Map Description
History Map of WWII: The Far East and the Pacific December 1941
Illustrating:
Major Allied Forces and Positions
(Air Forces were under Army or Navy Command in most areas shown.)
:: Allied commands at the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941 ::
| Location | Forces | Commander | Level / Strength | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chungking | China Nationalist Forces | Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek | XXXX (~2 million troops, scattered) |
Supreme Commander China Theater |
| Chungking | American Volunteer Group (AVG) | Col Claire Chennault (04/42) | XX (~70 P-40 fighters) |
Not full US Army yet (mercenary air group) |
| Hong Kong | British Garrison | Maj Gen Christopher Maltby | XXX (~14,000 troops) |
Mixed British-Canadian-Indian forces |
| India | British India Command | Gen Sir Archibald Wavell | XXXX (~300,000 troops) |
Theater command, soon to lead ABDA |
| Philippine Islands | USAFFE (U.S. Army Forces Far East) | Gen Douglas MacArthur | XXXX (~120,000 troops incl. Philippine Army) |
Top US ground commander in Philippines |
| Philippine Islands | U.S. Asiatic Fleet | Adm Thomas C. Hart | XXXX (~60 ships incl. 29 submarines) |
USN naval forces, based mainly around Manila |
| Singapore | British Far East Command | Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham | XXXX (~90,000 troops in Malaya) |
Theater command but with limited operational control |
| Singapore | Force Z (British Naval Detachment) | Adm Sir Tom Phillips | HMS Prince of Wales/HMS Repulse (2 capital ships + 4 destroyers) |
Battleship group; no full fleet structure yet |
| Batavia (Java) | Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) | Lt Gen Hein ter Poorten | XXX/XXXX (~85,000 troops incl. militia) |
Dutch ground forces in NEI |
| Batavia (Java) | Royal Netherlands Navy East Indies Fleet | Vice Adm Conrad Helfrich | XXXX (~30 naval vessels) |
Dutch naval commander |
| Guam | U.S. Navy / Marine Garrison | Cmdr George J. McMillin (USN) | X (~550 troops and sailors) |
Very small defense forces |
| Wake Island | USMC 1st Defense Battalion | Maj James P.S. Devereux (USMC) & Cmdr Winfield Cunningham (USN) | X (~450 Marines, 12 aircraft) |
Navy officer in overall charge, Marines commanded the beach defenses |
| Midway Island | USMC Defense Detachment + USN | Capt Cyril T. Simard (USN) | X (~500 men, limited aircraft) |
Small mixed Navy/Marine forces |
| Timor / Moluccas | Dutch / Australian Detachments | Mixed (Sparrow Force on Timor) | X (~2,500 Australian & Dutch troops) |
Very small garrisons and Dutch forces |
| Guadalcanal | No major Allied forces (Dec 1941) | (British Protectorate civil authorities) | N/A (No organized forces Dec 1941) |
No Allied troops; Japanese occupied in 1942 |
| Australia | Australian Home Forces | Lt Gen Vernon Sturdee (Gen Sir Thomas Blamey from March 1942) | XXX/XXXX (~250,000 troops mobilizing) |
Defense commands divided into regional areas |
| New Zealand | New Zealand Home Forces | Maj Gen Edward Puttick (Acting C-in-C Home Forces, NZ Army HQ) | XX/XXX (~30,000 troops on home defense) |
2nd NZ Division was overseas (Middle East) |
| Hawaii | U.S. Pacific Fleet | Adm Husband E. Kimmel | XXXX (~100 ships, ~200 aircraft) |
Fleet HQ Pearl Harbor |
| Hawaii | U.S. Hawaiian Department (Army) | Lt Gen Walter C. Short | XXX (~43,000 Army personnel) |
Ground and air defense of Oahu |
Credits
Courtesy of the United States Military Academy Department of History.
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