The Southern Expeditionary Army Group was a general army of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. It was responsible for all military operations in South East Asian and South West Pacific campaigns of World War II. Its military symbol was NA.
The Battle of the Java Sea was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II.
The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was the short-lived supreme command for all Allied forces in South East Asia in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II. The command consisted of the forces of Australia, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States. The main objective of the command, led by General Sir Archibald Wavell, was to maintain control of the "Malay Barrier", a notional line running down the Malay Peninsula, through Singapore and the southernmost islands of the Dutch East Indies. ABDACOM was also known in British military circles as the "South West Pacific Command", although it should not be confused with the later South West Pacific Area command.
The Battle of Sunda Strait was a naval battle which occurred during World War II in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java, and Sumatra. On the night of 28 February – 1 March 1942, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth, American heavy cruiser USS Houston, and Dutch destroyer HNLMS Evertsen faced a major Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) task force. After a fierce battle lasting several hours, all Allied ships were sunk. Five Japanese ships were sunk, three of them by friendly fire.
The Borneo campaign or Second Battle of Borneo was the last major Allied campaign in the South West Pacific Area during World War II to liberate Japanese-held British Borneo and Dutch Borneo. Designated collectively as Operation Oboe, a series of amphibious assaults between 1 May and 21 July 1945 were conducted by the Australian I Corps, under Lieutenant-General Leslie Morshead, against Imperial Japanese forces who had been occupying the island since late 1941 – early 1942. The main Japanese formation on the island was the Thirty-Seventh Army under Lieutenant-General Masao Baba, while the naval garrison was commanded by Vice-Admiral Michiaki Kamada. The Australian ground forces were supported by US and other Allied air and naval forces, with the US providing the bulk of the shipping and logistic support necessary to conduct the operation. The campaign was initially planned to involve six stages, but eventually landings were undertaken at four locations: Tarakan, Labuan, North Borneo and Balikpapan. Guerilla operations were also carried out by Dayak tribesmen and small numbers of Allied personnel in the interior of the island. While major combat operations were concluded by mid-July, localised fighting continued throughout Borneo until the end of the war in August. Initially intended to secure vital airfields and port facilities to support future operations, preparatory bombardment resulted in heavy damage to the island's infrastructure, including its oil production facilities. As a result, the strategic benefits the Allies gained from the campaign were negligible.
The Battle of Balikpapan was the concluding stage of Operation Oboe, the campaign to liberate Japanese-held British and Dutch Borneo. The landings took place on 1 July 1945. The Australian 7th Division, composed of the 18th, 21st and 25th Infantry Brigades, with a small number of Netherlands East Indies KNIL troops, made an amphibious landing, codenamed Operation Oboe Two, a few miles north of Balikpapan. The Allied invasion fleet consisted of around 100 ships. The landing had been preceded by heavy bombing and shelling by Australian and US air and naval forces. The Allied force totalled 33,000 personnel and was commanded by Major General Edward Milford, while the Japanese force, commanded by Rear Admiral Michiaki Kamada, numbered between 8,400 and 10,000, of which between 3,100 and 3,900 were combatants. After the initial landing, the Allies secured the town and its port, and then advanced along the coast and into the hinterland, capturing the two Japanese airfields. Major combat operations concluded around 21 July, but were followed by mopping-up operations, which lasted until the end of the war in mid-August. Australian troops remained in the area until early 1946.
Chitose (千歳) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy that served from 1938 to 1944, seeing service as a seaplane carrier and later as a light aircraft carrier during World War II. In her initial guise as a seaplane carrier, she first saw service during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, and subsequently played a key role in the Imperial Japanese Navy's development of a network of seaplane bases on the islands of the Pacific Ocean. After the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, she took part in the Philippines campaign, the Dutch East Indies campaign, the Battle of Midway, and the Guadalcanal campaign, during which she was damaged in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and also saw service related to the Battle of Cape Esperance.
The South West Pacific theatre, during World War II, was a major theatre of the war between the Allies and the Axis. It included the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, Australia and its mandate Territory of New Guinea and the western part of the Solomon Islands. This area was defined by the Allied powers' South West Pacific Area (SWPA) command.
The Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–1942 was the conquest of the Dutch East Indies by forces of the Empire of Japan in the early days of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Allied forces attempted unsuccessfully to defend the islands. The East Indies were targeted by the Japanese for their rich oil resources which would become a vital asset during the war. The campaign and subsequent three-and-a-half-year Japanese occupation was also a major factor in the end of Dutch colonial rule in the region.
The Battle of Borneo was a successful campaign by Japanese Imperial forces for control of Borneo island and concentrated mainly on the subjugation of the Raj of Sarawak, Brunei, North Borneo, and the western part of Kalimantan that was part of the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese main unit for this mission was the 35th Infantry Brigade led by Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi.
