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| Japanese officials arrive on the USS Missouri to sign the surrender documents on 2 Sep 1945 |
One of the common myths of World War 2 was that the Americans were the ones contributing to the fight against Imperial Japan during World War 2. And I understand why. Popular Western media tends to only cover the American Campaigns of the Pacific War.
For instance, the game Call of Duty: World at War (2008) portrays the Pacific War exclusively from a US marine's perspective. The strategy game Sudden Strike 4 (2017) shows the war from the Japanese and United States perspectives only.
However, this discounts the major allies that contributed to the Japanese defeat in the war.
Nationalist China
Nationalist China bore the brunt of the Imperial Japanese forces. At peak strength, the Nationalist managed to mobilise 6 million soldiers to tie down majority of the Imperial Japanese army (about 4.1 million of 6 million) in mainland China.
China also relied on foreign supplies for weaponry, which included contributions from Germany (pre-war), Sweden, the UK and the USA.
The United Kingdom
The UK's strategy in Asia was focused more on recovering its lost colonies, rather than contributing to Japan's final defeat. Afterall, they had a closer threat in Nazi Germany during the war.
Nevertheless, they stopped the Japanese in India and Burma.
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| Japanese soldiers advancing against the British at Imphal, 1944 |
Being south of Japanese-occupied Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand contributed their ships to the American naval forces. In addition, their armies served with distinction in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.
British Raj (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh)
The British Raj also contributed a sizeable number of soldiers that continued the counter offensive in India and Burma. It is estimated they contributed close to a million soldiers into the Burma campaign alone.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union participated late in the war in August 1945 with the invasion of Manchuria.
Resistance in occupied territories
Despite Japanese occupation, the natives did manage to mount significant resistance operations on the Japanese. More successful ones targeted Japanese supply lines. In Philippines alone, it is estimated that there were 200 000 resistance fighters.
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