US in WW2

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_orbat_coalition.htm = Iraq Coalition Troops = The size and capabilities of the Coalition forces involved in operations in Iraq has been a subject of much debate, confusion, and at times exageration. As of August 23, 2006, there were 21 non-U.S. military forcescontributing armed forces to the Coalition in Iraq. These 21 countries were: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. However, in the August 23, 2006 Iraq Weekly Status Report (Slide 27) the State Department listed 27 foreign countries as contributing troops to the Coalition in Iraq. The additional four countries were Japan, Portugal, Singapore and the Ukraine. In addition, that same Weekly Status Report listed 34 countries (including the US) as maintaining personnel in Iraq (as part of the Coalition, UNAMI, or NATO). The State Department reported that Fiji was contributing troops though UNAMI and that Hungary, Iceland, Slovenia, and Turkey were assisting with the NATO training mission. However, it is unclear whether Hungary actually maintained any forces in Iraq as part of NATO or UNAMI since its government announced the complete withdrawal of troops in December 2004. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee on August 3, 2006, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld described the coalition in Iraq as composed of 34 allies (plus the US). As of June 13, 2006, MNF-I reported that 27 countries (including the US) maintained responsibility over the six major areas of Iraq. Since that time, Japan has withdrawn all of its forces from Iraq. For the purposes of this tally, only countries that contribute troops as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom are counted. Countries which had troops in or supported operations in Iraq at one point but have pulled out since: Nicaragua (Feb. 2004); Spain (late-Apr. 2004); Dominican Republic (early-May 2004); Honduras(late-May 2004); Philippines (~Jul. 19, 2004); Thailand (late-Aug. 2004); New Zealand (late Sep. 2004); Tonga (mid-Dec. 2004) Portugal (mid-Feb. 2005); The Netherlands (Mar. 2005); Hungary (Mar. 2005); Singapore (Mar. 2005); Norway (Oct. 2005); Ukraine (Dec. 2005); Japan (July 17, 2006); Italy (Nov. 2006); Slovakia (Jan 2007). Countries planning to withdraw from Iraq: Poland had earlier claimed that it would withdraw all soldiers by the end of 2006. It however extended the mandate of its contingent through at least mid-2007. Denmark announced that it would withdraw its troop contingent by August 2007. Countries which have recently reduced or are planning to reduce their troop commitment: South Koreais planning to withdraw up to 1000 soldiers by the end of 2006. Poland withdrew 700 soldiers in Feb. 2005. Between May 2005 and May 2006, the United Kingdom reduced the size of its contingent by 1,300. The United Kingdom also is planning to reduce significantly the size of its contingent by the end of 2007, with an initial reduction of 1,600 troops followed by an additional 500 troops by end of 2007. Countries supporting UNAMI: Fiji (150); Georgia (550) * On March 9, 2007, Georgia's deputy defense minister was reported as saying that Georgia would likely send additional troops to Iraq, possibly for a total contingent size of about 2,400 * On March 4, 2007, Georgia announced that it would increase the size of its contingent of Iraq, then standing at 850. The size of the increase was not reported. * Lithuania was reported to be considering withdrawing its troop contingent of 53 troops from Iraq. * On February 21, 2007, Denmark announced that it would withdraw its 460-strong contingent of troops from southern Iraq by August 2007 * On February 21, 2007, British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that 600 British troops would return home within the next few months, with another 500 to follow by the end of 2007, leaving approximately 5,000 troops on the ground; from a high of approximately 40,000 troops during the major combat operations phase. * Slovakia's Prime Minister announced in late January 2007, that the country's contingent had effectively been withdrawn from Iraq * Armenia's