![]() ![]() ![]() ( Dai-ichi dan) operations into the following three periods:įirst Period: Invasion of the Philippines, Malaya, Borneo, Celebes, Timor, northern Sumatra, and key points in southern Sumatra (Palembang) and the Bismarck Archipelago. The proposed sequences were therefore scrapped, and it was decided to attack the Philippines and Malaya simultaneously with the Navy's surprise blow at Pearl Harbor on the first day of war. Seizure of Borneo, the Celebes, Sumatra, and Java was to follow under a schedule which divided the "First Phase" However, after full study, Imperial General Headquarters concluded that it would be most advantageous to exploit the psychological element of surprise to the utmost. ![]() ![]() Intensive studies were carried out by Imperial General Headquarters to determine the sequence of operations and the allocation of the limited ground, sea, and air strength available so as to ensure local superiority of forces in the areas of attack.ĭuring the initial planning stage, two alternative sequences for the invasion operations were considered: (1) Philippines, Netherlands East Indies, Malaya and (2) Malaya, Netherlands East Indies, Philippines. The magnitude of these operations, unprecedented in military history, gave rise to difficult planning problems. The Pearl Harbor attack, although held essential by dominant Navy opinion to assure Japanese supremacy at sea for the execution of the Southern Operations, 2 was, in fact, a secondary and supporting operation. The primary objectives of the initial Japanese operations, therefore, involved the invasion of the Philippines, Malaya, Borneo, and the Netherlands East Indies, with particular emphasis on the seizure of Manila and Singapore, the two major bases of the United States and Great Britain in the Far East. Japan's initial strategy, as outlined earlier, was formulated with the dual purpose of gaining swift control of the economic resources of the southern regions, essential to the prosecution of the war, and of eliminating British and American military bases which barred the way to these resources and might be used as counteroffensive springboards against Japan. ![]()
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