Europe first
Encyclopedia
Europe first, also known as Germany first, was the key element of the grand strategy
employed by the United States
and the United Kingdom
during World War II
. According to this policy, the United States and the United Kingdom would use the preponderance of their resources to subdue Nazi Germany
in Europe
first. They would also fight a holding action against Japan
in the Pacific
, using fewer resources. After the defeat of Germany—considered the greatest threat to Great Britain
—all Allied
forces could be concentrated against Japan.
, which saw Germany overrunning all of the Allies in Western Europe, leaving the United Kingdom alone. Germany's planned invasion, Operation Sea Lion, was averted due to their failure to establish air superiority in the Battle of Britain
. America, in ABC-1 agreement with British, had adopted the grand strategy of "getting Germany first". If the United States was diverted from its main focus in Europe to the Pacific (Japan), Hitler
might crush both the Soviet Union and Britain, and would then rise as the unconquerable fortress in Europe.
Most of the aircraft in Britain's colonies
were of obsolete types, as modern designs such as the Supermarine Spitfire
were badly needed for home defense. As a result, the British lacked the resources to achieve air superiority in the Far East. The drive to tighten air defenses was dulled because the Allies' underestimated the performance of Japanese aircraft such as the A6M Zero
.
First Sea Lord Sir Dudley Pound
had originally decided that no capital ships could be spared to reinforce Singapore
, as too many of them would have to be deployed in the Far East to counter the Japanese Navy, leaving an insufficient number to deal with Europe. That shortfall would have to be made up by the US agreeing to deploy most of its battleships in the Atlantic.
Against Admiralty planning, Prime Minister Winston Churchill
urged the reinforcement of Singapore after several British naval successes were achieved in 1941. These included the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck
, which ended the threat of heavy surface warships against Atlantic convoys, and the Battles of Taranto
and Cape Matapan
, which gave the Allies the upper hand over the Italian Navy in the Mediterranean Theater
. A compromise was made to send two capital ships and an aircraft carrier, but Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk
. Strategists had known that the British flotilla
on its own could not make much impact, and it was always assumed that they would be joined by ships of the US Pacific fleet which included eight battleships at Pearl Harbor
.
.
When Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, the United States faced a decision about how to allocate resources between these two separate theaters of war.
On the one hand, Japan had attacked the United States directly at Pearl Harbor, and the Japanese Navy
threatened United States territory in a way that Germany, with a limited surface fleet, was not in a position to do. On the other hand, Germany was universally considered the stronger and more dangerous threat to Europe because only Great Britain
and the Soviet Union
remained un-occupied by Nazi Germany
, Germanys geographical proximity to the UK and the Soviet Union was therefore a greater threat to their survival
Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor
, American planners foresaw the possibility of a two-front war. Chief of Naval Operations
Harold Rainsford Stark
authored the Plan Dog memo
, which advocated concentrating on victory in Europe while staying on the defensive in the Pacific. This memo laid the basis for the "Europe first" policy.
on the "Europe first" strategy, and the United States committed to sending its army and air force to fight Germany in Europe and Africa as soon as those forces were ready. The campaign against Japan would be focused on halting Japanese expansion until the war on Germany was complete, at which time the full power of the United Kingdom, the United States, and eventually the Soviet Union
could be turned against Japan. This strategy would concentrate on what was perceived as the strongest of the Axis Powers, and would prevent a German victory that might knock the United Kingdom or the Soviets out of the war.
was a strong believer in "Europe First", contrary to British perceptions, his natural aggression did not permit him to leave resources idle in the Atlantic that could be utilized in the Pacific, especially when "it was doubtful when — if ever — the British would consent to a cross-Channel operation". King once complained that the Pacific deserved 30% of Allied resources but was getting only 15%. In spite of (or perhaps partly because of) the fact that the two men did not get along, the combined influence of King and General Douglas MacArthur
increased the allocation of resources to the Pacific War.
General Hastings Ismay, chief of staff to Winston Churchill
, described King as:
At the Casablanca Conference, King was accused by Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke
of favoring the Pacific war, and the argument became heated. The combative General Joseph Stilwell
wrote: "Brooke got nasty, and King got good and sore. King almost climbed over the table at Brooke. God, he was mad. I wished he had socked him."
. The Allies were largely caught off guard by the rapid Japanese expansion, with their remaining cruisers and destroyers in the Far East all but wiped out in the Battle of the Java Sea
. The British had withdrawn from the Indian Ocean
citing superior Japanese carrier forces.
