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The South-East Asian Theatre of World War II was the name given to the campaigns of the Pacific War in India, Burma, Thailand, Malaya and Singapore.
Command Structure
At the Start of the War the British had two commands with responsibilities for possessions in the theatre. India Command under General Sir Archibald Wavell the Commander-in-Chief (CinC) of the Army of India and the Far East Command under Air Chief Marshal Robert Brooke-Popham and then from December 23, 1941 by Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Royds Pownall.
India Command was responsible for India, Ceylon and for some of the time Burma. The Far East Command based in Singapore, was responsible for Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and other British Far East possessions including, for some of the time, Burma.
A month after the outbreak of war with Japan on December 7, 1941, the Allied governments appointed the British Commander-in-Chief (CinC) of the Army of India, General Sir Archibald Wavell, as supreme allied commander of all "American-British-Dutch-Australian" (ABDA) forces in South East Asia and the Pacific, from Burma to the Dutch East Indies.
However, advances made by the Japanese over the next month split the ABDA forces in two. 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. Responsibility for the South West Pacific Area passed to the US General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific.
From February 1942 until November 1943 the India Command was responsible for the South East Asian Theatre. General Wavell was made Viceroy of India, General Claude Auchinleck became Commander-in-Chief of the India Command on the 20th June, 1943. In August 1943 the Allies formed a new South East Asian Command to take over stratigic responsibilities for the theatre.
The reorganisation of the theatre command took about two months. On October 4 Winston Churchill appointed Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten supreme Allied commander of the South East Asia Command (SEAC). The American General Joseph Stilwell was the first deputy supreme Allied commander. On 15th of Novemeber Auchinleck handed over responsibility for the conduct of operations against the Japanese in the theatre to Mountbatten.
The initial land forces operational area for SEAC was India, Burma, Ceylon and Malaya. Operations were also mounted in Japanese-occupied Sumatra, Thailand and French Indochina.
Initially SEAC commanded:
- Eastern Fleet with HQ in Ceylon
- Eleventh Army Group with HQ in New Delhi (all British land forces in command)
- Indian Ocean Air HQ with HQ in New Delhi
- China Burma India Theater (CBI), (American forces in theatre) with HQ in New Delhi.
In October 1944 CBI was split into US Forces China Theater (USFCT) and India-Burma Theater (USFIBT).
On November 12, 1944 Eleventh Army Group redesignated by Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALFSEA) combining British and American forces with an HQ at Kandy. On December 1 ALFSEA HQ moved to Barrackpore, India.
On August 15, 1945 responsibility for the rest of the Dutch East Indies was transferred from the South West Pacific Area to SEAC.
SEAC was disbanded on November 30, 1946.
11th Army Group British 11th Army Group ( November 1943 – November 12, 1944) was on paper the main British Army force in South East Asia which directed On November 12, 1944 the 11th Army Group was redesignated Allied Land Forces South East Asia , still under SEAC, because it was felt that an inter-Allied command was better than the purely British headquarters. Command problems with General Stilwell and his interactions with the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff had precipitated the change.
Initial Japanese successes The Allies suffered many disastrous defeats in the first six months of the war. Two major British warships, HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales were sunk by a Japanese air attack off Malaya on December 10, 1941. Following a token resistance at the battles of Prachuab Khirikhan, Nakorn Sri Thammarat, Chumporn, Songkhla, and Pattani, the government of Thailand formally allied itself with Japan on December 21. Hong Kong fell on December 25. January saw the invasions of Burma and the Dutch East Indies and the capture of Manila and Kuala Lumpur.
Malaya and Singapore Japanese forces met stiff resistance from III Corps of the British Indian Army, the Australian 8th Division and British units in Malaya, but Japan's superiority in air power, tanks and infantry tactics drove the Allied units back. After being driven out of Malaya, Allied forces in Singapore, under the command of Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, surrendered to the Japanese on February 15, 1942; about 130,000 Allied troops became prisoners of war. The fall of Singapore was largest surrender in British military history.
