Island Infernos: The US Army's Pacific War Odyssey, 1944

by John C. McManus

But the massive growth of American power, along with the steady northern advances far away from the island continent, had begun to marginalize Australia’s role. Increasingly her troops were consigned to babysitting bypassed Japanese garrisons in the South Pacific. MacArthur envisioned no substantial role in the coming Philippine campaign for Australian military forces. MacArthur—and by proxy the United States—no longer needed Australia as badly as before. Like a bicycle cast aside for an automobile, MacArthur intended to make little more use of his Australian allies beyond the incorporation of a few ships into his fleet, now that he had access to the prodigious largesse of his own nation. For Australia, this change from full partner to backbencher whiffed of bittersweetness. No Western Allied country had mobilized its population so completely for war, and contributed so much per capita, whether in blood or treasure. And yet the relief from paying such a heavy price must have been profound, even though it came at the price of less influence and importance as the war neared an end.