While freed up from the Pacific and responsibilities to the allies, many Royal Navy capital ship
s were then tied up in the Mediterranean
and Arctic
.
The Soviet Union
focused almost entirely on the Eastern Front
, repelling the Axis invasion
and eventually conquering the Eastern European countries, ultimately driving towards Germany. The Soviets only agreed near the end of the war to invade Japanese possessions in China and Manchukuo
.
Japan's decisive defeat by the United States at the Battle of Midway
, involving the loss of four Japanese fleet carriers and a significant number of trained aircrews, crippled its offensive capability and ended plans for eastern expansion. Nonetheless, the Japanese continued their invasion moves in the South Pacific.
Up to this point, the Allies had been on the defensive in the Pacific. King advocated (with Roosevelt's tacit consent) the invasion of Guadalcanal. When General Marshall resisted this line of action (as well as who would command the operation), King stated that the Navy (and the Marines) would then carry out the operation by themselves, and instructed Admiral Chester Nimitz
to proceed with the preliminary planning. King eventually won the argument, and the successful invasion went ahead with the backing of the Joint Chiefs. Not only was it the first time that the Japanese lost ground during the War, but the momentum placed the Allies on the offensive. Australian war historians held Admiral King in high regard for his attention to the Pacific Theatre.
Unlike the British and Soviets, the United States was willing to wage war offensively on both the Pacific and European fronts without diverting resources from either side. Most of the US carriers
, battleship
s, and cruiser
s were deployed against Japan. Germany's surface fleet was small and the escort ships used in the Second Battle of the Atlantic
were mostly destroyer
s and destroyer escort
s to counter the U-boat
threat. The Pacific War could be prosecuted successfully with well placed ground troops, usually Marines
, though this was also because US Army General George C. Marshall resisted sending troops to the Pacific, leaving operations like Guadalcanal entirely to the Navy and Marines. Old second-rate battleships remained in the Atlantic theatre, provided bombardment support for the D-Day landings, which were carried out by the British, Canadian and US Armies.
By the end of 1942, the US had suffered heavy losses in carriers and cruisers in the Pacific (as had the Japanese naval vessels) as a result of the Battles of Coral Sea, Midway
, and the prolonged campaigns of attrition around Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands
. Nonetheless, the Pacific Theater was far from neglected, as shipbuilding programs were accelerated after Pearl Harbor, intended not only replace the early war losses, but also to give the US an insurmountable material advantage. The new ships were ready starting in early 1943, particularly the many carriers of the Essex-class
. There were few trade-offs that the US Navy was forced to make, the only notable one was the cancellation of the Montana-class battleships
as such ships were less important than they were pre-war, and as this freed up shipyards to construct the more urgently needed aircraft carriers, amphibious and anti-submarine vessels.
The surrender of Italy in 1943 enabled the transfer of some Allied carriers and battleships to the Indian Ocean
, where they could launch strikes against Japanese conquered possessions in Southeast Asia. However, the Royal Navy had to keep most of its key units at home to maintain a strong presence in the Arctic, being tied down by Nazi Germany's last capital ship, the German battleship Tirpitz
. After a series of sorties in 1944 finally resulting in the sinking of Tirpitz, then the British were able to transfer carriers and battleships to the Pacific.
By the time Germany was defeated, the Allies had liberated Burma, the Philippines
, and a string of island bases leading up to the home islands of Japan, including Iwo Jima
and Okinawa. The U.S. started a massive reallocation of Army troops to the Pacific to prepare for the invasion of Japan, known as Operation Downfall
, but during preparations Japan surrendered following detonation of atomic bombs over Hiroshima
and Nagasaki and invasion by Soviet forces in China and Manchukuo
.
It was argued that a British presence would act as a counter-balance to the powerful and increasing U.S. presence in the Pacific, and the Australians would warmly welcome the British Pacific Fleet when they established their main base in Sydney
. The measure was forced on Churchill by the British Chiefs of Staff, not only to re-establish British presence in the region, but to mitigate any perception in the U.S. that the British were doing nothing to help defeat Japan. However, Admiral Ernest King and General George C. Marshall had continually resisted operations that would assist the British agenda in reclaiming or maintaining any part of its pre-war colonial holdings in the Pacific or the eastern Mediterranean. King was adamant that naval operations against Japan remain 100% American, and angrily resisted the idea of a British naval presence in the Pacific at the Quadrant Conference in late 1944, citing (among other things) the difficulty of supplying additional naval forces in the theater. For much the same reason, General Henry Arnold resisted the offer of RAF units in the Pacific. Roosevelt, however, overruled King and allowed British Empire forces to deploy in the Pacific.
