![]() By May the War Department proposed that Lt. Army Forces, South Pacific Area, had had long experience in the Pacific. To head this new command the Air Staff in Washington DC had decided as early as 16 April upon Lt. On 10 March 1944, the Department of War approved the activation of an additional AAF headquarters for the Pacific Ocean Areas. Army Air Forces operated in the POA under the Seventh, Thirteenth, and Twentieth Air Forces at various times. Among allied land force formations was the 3rd New Zealand Division, which fought in the Solomon Islands campaign during 1943-44. An additional 15 Army divisions fought in the SWPA during this time. From 1944-1945, five Army infantry divisions ( 7th, 27th, 77th, 81st, 96th) and six Marine divisions (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th) served in the POA. įrom 1942-1943, three Army infantry divisions ( 23rd/"Americal", 25th, 27th) and two Marine divisions ( 1st, 2nd) fought in the POA (the 1st and 3rd Marine Divisions also fought in the SWPA in 1943). Task Force 8 consisted of five cruisers, thirteen destroyers, three tankers, six submarines, as well as naval aviation elements of Fleet Air Wing Four. Theobald as Commander North Pacific Force reported to Nimitz in Hawaii. Fletcher (11 October 1943 – 2 September 1945)ĭuring the 1942 Aleutian Islands campaign Rear Admiral Robert A. The 159° meridian east runs through the middle of Santa Isabel Island. When he operated east of 159° east longitude he reported to Nimitz. When Halsey operated in the Solomon Islands that was west of 159° east longitude he reported to MacArthur. However, MacArthur's Operation Cartwheel, which gave full operational command of naval and amphibious forces to POA's Admiral William Halsey in the Solomons while MacArthur strategically directed the whole operation, was a resounding success because of the rapport and great personal relationship between MacArthur and Halsey. In particular, the division of the Solomons 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 result of this split was the creation of two separate commands in the Pacific: POA and SWPA, each reporting separately to the JCS, each competing for scarce resources in an economy-of-force theater, and each headed by a commander in chief from a different service. General Douglas MacArthur assumed command of the SWPA. Nimitz designated subordinate commanders for the North and South Pacific Areas but retained the Central Pacific Area, including the Army's Hawaiian Department, under his direct command. The JCS subdivided the Pacific Ocean Areas into the North, Central and South Pacific Areas. Army's Western Defense Command.Ġ3 19 message from COMINCH (Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet, King) to CINCPAC (Commander-in-Chief, US Pacific Fleet, Nimitz) designating Nimitz Commander-in-Chief Pacific Ocean Area (first of four part message). All land forces in Alaska and Canada remained under the control of the U.S. strategic bomber forces in the theatre were under the direct control of the JCS. The theater included most of the Pacific Ocean and its islands, but mainland Asia was excluded from the POA, as were the Philippines, Australia, the Netherlands East Indies, the Territory of New Guinea (including the Bismarck Archipelago) and the western part of the Solomon Islands. The JCS designated Admiral Nimitz as Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, with operational control over all units (air, land, and sea) in that area. Details and transition, including whether Nimitz "appointed" or "nominated" the commander of the South Pacific Area, were worked out between 3 April and formal assumption of the overall Commander-in-Chief Pacific Ocean Areas by Nimitz on. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) divided the Pacific theater into three areas: the Pacific Ocean Areas (POA), the South West Pacific Area (SWPA), and the Southeast Pacific Area (which was never activated). Combined Chiefs of Staff issued a directive designating the Pacific theater an area of American strategic responsibility. On 24 March 1942, the newly formed British and U.S. ![]() However units and/or personnel from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Fiji and other countries also saw active service. The vast majority of Allied forces in the theatre were from the U.S. ![]() Pacific Fleet, headed the command throughout its existence. It was one of four major Allied commands during the Pacific War and one of three United States commands in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. Pacific Ocean Areas was a major Allied military command in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II.
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