Soundings Papers: South-West Pacific: amphibious operations, 1942-45

Unlike many of the amphibious landings conducted by the US Navy and US Marine Corps in the Central Pacific, the amphibious operations conducted by General Douglas MacArthur’s forces in the South West Pacific Area were frequently used to outmanoeuvre the enemy, rather than as a direct assault against the Japanese. Between 22 June 1943 and 12 July 1945, United States-led Allied forces conducted more than 60 major amphibious landings in the theatre. The RAN participated in nearly half of these operations.