parliament voted on December 6, 2006, to extend the mandate of its troops contingent in Iraq by an additional 12 months. The contingent was reported to be made up of three staff officers, two military doctors, 10 men making up an engineering unit, in addition to a transport platoon composed of 31 drivers * Georgia, on Nov. 4, 2006, deployed a contingent of 300 servicemen from the 31st Light Infantry Battalion to Iraq as part of a normally scheduled troop rotation. * South Korea announced on November 25, 2006, that the deployment of its contingent of troops to Iraq would be extended for one year, but its size would be reduced. Media reports suggested that it would decrease by approximately 1,200 troops from its current size of ~2,300 as of late-November 2006. * The last contingent of Italian troops in Iraq, numbering between 60 and 70 troops was due to leave the country during the last week of November 2006. * Georgia completed on the rotation of an infantry battalion from Iraq. The battalion returned to Georgia on November 27, 2006. It was replaced in Iraq by the 31st Light Infantry Battalion which left for Iraq on November 4, 2006 with a size of 300 servicemen. Some 850 Georgian troops were reported to be deployed in Iraq. * On November 27, 2006, UK Defence Secretary Des Browne announced that Britain's contribution to operations in Iraq would be significantly reduced by next year's end. * As of November 24, 2006, Australia's Department of Defence reported that it had 1,400 troops taking part in Operation Catalyst. 221 of these were assigned to HMAS Warramunga and Commander Task Force 158. 330 Australian troops were assigned to 2 C-130 Hercules and AP-3C Orion detachments. 518 troops from multiple regiments making up Overwatch Battle Group West Two began deploying in mid-November 2006 to relieve Overwatch Battle Group West One troops stationed in Iraq for 6 months. * Poland, in mid-November 2006, authorized the extension of the deployment of its contingent in Iraq through mid-2007. Poland's President was quoted as saying that the contingent would be fully withdrawn by the end of 2007. * On October 11, 2006, the Mongolian contingent in Iraq held a ceremony to mark the rotation of a new contingent of troops. 100 Mongolian Infntry Company soldiers were reported to be tasked with providing security for Camp Echo and MND CS * On September 2, 2006, Slovakia officially rotated in its 7th contingent of troops into Iraq. That contingent is composed of 103 troops * On August 10, 2006, Lieutenant General Ts. Togoo, Chief of the Generaly Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces reported that Mongolia would continue to maintain soldiers in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Mongolia forces will complete their sixth combat rotation on September 26, 2006, and a seventh rotation will take their place. * On July 17, 2006, Japan completed a full withdrawal of armed forces from Iraq. This withdrawal was announced in June 2006. * On June 7, 2006, The Guardian Unlimited reported that Italy would withdraw all forces from Iraq by December 2006. * On May 9, 2006, VOA reported that South Korea was beginning to withdraw some of its force from Iraq. On May 9, 2006, the Korea Times reported that Korea maintained a force of 3,277 soldiers in the Kurdish city of Irbil but would soon be withdrawing 40. Both articles reported that by the end of 2006, South Korea would withdraw a total of approximately 1,000 troops. * On February 22, 2006, the Bulgarian Parliament approved a measure to send a 150-person non-combat contigent to Camp Ashraf on a humanitarian mission designed to oversee control of the camp. On March 29, Bulgaria sent its first contingent to the camp. * In late December 2005, Ukraine completed its withdrawal of troops from Iraq. RFE/RL reported that the withdrawal was almost complete on December 20. * In October 2005, Norway announced that it would begin withdrawing its forces from Iraq. It soon completed a full withdrawal. * In March 2005, the Netherlands completed a full withdrawal of its troops from Iraq. RFE/RL reported on the withdrawal in January. {| ! colspan="6" | Countries Supporting Ops in Iraq

