Post by TheProGeneral question: from 1941 to 1945 what was the overall resource
allocation among theaters for the USA ? by year if possible ?
Overall resources include things like merchant shipping allocations.
How detailed is the information are you after? Also note the US had
units in India as well as China.
If you are talking resources you need to calculate things like the
military shipping separate from civil, remembering the merchant
fleet existed to transport goods before the war and much of that
transport continued during the war, even if more of the cargoes
ultimately ended up as military supplies.
The overall total I have heard is 30% of US resources were used
in the Pacific, with no idea about what that counts.
The US histories Global Logistics and Strategy has tables of
personnel and cargo shipped to the various theatres, to mid
June 1943, out of 1,673,221 personnel, 131,741 had been
shipped to Alaska, 164,313 to the Central Pacific, 133,214
to the South Pacific, 221,904 to the Southwest Pacific and
30,038 to China/Burma/India
Cargo in measurement tons were 23,828,344 total, 3,375,948
Alaska, 2,280,018 Central Pacific, 1,446,665 South Pacific,
2,272,415 Southwest Pacific and 600,986 to China/Burma/India
By the end of the war Army personnel shipped had reached
7,293,300, 245,745 had been shipped to Alaska, 822,953 to
the Central Pacific, 274,905 to the South Pacific (note as of
Q3/1944 Central and South Pacific figure is under Central),
1,073,673 to the Southwest Pacific and 253,492 to
China/Burma/India
Cargo total 126,787,875 measurement tons including commanding
general lend-lease and navy cargo shipped on army transports.
6,888,398 Alaska, 14,070,539 Central Pacific, 13,540,815 South
Pacific, (note as of Q3/1944 Central and South Pacific figure is
under Central), 18,356,214 Southwest Pacific and 6,367,805 to
China/Burma/India
The tables are monthly to June 1943, then quarterly.
In terms of major warships most of the USN was in the Pacific,
almost all the USN and USMC air power was also deployed
against Japan.
In terms of the USAAF, aircraft (including reserves) on hand,
date (end of month) \ theatres versus Germany \ versus Japan
Nov-41 \ 0 \ 607
Dec-41 \ 0 \ 427
Jan-42 \ 0 \ 620
Feb-42 \ 0 \ 899
Mar-42 \ 0 \ 894
Apr-42 \ 0 \ 1,079
May-42 \ 0 \ 1,184
Jun-42 \ 26 \ 1,319
Jul-42 \ 445 \ 1,318
Aug-42 \ 692 \ 1,482
Sep-42 \ 762 \ 1,704
Oct-42 \ 1,286 \ 1,957
Nov-42 \ 1,690 \ 1,887
Dec-42 \ 2,065 \ 1,910
Jan-43 \ 2,245 \ 2,000
Feb-43 \ 2,758 \ 2,042
Mar-43 \ 3,291 \ 2,193
Apr-43 \ 4,101 \ 2,154
May-43 \ 5,263 \ 2,324
Jun-43 \ 5,928 \ 2,650
Jul-43 \ 6,099 \ 3,042
Aug-43 \ 6,252 \ 3,507
Sep-43 \ 6,354 \ 3,791
Oct-43 \ 6,582 \ 3,938
Nov-43 \ 7,395 \ 4,168
Dec-43 \ 8,237 \ 4,254
Jan-44 \ 9,644 \ 4,555
Feb-44 \ 10,897 \ 4,883
Mar-44 \ 13,163 \ 5,343
Apr-44 \ 14,169 \ 5,963
May-44 \ 15,461 \ 6,421
Jun-44 \ 15,210 \ 6,622
Jul-44 \ 16,485 \ 7,137
Aug-44 \ 16,913 \ 7,807
Sep-44 \ 17,027 \ 7,935
Oct-44 \ 17,959 \ 8,097
Nov-44 \ 18,134 \ 8,188
Dec-44 \ 17,787 \ 8,480
Jan-45 \ 17,575 \ 8,476
Feb-45 \ 17,906 \ 8,799
Mar-45 \ 18,367 \ 9,286
Apr-45 \ 18,736 \ 9,718
May-45 \ 17,061 \ 10,406
Jun-45 \ 13,568 \ 10,889
Jul-45 \ 10,854 \ 11,791
Aug-45 \ 9,329 \ 12,007
Sep-45 \ 8,689 \ 8,241
Oct-45 \ 7,859 \ 7,015
Nov-45 \ 7,751 \ 6,314
Dec-45 \ 7,553 \ 6,057
Deployment of divisions, end of month
Nov-41 \ 1 \ 3 (Iceland and Philippines 1 "division" each)
Jan-42 \ 2 \ 3
Mar-42 \ 2 \ 5
Apr-42 \ 1 \ 5
May-42 \ 3 \ 7
Jun-42 \ 3 \ 8
Jul-42 \ 3 \ 9
Aug-42 \ 4 \ 9
Sep-42 \ 4 \ 10
Oct-42 \ 5 \ 11
Nov-42 \ 7 \ 11
Jan-43 \ 8 \ 11
Apr-43 \ 9 \ 13
May-43 \ 10 \ 13
Jun-43 \ 11 \ 14
Jul-43 \ 11 \ 16
Sep-43 \ 13 \ 17
Oct-43 \ 15 \ 17
Nov-43 \ 16 \ 17
Dec-43 \ 17 \ 17
As of August 1943 the US officially had 94 Army and Marine divisions.
