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This article deals with the military command/theatre known as the South West Pacific Area. The same name is occasionally used in a purely geographical sense. More common collective names for countries in the region include: South Pacific, Oceania, Australasia and South East Asia.
South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was the name given to one of the four major Allied commands in the Pacific theatre of World War II. The SWPA included the Philippines, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Australia, Borneo, most of the rest of the Dutch East Indies and some neighbouring territories, between 1942 and 1945.
The term appears to have originated in British military circles in 1941, in reference to British forces under the short-lived American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA). The rapid Japanese advance through the Dutch East Indies effectively divided the ABDA area in two, and in late February 1942, the command was wound up at the recommendation of its commander, the British General Archibald Wavell, who — as Allied commander in India — retained responsibility for Sumatra, Singapore, Malaya, Thailand and Burma.
The Allied commander in the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur was then elevated to the post of Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific Area. From his initial headquarters in Manila, as the Japanese surrounded US and Filipino forces in the Philippines, MacArthur moved to Melbourne, Australia. As a result, for most of 1942, MacArthur commanded more Australians than US personnel. He also commanded some Dutch and British forces which had retreated from the East Indies to Australia.
MacArthur later moved his headquarters north to Brisbane, Australia.
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