ABDACOM

[KarlXII]

As an avid lover of naval history, my favorite eras have been the Pacific War. Through my whole research on the Pacific, ABDACOM (American, British, Dutch and Australian Command) is the lesser known command structure. I have found relatively little on it, which leads me to this,

Does anyone know what ABDACOM was, did, and what happened to it?

[Tran]

ABDACOM was supposed to be defensive coalition against Japanese aggression into Southeast Asia, particularly Dutch East Indies which has oil and other raw materials in abundance, in the early-mid stage of WW2 (I believe it was created some times in January 1942). However, being led by inept Dutch commander, lack of coordination and communication, and the fact that it was formed in haste, ABDACOM was doomed since its inception. It suffered many losses against superior Japanese Imperial Navy, one of them is in Java Sea where utter lack of coordination made certain ships retreat from the scene before the battle even begun.

The rest, ABDACOM (American and British finally withdrew at some point) went into disarray, with victory after victory by the Japanese, and finally the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia hammered the final nail on its coffin.