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This is Volume One of The Army Air Forces in World War II, titled Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. The University of Chicago Press first published it in 1948, and the Office of Air Force History reprinted it in 1983. The front matter explains how the AAF historical program was set up during the war. The index covers Pacific, Atlantic and European operations, and nothing in the text concerns unidentified aerial phenomena.
“The Wash”17 pages
L O S S O F N E T H E R L A N D S E A S T I N D I E S bombers to the Philippines and for the development of installations essential to the South Pacific air route; an exchange of visits between American, British, Dutch, and Australian officers had occurred; and commitments had been made for a sharing of intelligence and of the responsibility for reconnaissance to facilitate close co-operation. Indeed, by November 1941 the threatening crisis in relations with Japan had brought a general agreement extending somewhat beyond a policy merely of co-operation: the commanders of the British Far Eastern Fleet and the American Asiatic Fleet were to draft a joint plan of naval operations with a view to its expansion by consultation with the Dutch into a three-power plan of action; air and ground commanders-American, British, and Dutch-similarly were to pre- pare joint plans for operations to be co-ordinated where necessary with those of the naval forces; close liaison was to be maintained between all major headquarters, logistical facilities would be shared, and local commanders might agree upon unity of command for par- ticular task forces.’ T h e march of events allowed little time for the perfection of these plans. But a beginning had been made; and under the impact of an emergency far more serious than any that had been anticipated, the principle of unity of command already agreed upon as a basic feature of Anglo-American collaboration was accepted by the associated powers in the Pacific. The ABDA Command Responding to General Marshall’s argument that “a man with good judgment and unity of command has a distinct advantage over a man with brilliant judgment who must rely on cooperation,” * the ARCADIA conference of the British and American chiefs of staff on 2 9 December considered a draft directive for a supreme commander of the so-called ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian) area.” O n the same day, Prime Minister Churchill informed Gen. Sir Archibald Wavell of his selection as supreme commander, and by 2 January a directive for the new command had been approved tentatively by the President and the Prime M i n i ~ t e r . ~T h e newly established theater included Burma, Malaya, the Netherlands East Indies, and the Philip- pines. As supreme commander, General Wavell was to hold Burma and the Malay barrier-a line presumably well anchored at Singapore For a discussion of this and other action of the ARCADrA conference with reference to the over-all strategy of the war, see above, Chapter 7. 367
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