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I understand that prior to entering the war, the United States was sending supplies to the Western Allies in Europe. After entering the war the US also became involved with the invasion of France and so on, but were the British and French involved at all in the fight against Japan?
The British were, primarily in Burma and India. They were just too occupied in Europe to do much more after taking it on the chin during the early stages of the Japanese campaign. The Free French contributed some warships while I think the Vichy French actually did some things on behalf of the Japs.
The French contributions were minor overall in the Pacific, but they were there. To explain it, one needs to remember what happened after the Fall of France to the Germans in 1940. France was split into two territories. The northern half of France was occupied and under German administration. The southern half became what is known as Vichy France and was essentially its own nation, though under the control of Germany. Nominally any French overseas possessions and military forces were part of Vichy France. As it was, there was a divide among the French. Charles de Gaulle from England formed the Free French forces which still sided with the Allies. So, there was a split in Vichy territory and forces between those that stayed as Vichy French and those that became Free French. There were occasions when Allied forces invaded and fought against Vichy French forces in campaigns.
On the specific topic of the Pacific, the main French possession there was Indochina. This remained Vichy French, but gave over some military bases to Japanese control. Indochina was then invaded by the Japanese ally Thailand and Japan then brokered a peace treaty between them that gave some territory to Thailand and cemented Japans control over Indochina. The Vichy government remained nominally in control until the very end of the war when the Japanese created "Vietnam" from the territory and abolished the Vichy government.
The remaining French possessions were scattered throughout the Pacific, but the two most important were Bora Bora in Polynesia and New Caledonia near the Solomon Islands. These territories pledged themselves to the Free French cause and opened their territory to the Allied military. Bora Bora was turned into a large American refueling base and way station between Hawaii and Australia and proved vital in the South Pacific campaigns such as Coral Sea. New Caledonia was used as an Allied Army and Navy headquarters during the Solomon Island campaigns and proved critical as a ship repair facility. The French territories throughout the Pacific that pledged themselves to the Free French cause combined to form an infantry batallion that saw action in Europe as well as the Middle East.
Free French Naval Forces were limited and most of their action was limited to the D-Day Invasion. However, several minor ships, most notably the destroyer Le Triomphant were based in New Caledonia in the Pacific and provided assistance as convoy escorts in that area. The French battleship Richelieu (a very advanced ship equal to anything else at the time in terms of speed, armor and firepower) had an interesting past. It was at first a Vichy French ship and actually fought against the Allies at the Battle of Dakar. After being taken by the Free French she was refitted in New York City and then joined the British East India Squadron where she fought against the Japanese in 1944 and 1945. She was also present in Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender.
British
The British (including their Commonwealth territory Australia) were heavily involved in the Pacifc War from the beginning. The British suffered several major setbacks early including the loss of their prized territory Malaya and the massive base at Singapore and the destruction of their fleet in the early days of the war. From that point on, the British fleet withdrew to the western Indian Ocean, only to join in the war again beginning in 1944.
During that time though, Australian forces were heavily involved in the war during the New Guinea campaign. Australian naval forces, though small also contributed to actions in the early Pacific War, but always as part of US formations. By the time the Phillipines Invasion was being planned in 1944 it was decided that Australia would draw down its forces to free men to work in the war industries in Australia that were becoming critical to supplying US and British forces. The now smaller Australian army continued to fight through 1944 on mopping up operations in New Guinea, the Solomons and Borneo, but they were not part of any frontline invasions. The one exception was the Australian First Tactical Air Force which continued to fight on the frontlines in a fighter and tactical bomber role for ground troops.
In 1944 the British organized what became the BPF or British Pacific Fleet. It was a multinational force composed of personnel and ships from throughout the Commonwealth. It featured four battleships, 18 carriers and various support units. It always operated under the overall command of US forces, but as opposed to earlier when any British ships were simply part of the US forces, they operated as their own fleet. They contributed to several operations in Sumatra and were present at Okinawa when they worked to interdict Japanese air assets from attacking the US landing fleet. It is important to note that the British carriers featured heavily armored flight decks that made them very resistant to kamikaze attack. One US naval officer commented that, "a kamikaze strike on a US carrier means a 6 month visit to Pearl for repairs. A strike on a Limey carrier simply results in the order, sweepers man your brooms."
