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The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, code name ABDACOM, was a short-lived, unified command for all Allied forces in South East Asia, during the Pacific War. The command, led by General Sir Archibald Wavell, was also known in British military circles as the "South West Pacific Command", although it should not be confused with the later formation led by General Douglas MacArthur. Efforts to organise the ABDA Command began soon after war between the Allies and Japan commenced, on December 7, 1941 Soon after the Declaration by the United Nations on January 1, 1942, the Allied governments appointed Wavell, as supreme commander of ABDA forces. Wavell had previously been British Commander-in-Chief India. The formation of ABDACOM mean that Wavell had nominal control of a huge, but thinly-spread force, covering an area from Burma in the west to Dutch New Guinea and The Philippines in the east. Other areas, including India and Hawaii remained officially under separate, local commands. In practice MacArthur was in complete control of Allied forces in The Philippines. At Wavell's insistence, north western Australia (see map) was added to the ABDA area. The rest of Australia was under Australian control, as was the Australian territory of New Guinea.
Wavell arrived in Singapore, where the British Far East Command was based, on January 7, 1942. ABDACOM absorbed this British command in its entirety. On January 15, Wavell moved his headquarters to Bandung in Java and assumed control of Allied operations.
 Japanese attacks along the Malay Barrier December 23, 1941 – February 21, 1943 However, the rapid collapse of Allied resistance to Japanese attacks on the Malayan Peninsula, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines had soon left the ABDA Area split in two.
Wavell resigned as supreme commander on the February 25, 1942 handing control of the ABDA Area to local commanders. He also recommended the establishment of two Allied commands to replace ABDACOM: a south west Pacific command, and one based in India. In anticipation of this, Wavell had handed control of Burma to the British India Command and reassumed his previous position, as Commander-in-Chief India.
Following the destruction of the main ABDA naval force under Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman, at the Battle of the Java Sea, in February-March 1942, ABDA effectively ceased to exist.
On March 17, the US Government appointed General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific Area, a command which included Australia, New Guinea. The majority of the geographic area of the Pacific Theater of Operations remained under the Pacific Ocean Areas command by Commander-in-Chief Admiral Chester Nimitz of the US Navy.
Although ABDACOM was only in existence for several weeks and it presided over one defeat after another, it paved the way for more successful combined Allied commands, such as SHAEF in Europe.
Command structure General Sir Archibald Wavell (British Army) — Supreme Commander (General MacArthur, commanding the Philippine Army and US forces in the Philippines was technically subordinate to Wavell, but — in reality — operated independently of ABDA.)
See also
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