Operation Montclair was a

military operation A military operation 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. Operations ...

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 ( Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, ...

and

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of t ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

and the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

. 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 military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was ...

, and was a joint US and Australian effort. The US 8th Army under Lieutenant General Robert L. Eichelberger was allocated the Visayas part of the operation, and the I Australian Corps under Lieutenant General Sir

Leslie Morshead Lieutenant General Sir Leslie James Morshead, (18 September 1889 – 26 September 1959) was an Australian soldier, teacher, businessman, and farmer, whose military career spanned both world wars. During the Second World War, he led the Austra ...

was allocated the Borneo part. US plans originally called for the elimination of the Japanese 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 The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of t ...

. 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 Mindanao;'' Cebuano: ''Gubat sa Mindanao;'' 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 Mindanao in ...

(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 (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

. For more details, see

Borneo campaign (1945) The Borneo campaign or Second Battle of Borneo was the last major Allied campaign in the South West Pacific Area during World War II to liberate Japanese-held British Borneo and Dutch Borneo. Designated collectively as Operation Oboe, ...

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