The D-day build up and the plans to assault the Marinas resulted in,
Jun-44 \ 29 \ 23
Oct-44 \ 48 \ 27 (no further divisions sent to Pacific until September 1945)
Mar-45 \ 68 \ 27 (Peak of European deployments)
All 95 US divisions deployed overseas.
Dec-45 10 \ 22 out of 46 still nominally active.
USN nominal strength as of end of month after any losses, retirements,
conversions or transfers, including ships under refit and repair
Nov-41, 17 Battleships, 7 fleet, 1 escort carriers, 18 heavy, 19 light
cruisers, 99 modern, 99 old destroyers, 114 submarines.
Jun-42, 18 Battleships, 5 fleet, 3 escort carriers, 17 heavy, 24 light
cruisers, 127 modern, 91 old destroyers, 115 submarines
Dec-42, 19 Battleships, 4 fleet, 12 escort carriers, 13 heavy, 26 light
cruisers, 167 modern, 84 old destroyers, 132 submarines
Jun-43, 21 Battleships, 7 fleet, 5 light fleet, 17 escort carriers, 14
heavy,
28 light cruisers, 227 modern, 77 old, 1 escort destroyers, 149 submarines
Dec-43, 21 Battleships, 10 fleet, 9 light fleet, 35 escort carriers, 16
heavy,
30 light cruisers, 284 modern, 77 old, 234 escort destroyers, 171 submarines
Jun-44, 23 Battleships, 13 fleet, 9 light fleet, 63 escort carriers, 1
large,
16 heavy, 33 light cruisers, 325 modern, 74 old, 362 escort destroyers,
204 submarines
Dec-44, 23 Battleships, 17 fleet, 8 light fleet, 65 escort carriers, 2
large,
17 heavy, 42 light cruisers, 356 modern, 66 old, 373 escort destroyers,
233 submarines
Jun-45, 23 Battleships, 20 fleet, 8 light fleet, 70 escort carriers, 2
large,
21 heavy, 48 light cruisers, 370 modern, 47 old, 363 escort destroyers,
233 submarines
The nominal shipping budget of around 33.4 million deadweight tons
from January 1945 had 16.3 million deadweight tons supporting the
military effort in the Pacific. Note the total tonnage allocated included
for civilian and lend lease shipments and the Pacific tonnage excludes
shipments to China-Burma-India.
Also note the USN fleet train is not counted above, around 420 transports,
156 dry cargo, 94 attack transports and 132 tankers built or converted
1940 to 1945.
Fundamentally the allies pooled their shipping and there were always
civilian needs along with the military so a ship could be military one
way and civilian the other in terms of cargo.
It is probable the shipping requirements for the Pacific were around
half of all allied shipping for much of the war, the greater distances
and less well developed ports, along with the need for imports from
the areas, counteracting the larger forces deployed against the
European Axis. Certainly it was more than 30%.
To give you an idea, British controlled shipping employment as of
end April 1944, thousand deadweight tons, to / from
North and Central America / UK 2,534
USSR and Iceland / UK 141
North Africa etc. (Western Mediterranean) / UK 865
Spain etc. / UK 158
West Africa / UK 657
Indian Ocean areas / UK 1,242
South West Pacific / UK 570
South America / UK 653
North and Central America / Iceland 3
North and Central America / North Africa etc. 792
North and Central America / Spain etc. 10
North and Central America / West Africa 31
North and Central America / Indian Ocean Areas 942
North and Central America / Pacific areas 292
North / Central America 270
Western Mediterranean / other (not UK or N. or C. America) 1,312
Pacific Area / other (not UK or N. or C. America) 443
Indian Ocean cross trades 1,266
Indian Ocean / South American and West Africa 459
Other 21
Geoffrey Sinclair
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