Despite King's reservations, the British Pacific Fleet
did acquit itself sufficiently in the Pacific, as the armoured flight decks
of their aircraft carriers appeared to hold up well against Kamikaze
attacks. The British had a limited presence against Japan up until the last months of the war.
and later Battle of Iwo Jima
were undertaken with almost no strategic foreplanning.
The differences in the theaters were also due to their nature; as Europe was heavily land-based, the best perceived way to beat Nazi Germany was to invade the continent. When Germany surrendered
, Berlin had been captured
and only Norway
and Denmark
remained in Axis hands. By contrast, to defeat Imperial Japan, a naval power spread out wide across islands in the world's largest ocean, key islands could be taken (such as Leyte) to cut off supply lines and bypass major bases such as Rabaul
and Truk Lagoon
; examples of such campaigns included Operation Cartwheel
. At the end of World War II the Japanese still held most of their conquered possessions in China and Southeast Asia until the Soviet intervention.
Grand strategy
Grand strategy comprises the "purposeful employment of all instruments of power available to a security community". Military historian B. H. Liddell Hart says about grand strategy:...
employed by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. According to this policy, the United States and the United Kingdom would use the preponderance of their resources to subdue Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
first. They would also fight a holding action against Japan
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
in the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, using fewer resources. After the defeat of Germany—considered the greatest threat to Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
—all Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
forces could be concentrated against Japan.
United Kingdom
Germany was the United Kingdom's primary threat, which escalated after the Fall of FranceBattle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
, which saw Germany overrunning all of the Allies in Western Europe, leaving the United Kingdom alone. Germany's planned invasion, Operation Sea Lion, was averted due to their failure to establish air superiority in the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
. America, in ABC-1 agreement with British, had adopted the grand strategy of "getting Germany first". If the United States was diverted from its main focus in Europe to the Pacific (Japan), Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
might crush both the Soviet Union and Britain, and would then rise as the unconquerable fortress in Europe.
Most of the aircraft in Britain's colonies
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
were of obsolete types, as modern designs such as the Supermarine Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
were badly needed for home defense. As a result, the British lacked the resources to achieve air superiority in the Far East. The drive to tighten air defenses was dulled because the Allies' underestimated the performance of Japanese aircraft such as the A6M Zero
A6M Zero
The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a long-range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the , and also designated as the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen and Mitsubishi Navy 12-shi Carrier Fighter. The A6M was usually referred to by the...
.
First Sea Lord Sir Dudley Pound
Dudley Pound
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound GCB OM GCVO RN was a British naval officer who served as First Sea Lord, professional head of the Royal Navy from June 1939 to September 1943.- Early life :...
had originally decided that no capital ships could be spared to reinforce Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, as too many of them would have to be deployed in the Far East to counter the Japanese Navy, leaving an insufficient number to deal with Europe. That shortfall would have to be made up by the US agreeing to deploy most of its battleships in the Atlantic.
Against Admiralty planning, Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
urged the reinforcement of Singapore after several British naval successes were achieved in 1941. These included the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck
German battleship Bismarck
Bismarck was the first of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the primary force behind the German unification in 1871, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched nearly three years later...
, which ended the threat of heavy surface warships against Atlantic convoys, and the Battles of Taranto
Battle of Taranto
The naval Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, flying a small number of obsolescent biplane torpedo bombers from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea...
and Cape Matapan
Battle of Cape Matapan
The Battle of Cape Matapan was a Second World War naval battle fought from 27–29 March 1941. The cape is on the southwest coast of Greece's Peloponnesian peninsula...
, which gave the Allies the upper hand over the Italian Navy in the Mediterranean Theater
Battle of the Mediterranean
The Battle of the Mediterranean was the name given to the naval campaign fought in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II, from 10 June 1940-2 May 1945....
. A compromise was made to send two capital ships and an aircraft carrier, but Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk
Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse
The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a Second World War naval engagement that took place north of Singapore, off the east coast of Malaya, near Kuantan, Pahang where the British Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by land-based bombers and...
. Strategists had known that the British flotilla
Flotilla
A flotilla , or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, gunboats, or minesweepers...
on its own could not make much impact, and it was always assumed that they would be joined by ships of the US Pacific fleet which included eight battleships at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
.
United States
When Japan attacked the United States, the United Kingdom had already been fighting in Europe for over two years, and had few resources to spare to protect far-flung coloniesColonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
.
When Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, the United States faced a decision about how to allocate resources between these two separate theaters of war.
On the one hand, Japan had attacked the United States directly at Pearl Harbor, and the Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
threatened United States territory in a way that Germany, with a limited surface fleet, was not in a position to do. On the other hand, Germany was universally considered the stronger and more dangerous threat to Europe because only Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
remained un-occupied by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, Germanys geographical proximity to the UK and the Soviet Union was therefore a greater threat to their survival
Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, American planners foresaw the possibility of a two-front war. Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...
Harold Rainsford Stark
Harold Rainsford Stark
Harold Rainsford Stark served as an officer in the United States Navy during World War I and World War II. Stark was the US Navy's 8th Chief of Naval Operations, from August 1, 1939 to 26 March 1942....
authored the Plan Dog memo
Plan Dog memo
The Plan Dog memorandum was a 1940 American government document written by Chief of Naval Operations Harold Rainsford Stark, "one of the best known documents of World War II"...
, which advocated concentrating on victory in Europe while staying on the defensive in the Pacific. This memo laid the basis for the "Europe first" policy.
Agreement
Soon after the declaration of war, the United States and the United Kingdom agreed at the Arcadia ConferenceArcadia Conference
The First Washington Conference, also known as the Arcadia Conference , was held in Washington, D.C. from December 22, 1941 to January 14, 1942. It was the first meeting on military strategy between the heads of government of the United Kingdom and the United States following the United States'...
on the "Europe first" strategy, and the United States committed to sending its army and air force to fight Germany in Europe and Africa as soon as those forces were ready. The campaign against Japan would be focused on halting Japanese expansion until the war on Germany was complete, at which time the full power of the United Kingdom, the United States, and eventually the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
could be turned against Japan. This strategy would concentrate on what was perceived as the strongest of the Axis Powers, and would prevent a German victory that might knock the United Kingdom or the Soviets out of the war.
Opposition
The "Europe First" strategy did not go along well with factions of the US military, driving a wedge between the Navy and the Army. While USN Fleet Admiral Ernest KingErnest King
Fleet Admiral Ernest Joseph King was Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations during World War II. As COMINCH, he directed the United States Navy's operations, planning, and administration and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the U.S...
was a strong believer in "Europe First", contrary to British perceptions, his natural aggression did not permit him to leave resources idle in the Atlantic that could be utilized in the Pacific, especially when "it was doubtful when — if ever — the British would consent to a cross-Channel operation". King once complained that the Pacific deserved 30% of Allied resources but was getting only 15%. In spite of (or perhaps partly because of) the fact that the two men did not get along, the combined influence of King and General Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...
increased the allocation of resources to the Pacific War.
General Hastings Ismay, chief of staff to Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, described King as:
tough as nails and carried himself as stiffly as a poker. He was blunt and stand-offish, almost to the point of rudeness. At the start, he was intolerant and suspicious of all things British, especially the Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
; but he was almost equally intolerant and suspicious of the American ArmyUnited States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. War against Japan was the problem to which he had devoted the study of a lifetime, and he resented the idea of American resources being used for any other purpose than to destroy Japanese. He mistrusted Churchill's powers of advocacy, and was apprehensive that he would wheedle President Roosevelt into neglecting the war in the Pacific.
At the Casablanca Conference, King was accused by Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke
Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke
Field Marshal The Rt. Hon. Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, KG, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO & Bar , was a senior commander in the British Army. He was the Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the Second World War, and was promoted to Field Marshal in 1944...
of favoring the Pacific war, and the argument became heated. The combative General Joseph Stilwell
Joseph Stilwell
General Joseph Warren Stilwell was a United States Army four-star General known for service in the China Burma India Theater. His caustic personality was reflected in the nickname "Vinegar Joe"...
wrote: "Brooke got nasty, and King got good and sore. King almost climbed over the table at Brooke. God, he was mad. I wished he had socked him."
Consequences
Initially, few new resources were committed to the Far East after Pearl Harbor and the Fall of Singapore. Japanese forces essentially went undefeated for six months after Pearl Harbor as they conquered Southeast Asia and several Pacific islands, threatening AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The Allies were largely caught off guard by the rapid Japanese expansion, with their remaining cruisers and destroyers in the Far East all but wiped out in the Battle of the Java Sea
Battle of the Java Sea
The Battle of the Java Sea was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, that sealed the fate of the Netherlands East Indies....
. The British had withdrawn from the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
citing superior Japanese carrier forces.
