# Was the pacific theater in WW2 mostly between the US and Japan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2021, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809 "2021-08-02T02:04:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/22 "2021-08-03T03:44:00Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Burma saw the biggest commitment of Japanese forces outside of China and bigger than ANY US engagement in the Pacific, outside of perhaps post Oct 1944 Philippines. I was fortunate to work with Ito-san. He grew up in New York, and then moved to Japan around 1940 and joined the Emporor’s Imperial Guard. He witnessed Dolittle’s raid from the ground. Anyhoo, he was on the Japanese side in Burma. Recounted how at a battle against the British, there were only 6 left when the British retreated. He then showed his comrades how to eat the british tinned chese. He still had an Omega watch he had stripped off of a dead officer, which his son refused to wear. At the end of the war, he and the other survivors marched across Burma to surrender in Thailand. He was one of the last Japanese to be repatriated from Thailand back to Japan because his English was great and he served as a translator. His english was archaic formal from 1930’s NY, and wrote words such as “your goodselves”. Of his comrades, almost all of them lived into their 80’s. He worked as a part time translator at UBS. I set up a lunch with my WW2 Pacific Theater Combat Vet father. I was a bit nervous but they were two old war horses from other sides that were almost comrades in arms. They kept up an old fashioned letter correspondence for a few years. Ito-san came to my wedding in Tokyo. We lost touch. I loved that guy and can admit I’m crying as I write this. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/23 "2021-08-03T08:31:56Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > There was a contingent of Canadian troops helping guard Hong Kong when the Japanese initially invaded the area. … Yes. As I understand things, the British complained that “the Empire is not helping enough” in Hong Kong, so Canada sent the Royal Rifles and the Winnipeg Grenadiers, both Canadian regiments. Hong Kong was taken by the Japanese, the Canadians who survived the invasion were made POWs, and went through hell in Japanese POW camps until the war ended. My uncle served on a Royal Canadian Navy ship in the Battle of the Atlantic. He and his ship were redeployed to the Pacific Theatre after victory in Europe, but never got there, because the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended fighting in that theatre. I believe he and his ship went through the Panama Canal, before being ordered back to home base (which, for his ship, was Halifax, Nova Scotia, so he got to experience the Panama Canal twice). And, of course, the Instrument of Surrender signed aboard the _USS Missouri_, that formally ended the Pacific war, was signed by the US and Japan. But it was also signed by China, the UK, the USSR, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/24 "2021-08-03T15:43:01Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > As it is presented in U.S. pop culture, most history books written for laymen, most English language documentaries and etc there were two theaters to WWII (from an American perspective), the European and Pacific Theaters. The Mediterranean Theater (North Africa/Sicily/Italy) seems to get forgotten, too, even though the US was heavily involved. Rick Atkinson’s books cover this well. I read Barbara Tuchman’s book about Stilwell, _Stilwell and the American Experience in China_, and I would probably benefit from a good book on the military history of the China-Burma-India Theater. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/25 "2021-08-03T16:01:09Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > And, of course, the Instrument of Surrender signed aboard the _USS Missouri_ , that formally ended the Pacific war, was signed by the US and Japan. But it was also signed by China, the UK, the USSR, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. The Allied flotilla in Tokyo Bay that day is a good example of the multinational nature of the Allied Pacific war effort. > **[List of Allied ships at the Japanese surrender](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Allied_ships_at_the_Japanese_surrender)** > > These ships of the Allied navies of World War II were present in Tokyo Bay on Victory over Japan Day (2 September 1945) when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed on board the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63). The only two US vessels present at both the Pearl Harbor attack and Tokyo Bay surrender were the USS West Virginia and the USS Detroit. > Numbered ships named and reclassified in 1947 For instance, of the ten battleships present, eight were US Navy and two were Royal Navy. The largest non-US non-UK ship in attendance was Australia’s HMAS Shropshire, and there were a lot of cruisers and destroyers from New Zealand and Canada too. There was a Netherlands hospital ship in there also. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/26 "2021-08-03T16:03:10Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > While the war in the Pacific was largely a US/Japanese affair, we, the British did play a far from small part. Including lending an [aircraft carrier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victorious_(R38)) when we were caught short while ramping up the _Essex_ printer. > [USS _Hornet_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hornet_(CV-8)) was sunk and [USS _Enterprise_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(CV-6)) was badly damaged at the [Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Santa_Cruz_Islands), leaving the [United States Navy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy) with only one fleet carrier, [USS _Saratoga_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Saratoga_(CV-3)), operational in the Pacific. In late December 1942, _Victorious_ was loaned to the US Navy after an American plea for carrier reinforcement.[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Victorious_(R38)#cite_note-6) After a refit in the United States at the [Norfolk Navy Yard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfolk_Navy_Yard) in January 1943 and the addition of Avenger aircraft, _Victorious_ passed through the [Panama Canal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal) on 14 February to operate with United States forces in the [Pacific](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean). ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/27 "2021-08-03T16:17:56Z")
Correction: no Canadian ships after all. I thought I spotted an HMCS in there but I musta been imagining. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/28 "2021-08-03T18:27:25Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Yes. As I understand things, the British complained that “the Empire is not helping enough” in Hong Kong, so Canada sent the Royal Rifles and the Winnipeg Grenadiers, both Canadian regiments. Hong Kong was taken by the Japanese, the Canadians who survived the invasion were made POWs, and went through hell in Japanese POW camps until the war ended. Not really. Hong Kong was the lowest on the totem pole for priorities by mid 1941, and if any other British, Dominion or British Indian troops were available, they were already committed someplace else. The poor buggers sent there were bottom barrel stuff. By all accounts they were pretty useless in the actual battle. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/29 "2021-08-05T09:31:13Z")
