bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Japan > South & SW Pacific, © 2024 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 1 April 2024.

In the South and Southwest Pacific until October 1944, Allied land operations consisted of three phases, as indicated by capitalization and indentation on the following list.
​Links to Big Pigeon's South & SW Pacific Area subpages:​
The South and Southwest Pacific Areas
The South & Southwest Pacific Areas (Western New Guinea is omitted)
Links to special webpages:
United States offensive land operations in the South and Southwest Pacific Areas ...
  • ... began in the summer of 1942 with the US Marine Corps invasion of the Guadalcanal area in the Solomon Islands and Australian and US Army forces pushing back Japanese advances in Papua in southeast New Guinea.
  • ​... ended in September 1944 with the US Army invasion of Morotai in the Netherlands Indies, just north of the equator, 2,300 miles to the northwest. 
1942-44 US Path Across the Southwest Pacific
1942-1944 US Path Across the Southwest Pacific
Most of these operations, as with almost all Pacific Area offensive operations, began with amphibious landings and required major assistance from the US Navy. In particular, the Guadalcanal land campaign was coupled with a series of massive sea battles as the Imperial Japanese Navy fought ferociously to defeat the land campaign.
The Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), US Army controlled, was commanded by General Douglas MacArthur, with initial SWPA headquarters in Brisbane, Australia. 
  • MacArthur had been extracted from the Philippines to Australia before Japanese forces completed their capture of the Philippine Islands.
  • MacArthur initially lacked trained US troops and early land operations in the SWPA were primarily Australian in nature.
  • In April 1944, US forces assumed all combat operations in the SWPA.
  • Beginning in October 1944, US combat in the SWPA shifted to the Philippines, while Australian troops took over rear areas, where thousands of Japanese troops remained in pockets.
  • In mid 1945, Australia, with US support, began a series of invasions of the island of Borneo.
Southwest Pacific Area - 1942
Southwest Pacific Area - 1942
The South Pacific Area (SPA), US Navy controlled, was commanded by Admiral William Halsey from 19 October 1942 to May 1944 , with SPA headquarters at Noumea, New Caledonia. He reported to Admiral Chester Nimitz at Pacific Area headquarters in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
  • When necessary, SWPA and SPA boundaries were fluid. In mid 1943, after the capture of Guadalcanal, South Pacific Area combat moved up the Solomon Island chain into ostensible Southwest Pacific Area territory.
  • Beginning in late November 1944 with the US invasion of the Gilbert Islands to the east of the Solomon Islands, the South Pacific Area began to fade in importance as Nimitz's Central Pacific Area campaign began.
South Pacific Area
South Pacific Area
​Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII Japan > South & SW Pacific webpage: ​         War at Sea 1939-1945, Volume 1: The Defensive, Roskill, S. W. London: HMSO, 1954
         War at Sea 1939-1945, Volume 2: The Period of Balance, Roskill, S. W. London: HMSO, 1956
         War at Sea 1939-1945, Volume 3: The Offensive, Part 1, Roskill, S. W. London: HMSO, 1960
         War at Sea 1939-1945, Volume 3: The Offensive, Part 2, Roskill, S. W. London: HMSO, 1961
  • The 1942 - 1944 US Path Across the Southwest Pacific map is taken from google.com.
  • The Southwest Pacific Area - 1942 map - https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-C-Papua/index.html. 
  • The South Pacific Area map - https://www.ww2places.qld.gov.au/south-west-pacific-campaign#gallery-51274-17.
  • The New Guinea Area map is courtesy of history.army.mil.
  • I constructed the 300-Mile Radius from Rabaul map using www.calcmaps.com.
  • The Rabaul - Harbor & Airfields - WW II map - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rabaul_-_map.jpg.