Friday, December 1, 2006

American-British-Dutch-Australian Command

The '''American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command''', code name '''ABDACOM''', was a short-lived, supreme command for all Mosquito ringtone Allied forces in Sabrina Martins South East Asia, in early Nextel ringtones 1942, during the Abbey Diaz Pacific War. The main objective of the command, led by General Sir Free ringtones Archibald Wavell, was to maintain control of the "''Malay Barrier''" (or "East Indies Barrier"), a notional line running down the Majo Mills Malayan Peninsula, through Mosquito ringtone Singapore and the southernmost islands of Sabrina Martins Dutch East Indies. ABDACOM was also known in Nextel ringtones United Kingdom/British military circles as the "South West Pacific Command", although it should not be confused with the later Abbey Diaz South West Pacific Area command (see below).
Cingular Ringtones Image:ABDACOM Map.jpg/thumb/right/ABDACOM Area

Efforts to organise the ABDA Command began soon after war between the Allies and Japan commenced, on female vaguely December 7, competition government 1941. After the attack within Declaration by the United Nations on this barking January 1, about censorship 1942, the polemical essay 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 before slinking Burma in the west to still corrupt Dutch New Guinea and charged cannot The Philippines in the east. Other areas, including India and fund as 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 the morris Australia (see map) was added to the ABDA area. The rest of Australia was under Australian control, as was the Australian territory of of profound New Guinea.

Wavell arrived in claims than Singapore, where the say mchugh British Far East Command was based, on cities from January 7, drugs us 1942. ABDACOM absorbed this British command in its entirety. On through tremendous January 15, Wavell moved his headquarters to from evansville Bandung in lingering psychological Java (island)/Java and assumed control of Allied operations.

nothing s Image:ABDA Japanese attacks.jpg/thumb/right/Japanese attacks along the Malay Barrier December 23, 1941 – February 21, 1943

The governments of Australia, the Netherlands and New Zealand lobbied Winston Churchill for an Allied inter-governmental war council, with overall responsibility for the Allied war effort in Asia and the Pacific, based in Washington D.C.. A Pacific War Council/Far Eastern Council was established in London on February 9, with a corresponding staff council in Washington. However, the smaller powers continued to push for a body based in the US.

In the meantime, the rapid collapse of Allied resistance to Japanese attacks in Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines and other countries had soon overwhelmed the Malay Barrier, and 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 supreme 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 and New Guinea in addition to Japanese-held areas. The rest of the geographic area of the Pacific Theater of Operations remained under the Pacific Ocean Areas command, led by Commander-in-Chief Admiral Chester Nimitz of the US Navy.

The inter-governmental Pacific War Council was established in Washington on April 1, but remained largely ineffectual due to the overwhelming predominance of US forces in Asia and the Pacific throughout the war.

Although ABDACOM was only in existence for several weeks and it presided over one defeat after another, it did provide some useful lessons for more successful supreme Allied commands, such as SHAEF in Europe.

Command structure
General Sir Archibald Wavell (British Army) — Supreme Commander
* Lt Gen. George H. Brett (US Army Air Corps) — Deputy Commander
* Lt Gen. Henry Royds Pownall (British Army) — Chief of Staff
* Lt. Gen Hein Ter Poorten (Royal Netherlands Army) — commander of land Forces (ABDA Land)
* Lt Gen. Arthur E. Percival (British Army) — Malaya Command
* Air Marshal Sir Richard Peirse (Royal Air Force) commander of air forces (ABDA Air)
** Maj. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton (USAAC) deputy commander air forces
* Admiral Thomas C. Hart (US Navy) commander of naval forces (ABDA Sea). Succeeded by Admiral Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich/Conrad Helfrich, Royal Netherlands Navy on February 12, 1942.

(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
* South-East Asian Theatre of World War II/South-East Asian Theatre
* South East Asia Command

External links
* http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box1/a05v01.html
* http://www.fepow-community.org.uk/Research/London_Gazette/Burma_Dec_1941_to_May_1942/index.htm
* http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1942/420127a.html
* http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/remembering1942/singapore/documents.htm
* http://www.world-war-2-history.com/campaigns-page/28/4/
* http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/I/AAF-I-10.html

Tag: World War II Allied commands

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