ORIGINAL: mantrain
Well the Marine Corp seems small now. But I did not know that US troops were fewer in number than the Japanese in that theatre. I just thought that the USA was so large. I knew about "europe first." Looking at the first land campaign between the USA and Japan, Guadalcanal, I would think the Japanese were having problems with numbers of troops too, otherwise why didn't they just take it outright with 50,000 + troops. If the Japanese had committed that many men they would have defeated the USA there (presuming they would supply them). Seems like the USA struggled so much in that campaign with numbers too -- marines barely hanging on until the Army arrived. I dont quite understand. If you look at the european theatre, how many US troops were committed to Operation Torch? Probably 150,000 USA troops,and there were the Brits and French too, on one relative place on the map. It doesn't seem the same numbers were there at all in the Pacific. I doubt there were ever in excess of 75,000 US ground troops involved in any one campaign in the Pacific. Didn't the USA lose that many troops in the BAttle of the Bulge alone?
The Marine Corps is small. At the beginning of the war it consisted of only two understrength divisions -- each recently expanded from a brigade. By 1944 it expanded to 6 divisions, but only by eliminating the separate ranger and parachute units, and shutting down every small post, depot, ROTC detachment and recruiting office they could, to scrape together enough men to create the 5th and 6th divisions.
The plan at the start of the war was for the US Army to field 200 divisions. In the event, 98 was the most it ever activated. During the Battle of the Bulge, the last two divisions being trained in the US were shipped to Europe (including one being trained for jungle warfare that had been slated for the Pacific). After that, there was nothing left in the pipeline.
There were many reasons the US Army ended up smaller than planned. One of the most significant, IMHO, is that planners consistently underestimated how many servicemen were needed in "service and support" for an army to deploy and fight across the world's two greatest oceans. The Organization of Ground Combat Troops (1947; Greenfield, Palmer & Wiley) does an excellent job of chronicling the Army's challenge.
Every US Army & Marine Corps formation, battalion-sized or larger, that deployed in the Pacific is included in game. In addition, every US Army division and regiment, and most of the battalions, that trained on the West Coast before shipping off to Europe are also included. What you see on the map is what was actually there.