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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,
Malaya,
Sumatra, and for clandestine missions
Thailand and
French Indochina. On
August 15 1945 this was expanded to include the
Dutch East Indies 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
November 30 1946 SEAC was disbanded.
=== 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
* '''British Fourteenth Army'''
*
British Army in Ceylon (Ceylon Army)
*
Northern Combat Area Command under the command of
Joseph Stilwell.
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
battle of Prachuab Khirikhan, 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 and British units in northern 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 Indian, Australian and British troops became prisoners of war. The
fall of Singapore was largest surrender in British military history.
:''For more a more detailed account see
Australian 8th Division and The Fall of Singapore.''
=== 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 partialy 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
** Road to Rangoon
** Brigadier
Orde Wingate Chindits
==US forces in the China Burma India Theatre==
*
China Burma India Theater of World War II is the main article
*
Flying Tigers
*
Merrill's Marauders
* The
Ledo Road
* The Allied
logisitical airlift from India in to China over
the Hump
== 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 need 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 despatched 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 ==
*
British Indian Army
*
Indian National Army
== See also==
*
Military history of Britain during World War II#The Far East
*
Pacific War
*
Pacific Theater of Operations
*
Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
*
Guandong Army
== 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
*
STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR COALITION WARFARE 1941-1942: Chapter VI: ARMY DEPLOYMENT AND THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN December 1941-March 1942
*
Australian War Memorial: Remembering 1942 The fall of Singapore, 15 February 1942
*
http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/pages/Second-war/far-east.html
*
BBC Article on the Burma Campaign
*
Forgotten Warriors: China-Burma-India
{| id="toc"
|-
| style="background:#ccddcc" align="center" | '''Campaigns and Theatres of World War II'''
|-
| style="background:#ccccff" align="center" | '''Europe'''
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 90%;" | Poland | Denmark & Norway | France and the Low Countries | Britain | Balkans & Greece| Eastern Front | Italy | Western Front
|-
| style="background:#ccccff" align="center" | '''Asia Pacific'''
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 90%;" | South-East Asian Theatre | Pacific Theatre of Operations
|-
| style="background:#ccccff" align="center" | '''Middle East and East & North Africa'''
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 90%;" | East African Campaign | Western Desert Campaign | Tunisia Campaign
|-
| style="background:#ccccff" align="center" | '''Other'''
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 90%;" | Atlantic Ocean | Mediterranean Sea | Strategic Bombing
|-
| style="background:#ccddcc" align="center" | '''Contemporaneous Wars'''
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 90%;" | Chinese Civil War | Sino-Japanese War | Winter War | Continuation War
|}
{| id="toc"
|-
| style="background:#ccddcc" align="center" | '''Military history of World War II by nation'''
|-
| align="center" style="font-size: 90%;" | Britain | China | Egypt | Finland | France | Germany | Italy | Japan | Poland | Soviet Union | United Sates | Australia | Canada | New Zealand
|}