The Japanese Indian Ocean raid The Japanese Indian Ocean raid was a naval sortie by the Fast Carrier Strike Force of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 31 March to 10 April 1942 against Allied shipping and bases in the Indian Ocean. Following the destruction of the ABDACOM forces in the battles around Java in February and March, the Japanese sortied into the Indian Ocean to destroy British seapower there and support the invasion of Burma. The raid was only partially successful. It did not succeed in destroying British Naval power in the Indian Ocean but it did force the British fleet to relocate to Kilindini in east Africa.
Burma Campaign See The Burma Campaign for details on: - The 14th forgotten Army
- Japanese advance through Burma to the Indian Frontier
- The Stalemate
- Allies counter offensives
US forces in the China Burma India Theatre
Western Allies support for the Chinese One of the major logistical efforts of the war was "flying the Hump" over the Himalayas and the building of the Ledo Road from India to China as a relpacement for the Burma Road.
RAF See RAF Far East Air Force, RAF Third Tactical Air Force
Battle Honours CEYLON 1942 Qualification: For operations against Japanese aircraft and naval units by squadrons based in Ceylon during the Japanese attacks of April 1942.
BURMA 1944-1945 Qualification: For operations during the 14th Army's advance from Imphal to Rangoon, the coastal amphibious assaults, and the Battle of Pegu Yomas, August 1944 to August 1945.
Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean Retreat Following the Japanese Indian Ocean raid in eary 1942, the British fleet retreated to Kilindini in east Africa, as their more forward fleet anchorages could not be adequately protected from Japanese attack. The fleet in the Indian Ocean was then gradually reduced to little more than a convoy escort force as other commitments called for the more powerful ships.
One exception was Operation Ironclad, a campaign launched when it was feared that Vichy French Madagascar might fall into Japanese hands, and be used as a submarine base. Such a blow would have been devastating to British lines of communication to the Far East and Middle East, but the Japanese never contemplated it. The French resisted more than expected, and more operations were needed to capture the island, but it did eventually fall.
Indian Ocean Strike The earliest successes were gained by mine laying and submarine warfare. The Japanese minesweeping capability was never great, and when confronted with new types of mines they did not adapt quickly. Japanese shipping was driven from the Burmese coast using this type of warfare. British submarines based in Ceylon operated against Japanese shipping.
It was only after the war in Europe was clearly coming to an end that large British forces were dispatched to the Indian Ocean again. Following the neutralisation of the German fleet in late 1943 and early 1944 force from the Home Fleet were released, and the success of Operation Overlord in June meant even more craft could be sent, including precious amphibious assault shipping.
During late 1944, as more British aircraft carriers came into the area a series of strikes were flown against oil targets in Sumatra to prepare British carriers for the upcoming operations in the Pacific. The USS Saratoga was leant for the first attack by the United States. The oil installations were heavily damaged by the attacks, aggravating the Japanese fuel shortages due to the American blockade. The final attack was flown as the carriers were heading for Sydney to become the British Pacific Fleet.
After the departure of the main battle forces the Indian Ocean was left with escort carriers and older battleships as the mainstay of its naval forces. Nevertheless, during those months important operations were launched in the recapture of Burma, including landings on Ramree and Akyab and near Rangoon.
Other
See also
References - Defeat Into Victory by Field Marshal William Slim is the definitive account of the Burma campaign.
External links - Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons Official Report, Jan. 27, 1942. on the Far Eastern theatre and A.B.D.A (http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1942/420127a.html)
- STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR COALITION WARFARE 1941-1942: Chapter VI: ARMY DEPLOYMENT AND THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN December 1941-March 1942 (http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/Sp1941-42/chapter6.htm)
- Australian War Memorial: Remembering 1942 The fall of Singapore, 15 February 1942 (http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/remembering1942/singapore/transcript.htm)
- http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/pages/Second-war/far-east.html
- BBC Article on the Burma Campaign (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/burma_campaign_01.shtml)
- Forgotten Warriors: China-Burma-India (http://www.nimitz-museum.org/cbiprimer.htm)
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