Now when Macarthur left Bataan on his epic PT boat journey, he left Skinny Wainwright in charge of all American forces in the Philippines. When Corregidor fell, The Japs made Wainwright surrender all of these scattered units, and threatened to go hard on the prisoners they had in hand if all didn't capitulate. Gen. Sharp on Mindanao had a sizeable force, and there were other commands of varying sizes throught the archipelago. It has been suggested that Macarthur blundered by setting up the chain of command in this way.
Suppose that he had made it plain to everyone, before he left, that Wainwright was only in charge of the Bataan garrison, and all other commanders were to do as they saw fit. How long could Sharp and others have held out. Would this have allowed many more GIs, sailors, airmen, to have melted into the jungle to fight on as guerrilas? Some did this anyway in OTL. How much difference would this have made to the Japanese garrisons and could it have brought about a quicker, easier liberation once Macarthur did return in October of '44?