British forces, it had been agreed, were to continue operations in southern Burma to recapture Akyab- thereby driving closer to important Japanese strongholds in Burma- and were to establish bridgeheads across the Chindwin River in the north, thus threatening Mandalay.
King felt that separate commands would be convenient until the two axes of attack, one from the South Pacific and the other from SWPA, joined for the final assault against Rabaul, but, from that point on, MacArthur should retain strategic direction of the drive under the over-all command of Nimitz.
The Commander in Chief, Pacific (Nimitz), would be assigned general control of all Pacific Fleet units so that he could meet all emergencies, and the Commander, South Pacific (Admiral William F. Halsey), would retain direct command of the naval forces engaged in the Rabaul operations.
Burma Campaign(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
November 1940 operational control was transferred to the recently formed FarEastCommand in Singapore, while administrative responsibility was divided between the Burma Government and the War Office in London, which now contributed substantially to the defence budget of Burma.
The Britishcommander in Burma, Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Hutton was removed from command shortly before Rangoon fell in March 1942.
Command of the British formations on the front was rearranged in November 1944.
So far as economic pressure is concerned, the entry of the United States of American, the British Empire, and the Netherlands East Indies into a war against Japan would automatically restrict Japanese trade to that with the coast of Asia.
Phase I is regarded as existing from the outbreak of hostilities with Japan until the arrival of the BritishFar Eastern Fleet in the Eastern Theatre.
In Phase II with the arrival of the BritishFar Eastern Fleet the balance of strength of naval forces in the Eastern Theatre will be altered considerably against Japan, and taking the Pacific and Indian Oceans as a whole, Japan would probably be in a position of inferiority.
While the American and British heads of state with their military staffs were in Washington establishing the strategic basis and the organization for the conduct of the war, the Japanese Army and Navy had continued their drive into Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific with unabated vigor.
The loss of Singapore was a major blow to the Allied cause in the FarEast and a disaster of the first magnitude for the British who had long regarded it as an impregnable fortress and the key to the defense of Australia, New Zealand, and India.
The British therefore suggested that Burma be taken out of ABDACOM and transferred to their command in India, a proposal that the U.S. Chiefs and General Wavell, who had always believed Burma was an integral part of the Indian command, readily accepted.
Japanese forces began the occupation of the Dutch East Indies, landing troops on Celebes on January 11th, at Rabaul on January 23rd, on New Ireland on January 25th, in the Solomon Islands on January 26th, on Amboina on January 31st, and on Timor on February 20th.
The U.S. and British governments approved the appointment of General Joseph W. Stilwell as commander of the Chinese armies in Burma and to serve as the chief of staff in that theater of the war.
British and Canadian forces conducted a major raid on the French port of Dieppe to test the effectiveness of German defenses and amphibious assault operations.
www.indiana.edu /~league/1942.htm (3339 words)
Articles - South-East Asian Theatre of World War II(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
After transferring the forces in Burma to the India Command, on February 25, 1942 Wavell resigned as commander of the ABDA and resumed his position of CinC of the Army of India.
January saw the invasions of Burma and the Dutch East Indies and the capture of Manila and Kuala Lumpur.
Far East, 1941-45(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
The war in the FarEast was the longest campaign fought by the British in the Second World War.
In November 1943 a new phase of the war in the FarEast began for the British with the formation of South East Asia Command (SEAC) under Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten.
SEAC replaced India Command in control of operations and under its leadership the prosecution of the war against the Japanese took on a new energy.
President Roosevelt nationalized the armed forces of the Philippines under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who was also placed in command of all U.S. military forces in the FarEast.
As a result of all of this ABDACOM was formed, which stands for âSupreme Command for American, British, Dutch and Australian forces in the FarEastâ.
British troops withdrew from Malaya to Singapore on January 31, the surrendered on February 15.
British Commonwealth Carrier Operations in the Korean War(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
The choice of targets for the British aircraft was severely limited by the poor radius action of the early mark of Firefly operated by HMS Triumph’ s 14th Carrier Air Group (CAG) and the limited strike capability of the Seafire 47 that was primarily an air defence fighter.
The causes of this failure, in British eyes, were primarily due to inhibitions accepted by the UN for political reasons and partly to tactical and operational conditions.
With hindsight, the exertion of the mobility and flexibility given to the UN forces by their command of the sea and the air should have been used to force a war of movement that the enemy could not have sustained.
The calibre of political leadership then available in the South East was not sufficiently of a high order to ensure negotiations with Tokyo to treat the INA as an allied Army and not as a mere propaganda force.
If the British won they would be treated as traitors who had broken their oath to the crown and, therefore, given the severest punishment.
The involvement of the INA and its objectives were naturally kept under strict security by the British and were not allowed to be known to the British Indian forces and the Indian population at large.
The Far East(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-06)
While the level of urgency to reinforce the FarEast may still not have been fully appreciated at command level in either theatre, the dispatch of a force of this size suggests some appreciation of the difficulties ahead.
SS Yoma was built for P Henderson and Co of Scotland by Denny’s and launched in 1928 for the FarEast trade, in joint-ownership with the British and Burmese Steam Navigation Co. She was 8,139 gross register tons and equipped with quadruple-expansion engines capable of 14 knots.
With 24 Mark IV Blenheims en route to the FarEast on a ferry flight of some 39 hours flying time, servicing and briefing difficulties were encountered by some crews.
The BritishFarEast Squadron was commanded by Rear-Admiral David Price, who had just hoisted his penant after a soul-destroying 39 years crawl up the Post-Captain's list.
Rear Admiral H.W. Bruce (63) was given command in the FarEast.
By 30th September his ships had withdrawn to Nagasaki and the naval campaign in the FarEast was over for good.