While freed up from the Pacific and responsibilities to the allies, many Royal Navy capital ship
Capital ship
The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they generally possess the heaviest firepower and armor and are traditionally much larger than other naval vessels...
s were then tied up in the Mediterranean
Battle of the Mediterranean
The Battle of the Mediterranean was the name given to the naval campaign fought in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II, from 10 June 1940-2 May 1945....
and Arctic
Arctic convoys of World War II
The Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and North America to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...
.
The Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
focused almost entirely on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
, repelling the Axis invasion
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
and eventually conquering the Eastern European countries, ultimately driving towards Germany. The Soviets only agreed near the end of the war to invade Japanese possessions in China and Manchukuo
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
.
Japan's decisive defeat by the United States at the Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
, involving the loss of four Japanese fleet carriers and a significant number of trained aircrews, crippled its offensive capability and ended plans for eastern expansion. Nonetheless, the Japanese continued their invasion moves in the South Pacific.
Up to this point, the Allies had been on the defensive in the Pacific. King advocated (with Roosevelt's tacit consent) the invasion of Guadalcanal. When General Marshall resisted this line of action (as well as who would command the operation), King stated that the Navy (and the Marines) would then carry out the operation by themselves, and instructed Admiral Chester Nimitz
Chester Nimitz
Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz, GCB, USN was a five-star admiral in the United States Navy. He held the dual command of Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet , for U.S. naval forces and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas , for U.S...
to proceed with the preliminary planning. King eventually won the argument, and the successful invasion went ahead with the backing of the Joint Chiefs. Not only was it the first time that the Japanese lost ground during the War, but the momentum placed the Allies on the offensive. Australian war historians held Admiral King in high regard for his attention to the Pacific Theatre.
Unlike the British and Soviets, the United States was willing to wage war offensively on both the Pacific and European fronts without diverting resources from either side. Most of the US carriers
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
, battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s, and cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
s were deployed against Japan. Germany's surface fleet was small and the escort ships used in the Second Battle of the Atlantic
Second Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, running from 1939 to the defeat of Germany in 1945. At its core was the Allied naval blockade of Germany, announced the day after the declaration of war, and Germany's subsequent counter-blockade. It was at its...
were mostly destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s and destroyer escort
Destroyer escort
A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...
s to counter the U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
threat. The Pacific War could be prosecuted successfully with well placed ground troops, usually Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, though this was also because US Army General George C. Marshall resisted sending troops to the Pacific, leaving operations like Guadalcanal entirely to the Navy and Marines. Old second-rate battleships remained in the Atlantic theatre, provided bombardment support for the D-Day landings, which were carried out by the British, Canadian and US Armies.
By the end of 1942, the US had suffered heavy losses in carriers and cruisers in the Pacific (as had the Japanese naval vessels) as a result of the Battles of Coral Sea, Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
, and the prolonged campaigns of attrition around Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands campaign
The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942...
. Nonetheless, the Pacific Theater was far from neglected, as shipbuilding programs were accelerated after Pearl Harbor, intended not only replace the early war losses, but also to give the US an insurmountable material advantage. The new ships were ready starting in early 1943, particularly the many carriers of the Essex-class
Essex class aircraft carrier
The Essex class was a class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy, which constituted the 20th century's most numerous class of capital ships with 24 vessels built in both "short-hull" and "long-hull" versions. Thirty-two were originally ordered; however as World War II wound down, six were...
. There were few trade-offs that the US Navy was forced to make, the only notable one was the cancellation of the Montana-class battleships
Montana class battleship
The Montana-class battleships of the United States Navy were planned as successors to the , being slower but larger, better armored, and having superior firepower...
as such ships were less important than they were pre-war, and as this freed up shipyards to construct the more urgently needed aircraft carriers, amphibious and anti-submarine vessels.
The surrender of Italy in 1943 enabled the transfer of some Allied carriers and battleships to the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, where they could launch strikes against Japanese conquered possessions in Southeast Asia. However, the Royal Navy had to keep most of its key units at home to maintain a strong presence in the Arctic, being tied down by Nazi Germany's last capital ship, the German battleship Tirpitz
German battleship Tirpitz
Tirpitz was the second of two s built for the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Imperial Navy, the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and launched two and a half years later in April...
. After a series of sorties in 1944 finally resulting in the sinking of Tirpitz, then the British were able to transfer carriers and battleships to the Pacific.