The BPF was also part of battleship and carrier raids against the Japanese home islands at the end of the war that served to completely cripple the Japanese navy. They were present in all actions, except the major raid on the Kure naval base do to Halsey wanting the "final blow to be a purely American victory". The BPF was also slotted a large role in the proposed Operation Downfall which was the invasion of Japan. The BPF would have contributed 25% of the naval air power for the invasion and a "Commonwealth Corps" was to be part of the ground forces for the invasion with troops from Britain, Australia and Canada.
Overall though, the main British contribution to the war in the Pacific was the Burma Campaign. In 1942 Burma fell to the Japanese. Before that the "Burma Road" served as the primary supply route for Allied materiel going into China. After it fell, supplies had to be flown from Assam India over the Himalaya's into China. The British were asked by the US to re-take Burma and open the main route of supply back to China. The campaign that followed lasted for the rest of the war and was very much a sideshow to the rest of the Pacific. Details of the campaign are extensive and it is very interesting reading with a lot of great characters and people involved. There were units from China, the US, Britain, Australia and India all fighting together against Japanese and Thai forces. Though they never achieved their direct goal of retaking Burma before the war ended it is a very interesting aspect of the war. For instance, the overall commander in the theater was Lord Louis Mountbatten, uncle to Prince Phillip the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Dutch and the Portuguese also fought in the Pacific although the Portuguese (Macau and Portuguese Timor) were nominally neutral.
The Burma campaign tied down hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops that otherwise would have been used against our forces in the Pacific island campaigns. Field Marshal Bill Slim had a real tough job at the end of a long supply line with an force that included troops of just about every racial and ethnic group in the British Empire.
The Burma campaign tied down hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops that otherwise would have been used against our forces in the Pacific island campaigns. Field Marshal Bill Slim had a real tough job at the end of a long supply line with an force that included troops of just about every racial and ethnic group in the British Empire.
Yes. It is my understanding that British Field Marshall Slim was highly respected both by the officers and men who served under him and by military historians who subsequently studied and wrote about the Burma campaign. It was nasty jungle fighting under difficult conditions, which was also true of many other locations in the Pacific Theatre. The Burma fighting is little known to the average American but involved fairly substantial forces. Max Hastings has a chapter on it in his excellent book Retribution.
Just for the record, I acknowledge the superiority of NJGoat's knowledge about World War II to my own. I merely wanted to add my additional brief comments to his excellent exposition.
Yes. It is my understanding that British Field Marshall Slim was highly respected both by the officers and men who served under him and by military historians who subsequently studied and wrote about the Burma campaign. It was nasty jungle fighting under difficult conditions, which was also true of many other locations in the Pacific Theatre. The Burma fighting is little known to the average American but involved fairly substantial forces. Max Hastings has a chapter on it in his excellent book Retribution.
Just for the record, I acknowledge the superiority of NJGoat's knowledge about World War II to my own. I merely wanted to add my additional brief comments to his excellent exposition.
Yes. He knows so much about World War II that I would be afraid to sit next to him at a dinner party.
The Burma campaign tied down hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops that otherwise would have been used against our forces in the Pacific island campaigns. Field Marshal Bill Slim had a real tough job at the end of a long supply line with an force that included troops of just about every racial and ethnic group in the British Empire.
Given the structural differences in the way the Japanese fought, with firm divisions between the IJA and IJN, it is doubtful that many of the troops used in Burma would have found their way to the islands. The Japanese also lacked large scale troop transport to move troops among the islands and this was most accute in 1943, around the time any troops engaged in Burma or China could have been used to reinforce the island holdings as the situation deteriorated. A good illustration of how limited the Japanese logistics were was the fact that the Burma Army was almost entirely supplied from local sources.
The IJA troops were in Burma to begin with to close the "Burma Road" and cut-off Allied support to China. They ended up having to stay not only to counter the British forces but deal with an endless insurgency. For the Japanese Burma was really an extension of their campaign in China. An off-shoot of that was the genesis of an idea to promote a general revolt in India by an invasion. This idea was put forward by Subhas Bose who was a leading Indian nationalist who had organized many of the Indian troops captured after Singapore into a Japanese allied force. The overall Japanese commander in Burma was against the idea, but it was promoted by one of the army commanders and gained traction in the general headquarters. The failure of that invasion is what proved to be the turning point in the Burma Campaign.
