We knew a few days ago that General MacArthur and High Commissioner Sayre have fled from Bataan. MacArthur flew to Australia while Sayre proceeded to Washington. This provoked a tug-of-war in the radio propaganda of the warring countries. Radio Tokyo and that of Shanghai considered the flight as a captain’s abandonment of a sinking ship, and comdemned MacArthur of being a deserter of his forces at a time of major danger. He was accused of having sacrificed thousands of Filipino lives and of having abandoned his troops now that they were miserably defeated.
On the other hand, a contrary version ran the story that the flight to the land of the kangaroos was for purposes of promoting General MacArthur to the rank of Commander-in-Chief of all Allied forces in the Pacific, so that in such a capacity, he would not only maintain the defense of Bataan as he has been authorized to do so up to now, but also organize a general offensive that would bring about a decisive end to the war.