South West Pacific theatre of World War II

'' (center left) protects three Allied transport ships (background and center right) unloading troops and supplies at Tulagi. The U.S. General Douglas MacArthur had been in command of the American forces in the Philippines in what was to become the South West Pacific theatre, but was then part of a larger theatre that encompassed the South West Pacific, the Southeast Asian mainland (including Indochina and Malaya) and the North of Australia, under the short lived American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM). Shortly after the collapse of ABDACOM, the supreme command of the South West Pacific theatre passed to MacArthur, appointed Supreme Commander, South West Pacific Area, on 30 March 1942. However, MacArthur preferred to use the title "Commander-in-Chief." The forces remaining in South-East Asia under Japanese attack reverted to their local commanders, and were soon mostly destroyed or evacuated. The other major theatre in the Pacific, Pacific Ocean Areas, was commanded by U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz, who was also Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet. The US Joint Chiefs and the British-U.S. Combined Chiefs of Staff oversaw MacArthur and Nimitz. Captain Allan Rockwell McCann was appointed to represent the Navy as General MacArthur's Senior Representative of Commander, Submarines, Southwest Pacific. ==Japanese command==

Most Japanese forces in the theatre were part of the , which was formed on November 6, 1941, under General Hisaichi Terauchi (also known as Count Terauchi). The Nanpo gun was responsible for Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) ground and air units in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. The of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was responsible for all Japanese warships, naval aviation units and marine infantry units. As the Japanese military did not formally utilize joint/combined staff at the operational level, the command structures/geographical areas of operations of the Nanpo gun and Rengō Kantai overlapped each other and those of the Allies. ==Major campaigns==

run sometime in 1942. of the 3rd Attack Group bombs a Japanese merchant ship off New Guinea during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, March 1943. tank on Bougainville, March 1944. , Philippine Islands, 20 October 1944. transport Australian troops during the Battle of Balikpapan, Borneo, 1 July 1945. • Battle of the Philippines (1941–1942) • Battle of Bataan • Battle of Corregidor • Battle of Panay • Battle of Cebu • Battle of Davao • Battle of Lanao • Dutch East Indies campaign, 1941–1942 • Battle of Badung Strait, 19–20 February 1942 • Battle of the Java Sea, 27 February 1942 • Battle of Sunda Strait, 28 February – 1 March 1942 • Second Battle of the Java Sea, 1 March 1942 • Battle of Timor, 1942–1943 • Solomon Islands campaign, 1943–1945 • New Georgia Campaign, June–August 1943 • Battle of Kula Gulf, 6 July 1943 • Battle of Kolombangara, 13 July 1943 • Admiralty Islands campaign, 29 February 1944 • Invasion of Hollandia and landing at Aitape, 22 April 1944 • Battle of Biak, 27 May 1944 • Battle of Noemfoor, 2 July 1944 • Battle of Morotai, 15 September 1944 • Aitape-Wewak campaign, November 1944 • Philippines campaign (1944–1945) • Battle of Leyte, October–December 1944 • Battle of Leyte Gulf, 23–26 October 1944 • Battle of Mindoro, December 1944 • Battle of Lingayen Gulf, January 1945 • Battle of Luzon, January–August 1945 • Battle of Manila, February–March 1945 • Battle of Corregidor, February 1945 • Invasion of Palawan, February–April 1945 • Battle of the Visayas, March–July 1945 • Battle of Mindanao, March–August 1945 • Battle of Maguindanao, January–September 1945 • Borneo campaign, 1945 • Battle of Tarakan, May–June 1945 • Battle of North Borneo, June–August 1945 • Battle of Balikpapan, July 1945 ==Notes==