[164] In addition, the Navy intercept station in the islands, known as Station CAST, had an ultra-secret Purple cipher machine, which decrypted Japanese diplomatic messages, and partial codebooks for the latest JN-25 naval code. Station CAST sent MacArthur its entire output, via Sutherland, the only officer on his staff authorized to see it.[165]

At 03:30 local time on 8 December 1941 (about 09:00 on 7 December in Hawaii),[166] Sutherland learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor and informed MacArthur. At 05:30, the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General George Marshall, ordered MacArthur to execute the existing war plan, Rainbow Five. This plan had been leaked to the American public by the Chicago Tribune three days prior,[167] and the following day Germany had publicly ridiculed the plan.[168] MacArthur did not follow Marshall's order. On three occasions, the commander of the Far East Air Force, Major General Lewis H. Brereton, requested permission to attack Japanese bases in Formosa, in accordance with prewar intentions, but was denied by Sutherland; Brereton instead ordered his aircraft to fly defensive patrol patterns, looking for Japanese warships. Not until 11:00 did Brereton speak with MacArthur, and obtained permission to begin Rainbow Five.[169] MacArthur later denied having the conversation.[170] At 12:30, ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, aircraft of Japan's 11th Air Fleet achieved complete tactical surprise when they attacked Clark Field and the nearby fighter base at Iba Field, and destroyed or disabled 18 of Far East Air Force's 35 B-17s, caught on the ground refueling. Also destroyed were 53 of 107 P-40s, 3 P-35s, and more than 25 other aircraft. Substantial damage was done to the bases, and casualties totaled 80 killed and 150 wounded.[171] What was left of the Far East Air Force was all but destroyed over the next few days.[172]

Two men sitting at a desk.
MacArthur (center) with his Chief of Staff, Major General Richard K. Sutherland, in the Headquarters tunnel on Corregidor, Philippines, on 1 March 1942
MacArthur attempted to slow the Japanese advance with an initial defense against the Japanese landings. MacArthur's plan for holding all of Luzon against the Japanese collapsed, for it distributed the American-Filipino forces too thinly.[173] However, he reconsidered his overconfidence in the ability of his Filipino troops after the Japanese landing force made a rapid advance following its landing at Lingayen Gulf on 21 December,[174] and ordered a retreat to Bataan.[175] Within two days of the Japanese landing at Lingayen Gulf, MacArthur had reverted to the pre-July 1941 plan of attempting to hold only Bataan while waiting for a relief force to come.[173] However, this switching of plans came at a grueling price; most of the American and some of the Filipino troops were able to retreat back to Bataan, but without most of their supplies, which were abandoned in the confusion.[176] Manila was declared an open city at midnight on 24 December, without any consultation with Admiral Thomas C. Hart, commanding the Asiatic Fleet, forcing the Navy to destroy considerable amounts of valuable materiel.[177] The Asiatic Fleet's performance during December 1941 was poor. Although the surface fleet was obsolete and was safely evacuated to try to defend the Dutch East Indies, more than two dozen modern submarines were assigned to Manila – Hart's strongest fighting force. The submariners were confident, but they were armed with the malfunctioning Mark 14 torpedo and were unable to sink a single Japanese warship during the invasion.[178] MacArthur thought the Navy betrayed him. The submariners were ordered to abandon the Philippines by the end of December after ineffective attacks on the Japanese fleet, only returning to Corregidor to evacuate high-ranking politicians or officers for the rest of the campaign.[179]

On the evening of 24 December, MacArthur moved his headquarters to the island fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay arriving at 21:30, with his headquarters reporting to Washington as being open on the 25th.[180][181] A series of air raids by the Japanese destroyed all the exposed structures on the island and USAFFE headquarters was moved into the Malinta Tunnel. In the first-ever air raid on Corregidor on 29 December, Japanese airplanes bombed all the buildings on Topside including MacArthur's house and the barracks. MacArthur's family ran into the air raid shelter while MacArthur went outside to the garden of the house with some soldiers to observe and count the number of bombers involved in the raid when bombs destroyed the home. One bomb struck only ten feet from MacArthur and the soldiers shielded him with their bodies and helmets. Filipino sergeant Domingo Adversario was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for getting his hand wounded by the bomb and covering MacArthur's head with his own helmet, which was also hit by shrapnel. MacArthur was not wounded.[182] Later, most of the headquarters moved to Bataan, leaving only the nucleus with MacArthur.[183] The troops on Bataan knew that they had been written off but continued to fight. Some blamed Roosevelt and MacArthur for their predicament. A ballad sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" called him "Dugout Doug". However, most clung to the belief that somehow MacArthur "would reach down and pull something out of his hat".

On 1 January 1942, MacArthur accepted $500,000 (equivalent to $7.37 million in 2023)[128] from President Quezon of the Philippines as payment for his pre-war service. MacArthur's staff members also received payments: $75,000 for Sutherland, $45,000 for Richard Marshall, and $20,000 for Huff (equivalent to $1.11 million, $664,000, and $295,000 in 2023, respectively).[128] Eisenhower—after being appointed Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force (AEF)—was also offered money by Quezon, but declined. These payments were known only to a few in Manila and Washington, including President Roosevelt and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, until they were made public by historian Carol Petillo in 1979. While the payments had been fully legal, the revelation tarnished MacArthur's reputation.

