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The Southwest Pacific command is born
Creation of the Southwest Pacific Command
General Eisenhower, fresh from the Philippines, arrives in Hawaii on February 6, and he has a long meeting with Admiral Nimitz regarding what to do against the Japanese. Eisenhower persuades Nimitz that Rabaul in New Britain is the best place for a forward bastion to defend not only Australia but also the sea lines of communications to that, and that reinforcements slated for places like Fiji, New Caledonia and Samoa would be better placed at Tulagi, Port Moresby, Espiritu Santo, and Rabaul. Particularly all available aviation, engineer, anti-aircraft, and coast artillery forces not needed to defend Midway, Hawaii or Line Islands. New Ireland also threatens the flank of the Japanese Mandates, has one of the best harbors in the world, and with development will be an ideal base for the US Navy when the United States begin offensive operations against the Japanese perimeter. Eisenhower also has with him a report from Admiral Bellinger seconding his recommendations.
In mid February Eisenhower reports to General Marshall and President Roosevelt and after delivering his report and his recommendations, he finds that the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Roosevelt and Churchill, at the urging of Prime Minister Curtin of Australia and General Wavell, have resulted in him being appointed Commander in Chief Allied Forces Southwest Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, New Guinea, as well as the Solomons, Bismarks, Fiji, New Hebrides, and Tonga Islands. Everything north of that will be under the command of Nimitz. Eisenhower will be given a fleet to support him, but even when elements of Nimitz forces are in his area they will remain under the control of Nimitz. There is some horsetrading, but in the end Nimitz gets loaned the Ranger (until April) and Wasp (until May) at which point they will be sent back to the Atlantic as they will be needed for planned operations. Eisenhower gets the units he is requesting (at the cost of some divisions allocated to Europe instead).
Eisenhower is given the mission of defending his area of operations from further Japanese advances and also the job of preparing for the liberation of the Philippines. Nimitiz is given the overall mission of destroying the Japanese Navy and advancing across the Pacific and ultimately seizing the bases needed for the blockade and defeat of Japan.
Meanwhile, the Cebu/Surubaya/Darwin airlift is interrupted by allocation of aircraft to the air evacuation of Singapore until February 10, and then after a only 3 days, ends completely with the powerful air attacks that smash Allied airfields at Surabaya, Batavia and finally Darwin. Aside from a few light transports still in Cebu, the airlift does not resume until late March and when it does it is only a few flights a week with a much reduced force. However the first American submarines begin a weekly visit to Corregidor on February 5, visits that will continue until nearly the end of the siege.
General Eisenhower returns to Australia on March 4 and makes his headquarters in Brisbane, with a forward headquarters established at Darwin and Rabaul. With him is his new chief of staff, General Wade Haislip, and a new commander of his Army Air Forces has been selected, General George Kenney, as his current air commander, General Chennault, has been specifically requested by the Nationalist Chinese and Roosevelt feels compelled to send him back to China in part to make up for the failure to get the American Volunteer Group to China.