South-East Asian campaigns of 1941–42 Pacific War

hms prince of wales (left, front) , hms repulse (left, rear) under attack japanese aircraft. destroyer in foreground.

british, australian, , dutch forces, drained of personnel , matériel 2 years of war germany, , heavily committed in middle east, north africa, , elsewhere, unable provide more token resistance battle-hardened japanese. allies suffered many disastrous defeats in first 6 months of war. 2 major british warships, hms repulse , hms prince of wales, sunk japanese air attack off malaya on 10 december 1941.

thailand, territory serving springboard malayan campaign, surrendered within 5 hours of japanese invasion. government of thailand formally allied japan on 21 december.

hong kong attacked on 8 december , fell on 25 december 1941, canadian forces , royal hong kong volunteers playing important part in defense. american bases on guam , wake island lost @ around same time.

following declaration united nations (the first official use of term united nations) on 1 january 1942, allied governments appointed british general sir archibald wavell american-british-dutch-australian command (abdacom), supreme command allied forces in southeast asia. gave wavell nominal control of huge force, albeit thinly spread on area burma philippines northern australia. other areas, including india, hawaii, , rest of australia remained under separate local commands. on 15 january, wavell moved bandung in java assume control of abdacom.

japanese battleships yamashiro, fusō , haruna (more distant)

in january, japan invaded burma, dutch east indies, new guinea, solomon islands , captured manila, kuala lumpur , rabaul. after being driven out of malaya, allied forces in singapore attempted resist japanese during battle of singapore, forced surrender japanese on 15 february 1942; 130,000 indian, british, australian , dutch personnel became prisoners of war. pace of conquest rapid: bali , timor fell in february. rapid collapse of allied resistance left abda area split in two. wavell resigned abdacom on 25 february, handing control of abda area local commanders , returning post of commander-in-chief, india.

the bombing of darwin, australia, 19 february 1942

meanwhile, japanese aircraft had eliminated allied air power in southeast asia , making attacks on northern australia, beginning psychologically devastating militarily insignificant attack on city of darwin on 19 february, killed @ least 243 people.

at battle of java sea in late-february , early-march, imperial japanese navy (ijn) inflicted resounding defeat on main abda naval force, under admiral karel doorman. dutch east indies campaign subsequently ended surrender of allied forces on java , sumatra.

in march , april, powerful ijn carrier force launched raid indian ocean. british royal navy bases in ceylon hit , aircraft carrier hms hermes , other allied ships sunk. attack forced royal navy withdraw western part of indian ocean. paved way japanese assault on burma , india.

surrender of forces @ corregidor, philippines, may 1942

in burma, british, under intense pressure, made fighting retreat rangoon indo-burmese border. cut burma road, western allies supply line chinese nationalists. in march 1942, chinese expeditionary force started attack japanese forces in northern burma. on 16 april, 7,000 british soldiers encircled japanese 33rd division during battle of yenangyaung , rescued chinese 38th division, led sun li-jen. cooperation between chinese nationalists , communists had waned zenith @ battle of wuhan, , relationship between 2 had gone sour both attempted expand areas of operation in occupied territories. japanese exploited lack of unity press ahead in offensives.

filipino , forces resisted in philippines until 8 may 1942, when more 80,000 soldiers ordered surrender. time, general douglas macarthur, had been appointed supreme allied commander south west pacific, had been withdrawn australia. navy, under admiral chester nimitz, had responsibility rest of pacific ocean. divided command had unfortunate consequences commerce war, , consequently, war itself.