The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
on the west and extending through the Netherlands East Indies to
Australia on the east-to achieve over this area a “general air superior-
ity” by concentration as occasion required of available air forces, to
re-establish communications with Luzon through the Netherlands
East Indies, to provide support for the beleaguered garrison under
MacArthur in the Philippines, and a t the earliest possible opportunity
to launch offensive operations designed to roll back the advancing
Japanese tide.
General Wavell’s responsibility in the new command, which he
formally assumed on I 5 January, was primarily operational.” H e was
to co-ordinate on the theater level the operations of all forces assigned
to the area by the ABDA governments, to arrange for the formation
of task forces to undertake specific missions, and for their command
he was to designate officers of his choice “irrespective of seniority or
nationality.” H e also was “to direct and coordinate the creation and
development of administrative facilities and the broad allocation of
war materials; to dispose reinforcements, to require reports from the
commanders of armed forces assigned to the ABDA Area, and to
control the issue of all communiques.” Orders issued by Wave11 were
to be considered as emanating from the respective ABDA governments,
but the supreme commander was not to interfere with the “adminis-
trative processes” of the several forces under his command, nor was he
to divide any “national component of a task force” for attachment to
other components “except in the case of urgent necessity.” Moreover,
he was instructed that commanders under him would enjoy freedom
of communication with their respective governments. “In the unlikely
event,” so reads his directive, “that any of your immediate subordi-
nates, after making due representations to you, still considers that
obedience to your orders would jeopardize the national interests of
his country to an extent unjustified by the general situation in the
ABDA area, he has the right, subject to your being immediately noti-
fied of such intention, to appeal direct to his own government before
carrying out the orders.” The problem of assuring due consideration
for national interest and sensitivity is further reflected in a provision
for representation of each of the ABDA governments on Sir Archi-
bald’s staff, and in the recognition given to the possibility that selec-
* O n 18 January, he located his headquarters at Lembang, ten miles north of
Bandoeng in Java.
368