By the time Germany was defeated, the Allies had liberated Burma, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, and a string of island bases leading up to the home islands of Japan, including Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
and Okinawa. The U.S. started a massive reallocation of Army troops to the Pacific to prepare for the invasion of Japan, known as Operation Downfall
Operation Downfall
Operation Downfall was the Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of World War II. The operation was cancelled when Japan surrendered after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan. The operation had two parts: Operation...
, but during preparations Japan surrendered following detonation of atomic bombs over Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
and Nagasaki and invasion by Soviet forces in China and Manchukuo
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
.
British/Commonwealth involvement in the Pacific
The "Europe First" policy had political implications, as it limited the employment of British and Empire forces in the Pacific. The Australian Government had sought U.S. military assistance in 1942, when it was faced with the possibility of Japanese invasion, and while Australia had made a significant contribution to the Pacific War, it had never been an equal partner with its U.S. counterparts in strategic decision-making. While General MacArthur had more Australian than US forces under his command in 1942, it has been claimed that he nonetheless decreed that all Australian victories would be reported as "Allied victories", while American victories would be reported as American. It is also a widely-held view that, from mid-1943 onwards, MacArthur confined the Australian Army divisions under his command to tough and largely irrelevant actions, while reserving the more prestigious actions for US troops, resulting in enduring antipathy towards MacArthur in Australia.It was argued that a British presence would act as a counter-balance to the powerful and increasing U.S. presence in the Pacific, and the Australians would warmly welcome the British Pacific Fleet when they established their main base in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. The measure was forced on Churchill by the British Chiefs of Staff, not only to re-establish British presence in the region, but to mitigate any perception in the U.S. that the British were doing nothing to help defeat Japan. However, Admiral Ernest King and General George C. Marshall had continually resisted operations that would assist the British agenda in reclaiming or maintaining any part of its pre-war colonial holdings in the Pacific or the eastern Mediterranean. King was adamant that naval operations against Japan remain 100% American, and angrily resisted the idea of a British naval presence in the Pacific at the Quadrant Conference in late 1944, citing (among other things) the difficulty of supplying additional naval forces in the theater. For much the same reason, General Henry Arnold resisted the offer of RAF units in the Pacific. Roosevelt, however, overruled King and allowed British Empire forces to deploy in the Pacific.
Despite King's reservations, the British Pacific Fleet
British Pacific Fleet
The British Pacific Fleet was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944...
did acquit itself sufficiently in the Pacific, as the armoured flight decks
Comparison of armoured to unarmoured flight deck designs
An armoured flight deck is an aircraft carrier flight deck that incorporates substantial armour in its design.Comparison is often made between some of designs of the Royal Navy and the United States Navy...
of their aircraft carriers appeared to hold up well against Kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
attacks. The British had a limited presence against Japan up until the last months of the war.
Analysis
One clear result of the Europe first policy was that battles in the European theater tended to be set-piece, pre-planned events. With fewer resources, the United States commanders in the Pacific tended to run much smaller, innovative operations and were forced to be more flexible in their strategic planning, in order to save lives. For example, as a result of fortuitous events, the Battle of LeyteBattle of Leyte
The Battle of Leyte in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the invasion and conquest of the island of Leyte in the Philippines by American and Filipino guerrilla forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines led by...
and later Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
were undertaken with almost no strategic foreplanning.
The differences in the theaters were also due to their nature; as Europe was heavily land-based, the best perceived way to beat Nazi Germany was to invade the continent. When Germany surrendered
End of World War II in Europe
The final battles of the European Theatre of World War II as well as the German surrender to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union took place in late April and early May 1945.-Timeline of surrenders and deaths:...
, Berlin had been captured
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II....
and only Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
remained in Axis hands. By contrast, to defeat Imperial Japan, a naval power spread out wide across islands in the world's largest ocean, key islands could be taken (such as Leyte) to cut off supply lines and bypass major bases such as Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
and Truk Lagoon
Truk Lagoon
Truk Lagoon, also known as Chuuk, is a sheltered body of water in the central Pacific. North of New Guinea, it is located mid-ocean at 7 degrees North latitude. The atoll consists of a protective reef, around, enclosing a natural harbour 79 by 50 kilometres , with an area of . It has a land...
; examples of such campaigns included Operation Cartwheel
Operation Cartwheel
Operation Cartwheel was a major military strategy for the Allies in the Pacific theater of World War II. Cartwheel was a twin-axis of advance operation, aimed at militarily neutralizing the major Japanese base at Rabaul...
. At the end of World War II the Japanese still held most of their conquered possessions in China and Southeast Asia until the Soviet intervention.