Operation Montclair was a

military operation A military operation (op) is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operati ...

during the Second World War. The final version of the outline plan originally called Operation Princeton, it outlined plans to recapture the

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...

and

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

and the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

. The operation was planned by the South-West pacific Area command under General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

, and was a joint US and Australian effort. The US 8th Army under Lieutenant General

Robert L. Eichelberger Robert Lawrence Eichelberger (9 March 1886 – 26 September 1961) was a general officer in the United States Army who commanded the Eighth United States Army in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, Southwest Pacific Area during W ...

was allocated the Visayas part of the operation, and the I Australian Corps under Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead was allocated the Borneo part. US plans originally called for the elimination of the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

garrisons in the unliberated parts of the Philippines to be performed by Filipino guerillas and the reformed Filipino army. Nonetheless, on February 6, 1944, General MacArthur ordered General Eichelberger to mop up the Japanese forces in the Philippines with his 8th Army, supported by Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid's 7th Fleet. This culminated in a series of operations called Operation Victor I through V: * Battle of the Visayas (Victor I, II, II) *

Battle of Mindanao The Battle of Mindanao ( Filipino: ''Labanan sa Mindanaw;'' Cebuano: ''Panagsangka sa Mindanaw;'' Japanese: ミンダナオの戦い) was fought by the Americans and allied Filipino guerrillas against the Japanese forces on the island of Min ...

(Victor IV, V) At the same time, I Australian Corps was ordered to take Borneo to supply the US forces for the planned invasion of Japan with oil. Once Borneo had been liberated, I Australian Corps was to form part of the invasion of

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

. For more details, see Borneo campaign (1945).

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montclair, Operation South West Pacific theatre of World War II Battles of World War II involving Australia Battles of World War II involving the United States Battles of World War II involving Japan