Now that Australia was secure and Allied forces had smashed through the Bismarcks barrier, it was time to wind down the southern offensive. Mindanao was the logical terminus for MacArthur’s campaign. In one of King’s regular off-the-record press briefings in Alexandria, he told the reporters that recapturing the Philippines was “sentimentally desirable” but “eccentric,” and would likely delay victory in the Pacific by three to six months.16 To Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey, MacArthur’s amphibious fleet commander, King acidly remarked that “MacArthur seemed more interested in making good his
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