I don't mean to discredit what happened there or the bravery of the troops involved. It was an amazing effort and has virtually become a case study in "limited theater operations" at war colleges. However, its impact on the overall Pacific War was very minor and in no way decisive.
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Originally Posted by Escort Rider
Yes. It is my understanding that British Field Marshall Slim was highly respected both by the officers and men who served under him and by military historians who subsequently studied and wrote about the Burma campaign. It was nasty jungle fighting under difficult conditions, which was also true of many other locations in the Pacific Theatre. The Burma fighting is little known to the average American but involved fairly substantial forces. Max Hastings has a chapter on it in his excellent book Retribution.
Retribution is a great read and one of the few recent books to give the campaign justice. Slim was a great commander and it is very unfortunate what happened to him at the end of the war. Having served with incredible distinction he was relieved of command of the 14th Army by Oliver Leese, Commander of Allied Land Forces South East Asia, before it was to begin the Malaya campaign. He was offered the command of the newly formed 12th Army that was to conduct mop-up operations in Burma. Slim refused, instead choosing to retire. Upon hearing the news, 14th Army was on the brink of mutiny and it took the intercession of Alan Brooke (Chief of the Imperial General Staff), Auchinleck (C-in-C India). They forced Mountbatten to rescind Leese's order and had Slim promoted to full general and gave him Leese's job. Unfortunately by the time it was all worked out and Slim took Leese's job, the war was over.
Outside of Slim though, the contributions of Auchinleck and Mountbatten were very interesting. Auchinleck after being disgraced over his performance in North Africa performed brilliantly in India and is credited with the amazing job at forming the armies that fought in Burma. Mountbatten while mainly a political appointee served with distinction and used his influence to gain much needed supplies and additional air units for the operations. The American commander, Joseph "Vineger Joe" Stillwell was no less interesting and had what was arguably the most difficult job of any American theater commander in the war.
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Just for the record, I acknowledge the superiority of NJGoat's knowledge about World War II to my own. I merely wanted to add my additional brief comments to his excellent exposition.
I appreciate the kind words, but most of all, everyone elses contributions to the discussion. I simply tried to outline the general facts of British and French involvement, but there are many interesting stories and campaigns that can be discussed. Just for the record, I always enjoy your contributions as well and have learned more then a few things from your posts.
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Originally Posted by cpg35223
Yes. He knows so much about World War II that I would be afraid to sit next to him at a dinner party.
That's why I post here. I get it all out of my system so when I'm at dinner parties I can focus on sports and weather, lol. If I get off on a tangent, I just wait for my wife to roll her eyes and I know to shut up.
The article mentions about the Kamikaze hit it took while supporting the landings at Okinawa.
Grandad didn't actually get back to England until 1946 and my mum tells me that he was, unsurprisingly, a changed man.
He had volunteered to join the Navy, as he was over recruitment age.
That's a very interesting link. Thanks so much for posting. I was aware of some British Navy participation in Okinawa and the later stages of the war, but I learned a lot from that article. It was especially interesting to read about the differences between US and British carrier doctrine formed by experience.
For example, the majority of carrier operations for the British had been in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic, and mid-ocean refueling was the equivalent of ringing the dinner bell for U-Boats, while for the Americans it was an essential for operating over the vastness of the Pacific. So logistics proved more problematic for a British fleet refueling out of bases rather than mid-ocean. Also interesting was that British carrier decks were steel whereas American decks were wood, with obvious consequences for the Americans in the event of bomb or kamikaze damage.
I understand that prior to entering the war, the United States was sending supplies to the Western Allies in Europe. After entering the war the US also became involved with the invasion of France and so on, but were the British and French involved at all in the fight against Japan?
Don't overlook that the USA was already involved in fighting the Japanese prior to Pearl Harbor with their support of China and the Chiang Kai Shek regime when Japan was invading China.
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