Borneo! WW2. 1945. Was it worth it?
"Any rational strategic judgment would have left them [the Japanese] to their own devices screened by token allied forces until their nation's defeat enforced their surrender". - - M. Hastings.
This was the Borneo campaign (1945). A sideshow of a sideshow in the Pacific theater of war. To the extent American involvement in what is normally seen as an Australian affair I was not aware of.
"The Borneo Campaign of 1945 was the last major Allied campaign in the South West Pacific Area during World War II. In a series of amphibious assaults between 1 May and 21 July, the Australian I Corps, under Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead, attacked Imperial Japanese forces occupying the island. Allied naval and air forces, centred on the U.S. 7th Fleet under Admiral Thomas Kinkaid, the Australian First Tactical Air Force and the U.S. Thirteenth Air Force also played important roles in the campaign."
THOSE MOST SENIOR AMERICAN AND AUSTRALIAN MILITARY PLANNERS NOT PRIVY TO THE EXISTENCE OF THE ATOMIC BOMB AND THE DECISION TO USE SAME AS A WAR WINNING MEASURE.
Use of Australian conscripts during the Borneo Campaign also controversial in Australia? Conscripts "compelled for service in the South-West Pacific Area" beyond what was traditionally and ordinarily considered as a boundary beyond which only military volunteers permitted!
coolbert.
Coolbert
ReplyDeleteThe Australian land forces that took part in the Borneo campaign were part of the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF). The original AIF served in the First World War. The AIF in both wars were all volunteer.
Australian conscripts served in the Militia, also known as the Australian Military Forces (AMF). They were only available for serve within Australia. As New Guinea and Papua were Australian territories during WWII miltia units were sent to fight the Japanese there, they did not serve in the Netherlands East Indies as it was not Australian territory.
Mark Moncrieff
Upon Hope Blog - A Traditional Conservative Future