Did any of the other allies ever help the US defeat Japan in WWII?

by Peadymarvin

I've always wondered if after they defeated Germany they were just like "Ok thanks America, now go deal with Japan".

DBHT14

Oh most certainly!

The Pacific War is a unique beast. In the Pacific Ocean Area, with the much better known "Island Hopping" Campaign it was mostly an American affair, and specifically a Navy affair with some help from the Army and Marines.

But Australia and New Zealand for instance were heavily involved in the South Pacific from the first day to the last, while also having sent troops to fight in the African Campaigns. In fact there is still a good deal of lingering bad blood from ANZAC vets who felt that MacArthur treated them as cheap fodder and second class soldiers.

While in the China-Burma-India theater a merciless jungle war raged for almost 4 years, from Malaysia right to the borders of India. British troops and native Indians fought and died in fetid jungles and by the end had actually soundly defeated and pushed back the Japanese advances.

While a sizeable Royal Navy Pacific Fleet was assembled, operated with the US off Okinawa and participated in the final bombardments of the home islands.

Russia of course notably invaded Manchuria in mid August 1945 between the dropping of the 2 atomic bombs.

And for essentially a decade the Chinese under their various governments fought and suffered Japanese brutality. Casualties on Mainland Asia were as equally horrific as even the much more well known war between Germany and the USSR.

jennifer1688

Well, Britain did send a sizeable number of Royal Navy vessels to operate with the US Navy in the last year of the war as the British Pacific Fleet. This included several aircraft carriers, battleships, and their escorts.

cabr00kie

Most people already covered the most important countries, but it's noteworthy to mention that Mexico participated is the pacific front, by sending their fighter squadron known as "escuadron 201". Their most notably battle was Luzon.