The occupation and hardening of islands in the South China Sea by the People’s Republic of China looks remarkably similar to the actions of the Empire of Japan in World War II. In the event of large-scale combat operations, the United States will need to develop an effective strategy to address the antiaccess/area denial (A2/AD) perimeter China is employing off its coast. This stand-off corridor will present immense challenges if the US intends to conduct any type of joint forcible entry operation from the sea into the Chinese mainland. As such, it is worth examining the Allied strategy against Japan for any concepts that can be emulated.
By understanding the evolution of the strategy in the Pacific and the results of the Allied efforts there, the Navy and the Joint Force can forge a future approach and learn important lessons in the event the United States finds itself executing large-scale combat operations against China. These include the creation of a coordinated strategy, the importance of the total Joint Force and U.S. allies, amphibious operations, and theater logistics.
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1. Ernest J. King, Our Navy at War: Official Report Covering Combat Operations up to 1 March 1944 (Washington, DC: Secretary of the Navy, 1944), 25.
2. King, Our Navy at War, 25.
3. World War II Inter-Allied Conferences, Post-Arcadia, January 1941 to May 1942, Papers and Minutes of Meetings (Washington, DC: Joint History Office, 2013), 31.
4. ADM Chester W. Nimitz, USN, “Gray Book”: War Plans and Files of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, Vol. 1: 7 December 1941–1 September 1942, American Naval Records Society, 1.
5. Post-Arcadia, 79-80.
6. Post-Arcadia
7. Nimitz “Gray Book”,1.
8. Nimitz., 1:
9. World War II Inter-Allied Conferences, Casablanca Conference, January 1943, Papers and Minutes of Meetings (Washington, DC: Joint History Office, 2013), 84.
10. King, Our Navy at War, 25.
11. Nimitz, “Gray Book”, 574.
12. Nimitz, 575.
13. Chester Nimitz, June 6, 1942 Communique to the Press, World War II: The Allied Counteroffensive 1942–1945, The New York Times Living History, ed. Douglas Brinkley and David Rubel (New York, NY: Times Books, 2003), 4.
14. George Marshall Radio No. 204, June 10, 1942 to Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall Foundation.
15. King, Our Navy at War, 25.
16. Casablanca Conference, 4.
17. Casablanca Conference, 5.
18. Casablanca Conference, 95–96.
19. Casablanca Conference, 5.
20. Casablanca Conference, 5–6.
21. Douglas MacArthur, Reminisce.nces (Annapolis, MD: Bluejacket Books, 1964), 169.
22. MacArthur, Reminiscences, 169.
23. William F. Halsey and J. Bryan III, Admiral Halsey’s Story (New York, NY: Curtis Publishing Company, 1947), 170–71.
24. MacArthur, Reminiscences, 235.
25. Casablanca Conference, 95.
26. Casablanca Conference, 167.
27. Casablanca Conference, 95.
28. Casablanca Conference, 180.
29. Casablanca Conference, 167.
30. Casablanca Conference, 190.
31. King, Our Navy at War, 25.
32. World War II Inter-Allied Conferences, Trident Conference, May 1943, Papers and Minutes of Meetings (Washington, DC: Joint History Office, 2013), 28.
33. World War II Inter-Allied Conferences, Terminal (Potsdam) Conference, July-Aug 1945, Papers and Minutes of Meetings (Washington, DC: Joint History Office, 2013), 82-83.
34. Harry S. Truman, Public Papers of the President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President, 1945 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1961), 50.
35. Truman, Public Papers of the President of the United States, 50.
36. Terminal (Potsdam) Conference, 15.
37. Recorded in Diary of Marquis Koichi Kido, entry for 29 November 1941, found in The Pacific War Papers: Japanese Documents of World War II, ed. Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2004), 133.
38. Terminal (Potsdam) Conference, 12.
39. Terminal (Potsdam) Conference, 40.
40. Field Marshall Viscount Alanbrooke Diary found in Douglas MacArthur, Reminiscences (Annapolis, MD: Bluejacket Books, 1964), 311.
41. Col Matsuichi Juio’s comments found in Douglas MacArthur, Reminiscences (Annapolis, MD: Bluejacket Books, 1964), 170.
42. Recorded in Some Opinions Concerning the War from Admiral Nobutake Kondo, found in The Pacific War Papers: Japanese Documents of World War II, ed. Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2004), 314.
43. Halsey and J. Bryan III, Admiral Halsey’s Story, 172.
44. Terminal (Potsdam) Conference, 12.
45. A Japanese Analysis of American Combat Methods on Guadalcanal, found in John Miller, United States Army in World War II, The War in the Pacific, Guadalcanal: The First Offensive (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 2006), 368.
46. Terminal (Potsdam) Conference, 19.
47. Winston Churchill, The Second World War: Triumph and Tragedy (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1953), 646.
48. Halsey and J. Bryan III, Admiral Halsey’s Story, 271.
49. Forrest P. Sherman, Lecture: The Navy in World War II, found in Nimitz “Gray Book”: War Plans and Files of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, Vol. 7: 1 July 1945 - 31 August 1945, American Naval Records Society, 11.
50. MacArthur, Reminiscences, 169.
51. Jack C. Fuson, Transportation and Logistics: One Man’s Story (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1994), 18.
52. Casablanca Conference, 304.
53. Megan Eckstein, “New Marine Corps Cuts Will Slash All Tanks, Many Heavy Weapons As Focus Shifts to Lighter, Littoral Forces,” USNI News, 23 March 2020.
54. Jack C. Fuson, Transportation and Logistics: One Man’s Story (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1994), 5.
55. Fuson, Transportation and Logistics, 6.
