Thread by @TrentTelenko

@CBI_PTO_History @maltby1941 Kenney is one of those really polarizing personalities because he was literally the most innovative USAAF flag rank leader in WW2. This made him an existential threat to both the US Navy and the bomber barons as a post WW2 USAF Chief of Staff.

Kenney also cheesed off MID G-2

@CBI_PTO_History @maltby1941 You literally cannot trust anything people say about the man without checking primary sources not only for the SWPA, but for what the USAAF Bomber Barons were saying at the same time.

Overclaims, are and sea, are the usual stick to beat up Kenney.

@CBI_PTO_History @maltby1941 1. Compare Kenney's air to air claims in 1943 to 8th & 15th AF bomber air to air claims.

Kenney's claims were in the usual six to one

The Bomber Generals in the ETO/MTO were anywhere from 15 to 100 to one wrong in their air to air claims & knew they were lying because of Ultra.

@CBI_PTO_History @maltby1941 Kenney did not have that level of Ultra penetration of Japanese codes by Central Bureau in the same period.

The Bismarck Sea over claims get into the post-WW2 flag rank "drug deal" known as "JANAC."

@CBI_PTO_History @maltby1941 JANAC cuts off ship tonnages below 500 tons. I wrote about it in 2013 here:

MacArthur, JANAC, and the Politics of Military Historical Narrative
chicagoboyz.net/archives/38557…

@CBI_PTO_History @maltby1941 Overall -- per Naval Aviation Combat Statistics of World War 2 -- about 43.3% of all attack sorties on shipping during the war by USN aircraft in WW2 were against targets under 500 GRT.

All tonnage for ships like 280~ GRT trawler HMT Alvis taken over by the Royal Navy in 1940...

@CBI_PTO_History @maltby1941 ...were thrown out of the "official" tonnage sunk in WW2.

This tonnage 'line drawing' was very much aimed at Gen. Kenney's post war career because of the density of shipping of that class in the SWPA.

@CBI_PTO_History @maltby1941 This photo shows the routes of Japanese barge and below 500 ton ship traffic at the time of the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.

So, yes Kenney over claimed...but no, he was not 'bombastically over the top.'

The 5th AF USSBS has a passage about shipping this sized and MacArthur's...

@CBI_PTO_History @maltby1941 ...SCAP surrender reports get into that as well.

Japanese merchant ships were:

o 642 ships larger than 500 tons with 1.268 million gross shipping tonnage (GST),
o 1461 ships between 500 and 100 tons with 253, 000 tons GST and
o 11,400 (!) ships under 100 tons with 301,000 GST.

@CBI_PTO_History @maltby1941 This was the blog post where I identified this JANAC "drug deal" --

American High Command Politics, Sea Mining and the Invasion of Japan
chicagoboyz.net/archives/38592…

@CBI_PTO_History @maltby1941 @threadreaderapp unroll