South West Pacific Area

This article deals with the military command/theatre known as the South West Pacific Area. The same name is occasionally used in a purely geographical sense. More common collective names for countries in the region include: South Pacific, Oceania, Australasia and South East Asia.

South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was the name given to one of the four major Allied commands in the Pacific theatre of World War II, during 1942-45. The SWPA included the Philippines, Borneo, the Dutch East Indies (excluding Sumatra), Australia, the Territory of New Guinea (including the Bismarck Archipelago), the western part of the Solomon Islands and some neighbouring territories. The supreme commander, General Douglas MacArthur, was in charge of primarily United States and Australian forces. Dutch, Filipino, British and other Allied forces also served in the SWPA.

Table of contents

1 Origins 2 Major campaigns in the theatre 3 Command structure (combat units only) 3.1 Allied forces in the Philippines (1942) 3.2 Allied land forces (1942-45) 3.2.1 New Guinea Force (1942-44) 3.2.2 Australian First Army (1944-45) 3.3 U.S. Sixth Army (1943-45) 3.4 U.S. Eighth Army (1944-45) 3.5 Allied air forces 3.6 Allied naval forces 4 See also 5 External links

Origins

The name "South West Pacific Area" appears to have originated in British military circles in 1941, purely in reference to British forces under the short-lived American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA). The rapid Japanese advance through the Dutch East Indies effectively divided the "ABDA Area" in two, and in late February 1942, ABDA was wound up at the recommendation of its commander, the British General Archibald Wavell, who — as Allied commander in India — retained responsibility for Allied operations in Sumatra, Singapore, Malaya, Thailand and Burma.

On March 24 1942, the newly-formed British-US Combined Chiefs of Staff issued a directive designating the Pacific theater an area of American strategic responsibility. Six days later the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) divided the Pacific theater into three areas: the Pacific Ocean Areas (POA), the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), and the South East Pacific Area. Therefore most of the Pacific Ocean and its islands fell under a separate Allied command, Pacific Ocean Areas, headed by US Admiral Chester Nimitz.

The Allied commander in the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur who had headed was elevated to the post of Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific Area. As the Japanese surrounded US and Filipino forces in the Philippines, MacArthur was ordered by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to leave his headquarters on Bataan Peninsula, near Manila, and to relocate to Melbourne, Australia.

. On April 17, the Australian government, led by Prime Minister John Curtin, directed Australian personnel to treat orders from MacArthur as equivalent its own. In fact, for most of 1942, MacArthur commanded more Australians than US personnel. He also commanded some Dutch forces which had retreated to Australia. Later in the war, some British and other Allied forces also came under MacArthur's command.

In July, MacArthur moved his headquarters north, to Brisbane, Australia.

One result of the division of the Pacific theatre into two separate Allied/U.S. commands was that each competed for scarce resources in an economy-of-force theater, and each was headed by a commander in chief (CinC) from a different service. In particular, the division of the Solomon Islands caused problems, since the battles of the Solomon Islands campaign in 1942–1943 ranged over the whole region, with the main Japanese bases in SWPA and the main Allied bases in POA. The main Allied offensives were undertaken from the POA.

Although MacArthur had been ordered by Roosevelt to appoint as many Australian and Dutch officers to senior positions as possible, most of his immediate staff was made up of US Army officers who had served under him in the Philippines. The Australian Army CinC, General Thomas Blamey, was appointed Commander, Alllied Land Forces. However the CinCs of the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Australian Navy were sidelined from 1942 as their subordinates were put under the operational control of the U.S. Fifth Air Force and U.S. Seventh Fleet. Similarly, from mid-1943, the U.S. Sixth Army (code name Alamo Force) was deployed under MacArthur's direct control, meaning that Blamey was excluded from command of the vast majority of U.S. land forces in the theatre after that time.

In 1945, following the Allied landings in the Philippines, MacArthur moved his headquarters back to Manila.

Forces from the SWPA were to have made up a significant proportion of the Allied units set aside for the proposed invasion of Japan, scheduled to take place from November 1945.

Major campaigns in the theatre

• Philippines campaign, 1942
• New Guinea campaign, 1942-45
• Philippines campaign, 1944-45
• Borneo campaign, 1945

Command structure (combat units only)

General Douglas MacArthur (U.S. Army/Philippine Army), Supreme Commander (1942-45)

• Staff officers (U.S. Army)
  • Major General Richard K. Sutherland, Chief of Staff
    • Brigadier General Richard J. Marshall, Deputy Chief of Staff

Allied forces in the Philippines (1942)

• Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright (U.S. Army), Commander (until Allied surrender on May 6, 1942, then vacant)

Allied land forces (1942-45)

Australian Army officers, except where stated.

• General Thomas Blamey, Commander, Allied Land Forces

New Guinea Force (1942-44)

• Allied land forces in the Territory of New Guinea
  • Lt Gen. Sydney Rowell Commander New Guinea Force (NGF) (until September 1942)
  • Gen. Blamey (in direct command), September 1942 to 1943)
  • Lt Gen. Iven Mackay, Commander NGF (January 30, 1943 to May 21,1943
  • Lt Gen. Leslie Morshead, Commander NGF (May 21, 1943 to August 28, 1943)
  • Lt Gen. Mackay (second time), Commander NGF (August 28, 1943 to January 20, 1944)

Advanced New Guinea Force

• Allied front line land forces in New Guinea
  
  • 1942-44
    • Lt Gen. Edmund Herring, Commander (1942-43)
    • Lt Gen. (temporary) Robert Eichelberger (U.S. Army), Commander Commander (1943-44)

Australian First Army (1944-45)

• Australian front line land units, 1944-45
  • Lt Gen. Vernon Sturdee, Commander, (1944-45)

U.S. Sixth Army (1943-45)

• Lt Gen. Walter Krueger, Commander, U.S. Sixth Army (a.k.a. Alamo Force, in theatre from June 1, 1943)

U.S. Eighth Army (1944-45)

• Lt Gen. Robert Eichelberger, Commander, U.S. Eighth Army (formed 1944)

Allied air forces

U.S. Army Air Force officers, except where stated.

• General George Brett, Commander, Allied Air Forces (until August 4, 1942)
• Lt Gen. George Kenney, Commander, Allied Air Forces (from August 4, 1942) and Commander, U.S. Fifth Air Force.

RAAF Command

• Australian front line air units
  • Air Vice-Marshal William Bostock (Royal Australian Air Force), Commander, RAAF Command

Advanced Echelon, Fifth Air Force

• USAAF front line units
  
  • Brig. Gen. Ennis Whitehead, Commander.

Allied naval forces

U.S. Navy officers, except where stated.

• Admiral Herbert F. Leary, Commander, Allied Naval Forces, April 20, 1942-September 11, 1942
• Vice Admiral Arthur S. Carpender, Commander, Allied Naval Forces, February 19, 1943-November 26, 1943 and Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet, (from March 15, 1943)
• Adm. Thomas C. Kinkaid, November 26, 1943-September 2, 1945 Commander; Commander U.S. 7th Fleet

Southwest Pacific Sea Frontiers

• Australian coastal waters
  
  • Vice Adm. Sir Guy Royle (British Royal Navy), Commander

See also

• U.S. I Corps
• Australian I Corps
• Australian II Corps
• Maroubra Force
• Australian First Tactical Air Force

External links

Prof. David Horner, 2002, "The Evolution of Australian Higher Command Arrangements"

U.S. Army in World War II 9official history) "Organization and Command of the Pacific"

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