This was because British carriers had repairable steel decks (lesson learned from action in the Med) while US carriers had wooden decks for reduced weight which had to go back to a yard to be repaired. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/30 "2021-08-05T11:42:07Z")
No, not really. Between 1919 and 1935, British warships were designed with the Pacific in mind simnce that was where the RN was expected to meet opposition. You can see it in the design of HMS _Ark Royal_, no armoured flight deck, large complement. Post-1935, as the Italian Navy grew in capability, it was realized that the vessels would be facing land-based aircraft in the Med, and this would not only greatly increase the likelihood of being hit, but since land-based craft carried significantly heavier armament the damage that thet would deliver was exponentially greater. This is why the succeeding _Illustrious_ class of carriers sacrificed air group size for armoured decks. This proved fortuitous since the battles in the 1944-45 Pacific campaign more resembled the Med, (threats from land based craft) rather than the pure carrier versus carrier battles of 1942 like Coral Sea, Midway, Santa Cruz, or the Indian Ocean raid. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/31 "2021-08-05T12:45:39Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > Yes, as gnarator said. The “Army Air Corps” (precursor to USAF) and the Army participated where they could, The Army Air Corps ceased to exist in 1941, prior to Pearl Harbor. By the time the war started it was the United States Army Air Force, which it remained until 1947. > [@Limmin](#): > > The Navy, Marines and…US Submarines. Well, I mean, no. As is pointed out in every thread on this subject, the Army did a huge amount of the fighting, certainly more than the Marines, plus all the bombing - it being the USAAF. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/32 "2021-08-05T12:56:33Z")
Weren’t the Enola Gay and Bockscar both Air Force? That sounds to me like a very significant Air Force involvement. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/33 "2021-08-05T15:04:11Z")
After the Marianas were captured in the Summer of 1944, bombing of land targets was almost exclusively a USAAF task. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/34 "2021-08-05T16:24:05Z")
Well, yes but the US CVs carried about double the aircraft. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/35 "2021-08-05T16:39:31Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > > [@Limmin](#): > > > > Yes, as gnarator said. The “Army Air Corps” (precursor to USAF) and the Army participated where they could, > > The Army Air Corps ceased to exist in 1941, prior to Pearl Harbor. By the time the war started it was the United States Army Air Force, which it remained until 1947. > > > [@Limmin](#): > > > > The Navy, Marines and…US Submarines. > > Well, I mean, no. As is pointed out in every thread on this subject, the Army did a huge amount of the fighting, certainly more than the Marines, plus all the bombing - it being the USAAF. Yes the Marines have much better PR. In terms of participation and casualties the Army had something like 3 times as many. I’ve looked up the exact numbers several times in the past, too lazy to do it now. Many of the legendary Marine Corps battles were for little pieces of coral in the middle of the ocean that they wanted to use for airfields. The larger battles were mostly fought by the Army ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/36 "2021-08-05T16:49:48Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > As is pointed out in every thread on this subject, the Army did a huge amount of the fighting, certainly more than the Marines, plus all the bombing - it being the USAAF. Sure. In terms of numbers, no doubt the Army was way up there. However, without the Navy and Marines, the Army would not have been able to reach the battlefields, such as getting back to the Philippines (“I shall return…”). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/37 "2021-08-05T16:54:52Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > Sure. In terms of numbers, no doubt the Army was way up there. However, without the Navy and Marines, the Army would not have been able to reach the battlefields, such as getting back to the Philippines (“I shall return…”). Almost like it was a combined arms operation, huh? ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/38 "2021-08-05T18:26:03Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > And, of course, the Instrument of Surrender signed aboard the _USS Missouri_ , that formally ended the Pacific war, was signed by the US and Japan. But it was also signed by China, the UK, the USSR, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Fun fact, I found out a few years ago that the man representing Britain for that surrender ceremony was something like a second or third cousin twice removed. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/39 "2021-08-05T21:28:40Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > Sure. In terms of numbers, no doubt the Army was way up there. However, without the Navy and Marines, the Army would not have been able to reach the battlefields, such as getting back to the Philippines (“I shall return…”). The Marines had zero to do with the ability of the Army to reach the battlefield. Sure, without the Navy the Army wasn’t going to be able to land anywhere, but the same was true of the Marines. The US Army conducted more amphibious landings in the Pacific than the Marines did - often landing alongside Marines in ‘Marine’ battles as **bump** noted upthread. The Army conducted every landing outside the Pacific (North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Normandy) along with a great many in the Pacific (Leyte, Luzon, Biak, Aitape, Hollandia, Attu, Kiska, etc.) without any Marines in sight. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/40 "2021-08-05T22:40:13Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Fun fact, I found out a few years ago that the man representing Britain for that surrender ceremony was something like a second or third cousin twice removed. My Grandfather was there, and filmed it. I always look at pictures to see if I can see him, but he was a non-important civilian translator kept well out of shot. The film was later confiscated at a Japanese border. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809/41 "2021-08-06T12:49:10Z")
The early campaign of the U.S. Army north of Australia was incredible. (New Zeeland?) Just marching through the jungle to attack the Japanese forces was a hard-fought battle against nature, let alone having to fight afterwards. It stacks up against any later island campaign. Rear Admiral Gallery (he’s the one responsible for the German submarine on display at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry) once wrote that after a successful kamikaze attack, an American aircraft carrier had to be sent back for major repair. In the case of a British aircraft carrier after an attack, it was “Sweepers, man your brooms.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-pacific-theater-in-ww2-mostly-between-the-us-and-japan/947809.md?page=3)