The Pacific Ocean stretches across 9,600 miles - some three-fifths of the world's circumference, and 13 time zones - and covers 70 million square miles. For all its vastness, if one excludes Japan, New Zealand, New Guinea, the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), and the Philippines, the thousands of islands in the Pacific cover only 42,000 square miles of land - about the size of the state of Ohio. The conduct of the Pacific War would be governed by these enormous distances. Militarily, the Pacific Theater of Operations was divided into the Pacific Ocean Area - itself comprising the South, Central, and North Pacific Areas - and the Southwest Pacific Area (see page 4). The former was Navy-controlled, under the overall command of Admiral Chester W.Nimitz, and the latter came under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. Of course, forces from the US Army, Navy, and Marines would operate in both areas along with their respective air arms.
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