Escape from the Philippines

Main article: Douglas MacArthur's escape from the Philippines
In February 1942, as Japanese forces tightened their grip on the Philippines, President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to relocate to Australia.[192] On the night of 12 March 1942, MacArthur and a select group that included his wife Jean, son Arthur, Arthur's Cantonese amah, Loh Chui, and other members of his staff, including Sutherland, Richard Marshall and Huff, left Corregidor. They traveled in PT boats through stormy seas patrolled by Japanese warships, and reached Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao, where B-17s picked them up, and flew them to Australia. MacArthur ultimately arrived in Melbourne by train on 21 March.[193][194] His famous declaration, "I came through and I shall return", was first made at Terowie railway station in South Australia, on 20 March.[195] Washington asked MacArthur to amend his promise to "We shall return". He ignored the request.[196]

Bataan surrendered on 9 April,[197] and Corregidor on 6 May.[198]

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“I Have Returned!” – General MacArthur and FDR
October 20, 2015 by fdrlibrary, posted in Uncategorized
By Paul M. Sparrow, Director, FDR Library.

General Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during initial landings at Leyte, Philippine Islands. Army Signal Corp Photo, NARA ID 531424
General Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during initial landings at Leyte, Philippine Islands. Army Signal Corp Photo, NARA ID 531424
On Oct. 20, 1944 Gen. Douglas MacArthur waded ashore on Leyte Island in the Philippines and fulfilled his promise to return. The charismatic and dashing General was one of the most famous American military leaders in the world and his dramatic return to his beloved Philippines was a crowning achievement in his relentless battle to drive the Japanese Army out of Southwest Asia. The Universal Newsreel captured the moment.


It was a redeeming moment after the devastating losses the U.S. Army and Gen. MacArthur had endured two years earlier. Despite the early warning given when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Gen. MacArthur’s forces in the Philippines were unprepared on Dec. 8th when the Japanese Air Force attacked. They destroyed nearly 50% of the American warplanes at Clark Field, most of which were still on the ground. By January the Japanese had driven the Allied forces onto the Bataan Peninsula and the situation was desperate. Gen. MacArthur was forced to move his headquarters to the island fortress of Corregidor. As the situation deteriorated President Roosevelt ordered the General to leave for his own safety. The General and his family and closest aides were forced to escape in the middle of the night and relocate in Australia. When Gen. MacArthur arrived in Australia he made his famous declaration:

“I came through and I shall return.”

President Roosevelt awarded Gen. MacArthur the Medal of Honor for his courageous defense of the Philippines. But in fact the public support masked a deep tension between the President and his most difficult General.

The White House had asked the General to change his declaration from “I Shall Return” to
“We Shall Return” but the General refused. The animus between FDR and Gen. MacArthur goes back many years. As early as 1932, when he was still Governor of New York FDR told a close advisor that he thought Douglas MacArthur was one of the two “most dangerous men in America.”

Franklin Roosevelt and Douglas MacArthur had first met in 1916 as the nation was preparing for the First World War. MacArthur was a Major on the Army’s General Staff and FDR was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. For the next three decades their paths would cross again and again. President Roosevelt once told MacArthur “Douglas, I think you are our best general, but I believe you would be our worst politician.”

President Roosevelt was furious when he was first told that the U.S. Far East Air Force had been caught “on the ground” when the Japanese attacked. Many military historians have judged Gen. MacArthur harshly for his lack of preparation and the subsequent defeat of Allied forces in the Philippines. Early 1942 was a very dark time for the Allies, with Nazi forces sweeping across Europe and Russia, the Japanese Navy in control of most of the Western Pacific and the British Empire under siege. While there were many reasons to blame Gen. MacArthur for the humiliating surrender of the American and British forces in Corregidor and the brutal Bataan Death March that followed, President Roosevelt applied a different strategy. Always the wise political leader, FDR understood that what the American public needed was a hero, not a scapegoat. So he promoted Gen. MacArthur to Supreme Commander of the Southwest Pacific Forces. In that role the general began preparing for his return to the Philippines.

FDR-70On Oct. 20th, 1944 he fulfilled his plans and stepped ashore with the whole world watching. President Roosevelt sent him this telegram congratulating him on his victory.

In fact Gen. MacArthur came ashore while the battle was still raging and against the advice of his senior staff. Always aware of his role as an historic figure, MacArthur delivered his prepared speech with, as Prime Minister Winston Churchill might say, great vigor.

“People of the Philippines: I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil—soil consecrated in the blood of our two peoples. We have come dedicated and committed to the task of destroying every vestige of enemy control over your daily lives, and of restoring upon a foundation of indestructible strength, the liberties of your people.”

Gen. MacArthur went on to ever greater glory, and he accepted the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri on Sept, 2, 1945.

General Douglas MacArthur signs as Supreme Allied Commander during formal surrender ceremonies on the USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay. Behind General MacArthur are Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright and Lieutenant General A. E. Percival. Department of the Navy Photo, National Archives ID 520694.
General Douglas MacArthur signs as Supreme Allied Commander during formal surrender ceremonies on the USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay. Behind General MacArthur are Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright and Lieutenant General A. E. Percival. Department of the Navy Photo, National Archives ID 520694.
By then President Roosevelt was dead, and President Harry Truman now had to manage the difficult General. Douglas MacArthur went on to become the Allies Supreme Commander in Japan. He helped rebuild the country and put in place a functioning democracy that represents one of the post war era’s greatest success stories. It would not be until the Korean War that President Truman and General MacArthur had their great confrontation. But that is a different story.