The First Battle of Balikpapan took place on 23–25 January 1942, off the major oil-producing town and port of Balikpapan, on Borneo, in the Netherlands East Indies. After capturing mostly-destroyed oilfields at Tarakan, Japanese forces send an ultimatum to the Dutch that they would be executed if they destroyed the oilfields there, to no avail.
USS Blount (AK-163) was an Alamosa-class cargo ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. She was responsible for delivering troops, goods and equipment to locations in the war zone.
Before the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, the island of Borneo was divided into five territories. Four of the territories were in the north and under British control – Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan, an island, and British North Borneo; while the remainder, and bulk, of the island, was under the jurisdiction of the Dutch East Indies.
US Naval Advance Bases were built globally by the United States Navy during World War II to support and project U.S. naval operations worldwide. A few were built on Allied soil, but most were captured enemy facilities or completely new. Advance bases provided the fleet with support to keep ships tactically available with repair and supply depots of facilities, rather than return them to the continental United States. Before Japan declared war on the United States the U.S. Navy had a single fleet-sized advanced base in the Territory of Hawaii at Naval Station Pearl Harbor. During the war the U.S. Navy Seabees built over 400 advance bases categorized by size. Naval bases were either Lions or Cubs while airfields were either Oaks or Acorns. Lions and Oaks were major facilities while Cubs and Acorns were minor. PT Boats typically would get a Cub and airfields with single runways were Acorns. The larger bases could provide refueling and overhaul; loading of troopship and cargo ships; and preparing amphibious assault ships. Some became major repair depots. The Seabees developed auxiliary floating drydocks were able to repair battle damage and do regular maintenance in the field saving ships trans-pacific trips for repair. A few bases also were developed to be R and R for all U.S. personnel. Most Advance Bases were built by the US Navy's Seabees in Naval Construction Battalions (CBs). At the start of the war civilian contractors were employed in construction. The Seabees in World War II built most of the airfields used by the United States Army Air Forces and United States Marine Corps, as they had the ships and cranes needed to transport the vast amount of equipment needed at the advance bases. The US Army and United States Coast Guard also operated out of many of these facilities. Seabees could build new or repair damaged runways, and with advancements in heavy bomber technology lengthen runways as needed. A few Naval Advance Bases were built for the Korean War and Vietnam War.
Naval Base Manila, Naval Air Base Manila was a major United States Navy base south of the City of Manila, on Luzon Island in the Philippines. Some of the bases dates back to 1898, the end of the Spanish–American War. Starting in 1938 civilian contractors were used to build new facilities in Manila to prepare for World War II. Work stopped on December 23, 1941, when Manila was declared not defendable against the Empire of Japan southward advance, which took over the city on January 2, 1942, after the US declared it an open city. US Navy construction and repair started in March 1945 with the taking of Manila in the costly Battle of Manila ending on March 2, 1945. Naval Base Manila supported the Pacific War and remained a major US Naval Advance Base until its closure in 1971.
Naval Base Brisbane was a major United States Navy base built in the early part of World War II at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. At first, operated as a base for patrol aircraft and convoy escort aircraft to protect the last leg of the Pacific War to the Southwest Pacific. As the US Navy expanded in the island hopping campaign, Naval Base Brisbane expanded to include a submarine base, repair depot, seaplane base and other facilities. US Navy operations started on April 14, 1942, and ended after the war in 1945.
Naval Base Darwin was a United States Navy base built during World War II at Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The first US operations at Darwin was Naval mine depot, built to supply Australia with mines to support the Pacific War. As the US Navy expanded in the Island hopping campaign, Naval Base Darwin expanded to include a Port Darwin submarine base, PT boat Bases, and other facilities. US Navy operations started in 1942 and ended after the war in 1945.
Roebuck Bay Seaplane Base, also called Broome Seaplane Base, was located in Roebuck Bay Western Australia near the town of Broome. The base opened in March 1942 and operated Consolidated PBY Catalina seaplanes during World War II. The base was used by the United States Navy starting in 1942.
US Naval Base New Guinea was number of United States Navy bases on the island of New Guinea during World War II. Australia entered World War II on 3 September 1939, being a self-governing nation within the British Empire. The United States formally entered the war on 7 December 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan quickly took over much of the South Pacific Ocean. The United States lost key naval bases in the South Pacific, including Naval Base Manila and Naval Base Subic Bay, both lost in the 1941–42 invasion of the Philippines. Also lost were Naval Base Guam and Wake Atoll. As such, the United States Armed Forces needed new bases in the South West Pacific for staging attacks on Japan's southern empire. The United States built bases first in Australia, then in New Guinea.
The United States Navy held a number of bases in the Philippines Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Most were built by the US Navy Seabees, Naval Construction Battalions, during World War II. The US Naval Bases in Philippines were lost to the Empire of Japan in December 1941 during the Philippines campaign of 1941–1942. In February 1945 the United States Armed Forces retook the Philippines in the Battle of Manila in 1945. Before the captured US bases on Luzon were retaken the US Navy Seabees built a new large base, Leyte-Samar Naval Base, on the Philippine Island of Leyte, starting in October 1944.