| Country

In Iraq In Theater Total Future 1 United Kingdom ~7,200 1,300 ~8,500 2 South Korea ~2,300 ~2,300 ~1,100 (?) 3 Australia ~850 ~541 ~1,400 4 Poland 900 900 5 Romania 865 865 6 Denmark 460 ~35 (NATO and UNAMI) ~500 7 El Salvador 380 380 8 Georgia 300 550 (UNAMI) 850 ~2,400 (?) 9 Azerbaijan 150 150 10 Bulgaria ~150 ~150 11 Latvia 136 136 12 Albania 120 120 13 Czech Republic 100 100 14 Mongolia 100 100 15 Lithuania ~50 ~50 16 Armenia 46 46 17 Bosnia & Herzegovina 37 37 18 Estonia 34 34 19 Macedonia 33 33 20 Kazakhstan 29 29 21 Moldova* 12 12 ! TOTAL ! nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" | ! nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" | ~14,200 ! nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" | ! align="middle" | ~17,000 ! nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" | | UNAMI Fiji ** 150 150 Hungary *** 0 Withdrew troops: Mar. 2005 Nicaragua 0 Withdrew troops: Feb. 2004 Spain 0 Withdrew troops: Late-Apr. 2004 Dominican Republic 0 Withdrew troops: Early-May. 2004 Honduras 0 Withdrew troops: Late-May. 2004 Philippines 0 Withdrew troops: mid-Jul. 2004 Thailand 0 Withdrew troops: Late-Aug. 2004 New Zealand 0 Withdrew troops: Late-Sep. 2004 Tonga 0 Withdrew troops: mid-Dec. 2004 Portugal 0 Withdrew troops: mid-Feb. 2005 Singapore**** 0 Withdrew troops: Mar. 2005 Norway 0 Withdrew troops: Oct. 2005 Ukraine 0 Withdrew troops: Dec. 2005 The Netherlands 0 Withdrew troops: Mar. 2005 Japan 0 Withdrew troops: Jul. 2006 Italy 0 Withdrawal troops: End of Nov. 2006 Slovakia 0 Withdrew troops: End of January 2007 * A contingent of Moldovan soldiers arrived in Iraq in February 2006 to clear unexploded ordinance. This contingent replaced the third contingent of Moldovan soldiers which had redeployed to Iraq in February 2005. Many media reports regarding Moldova's supposed full withdrawal of troops have failed to mention either the 2005 or 2006 redeployment. ** Fiji's troop contingent is deployed as part of UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) *** Was part of NATO Training Force. **** Singapore's token contribution was a landing ship tank deployed to the Persian Gulf which arrived home on March 19, 2005.

Sources: * Media Reports as listed. * Directly contacting the embassies of the respective countries within the United States. * Embassy websites * MNF-I * State Department * CENTCOM |}

{| ! colspan="5" | ! Division ! Brigade ! Battalion ! Personnel ! Equipment ! TOTAL | Light infantry platoon Estpla-13[Estonia] 34 Infantry battalion [Georgia] 300 EOD platoon [Bosnia and Herzegovina] 37 U/I Infantry Company [Azerbaijan] 150 U/I Brigade, Zaitun Division [South Korea] ~2,300 Contingent, Ranger Bn, SOF Unit [Macedonia] 33 ! colspan="5" | Multi-National Division (North) | U/I Unit [Albania] 120 ! colspan="5" | Multi-National Division (South-East) | 20 Armored BDE [UK] 7,200 Joint Task Force [Australia] ~1,400 Multiple Units [Romania] 865 elements, Danish [Dancon/Irak] 515 U/I Military Police Unit [Czech] 100 U/I Unit [Lithuanian] ~50 ! colspan="5" | Multi-National Division (Central South) | 1st Warsaw Division [Poland] 900 U/I Unit [El Salvador] 380 U/i Unit [Bulgaria] ~150 U/I Unit [Latvia] 136 Peacekeeping Operations BN [Mongolia] 100 U/I Engineer Unit [Slovakia] 103 U/I Support Unit [Armenia] 46 U/I Engineer Unit [Kazakhstan] 29 U/I Unit [Moldova] 12 |}

{| ! colspan="5" | UNAMI - UN Assistance Mission in Iraq ! Division ! Brigade ! Battalion ! Personnel | 'Shavnabada' BN [Georgia] [UNAMI] 550 U/I Unit [Fiji] 150

Posted by Wayne Gidlof

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The Battle of Midway

The Japanese lost 4 aircraft carriers, the HIRYU, SORYU, KAGA, and AKAGI, along with their most experienced pilots who had fought in the early campaigns of the war and throughout China and Russia in Japan's previous wars. These losses proved devastating to the Japanese campaign in the Pacific, forcing the Japanese navy to take a more defensive stance in the Pacific War. The Americans, on the other hand, had lost only one carrier, the YORKTOWN, which had been previously damaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The Battle of Midway was the first major American naval victory of WWII.