<P> In Allied countries during the war, the "Pacific War" was not usually distinguished from World War II in general, or was known simply as the War against Japan . In the United States, the term Pacific Theater was widely used, although this was a misnomer in relation to the British campaign in Burma, the war in China and other activities within the Southeast Asian Theater . </P> <P> Japan used the name Greater East Asia War (大 東亜 戦争, Dai Tō - A Sensō), as chosen by a cabinet decision on 10 December 1941, to refer to both the war with the Western Allies and the ongoing war in China . This name was released to the public on 12 December, with an explanation that it involved Asian nations achieving their independence from the Western powers through armed forces of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere . Japanese officials integrated what they called the Japan--China Incident (日 支 事変, Nisshi Jihen) into the Greater East Asia War . </P> <P> During the Allied military occupation of Japan (1945--52), these Japanese terms were prohibited in official documents, although their informal usage continued, and the war became officially known as the Pacific War (太平洋 戦争, Taiheiyō Sensō). In Japan, the Fifteen Years' War (十 五 年 戦争, Jūgonen Sensō) is also used, referring to the period from the Mukden Incident of 1931 through 1945 . </P> <P> The Axis states which assisted Japan included the authoritarian government of Thailand, which quickly formed a temporary alliance with the Japanese in 1941, as the Japanese forces were already invading the peninsula of southern Thailand . The Phayap Army sent troops to invade and occupy northeastern Burma, which was former Thai territory that had been annexed by Britain much earlier . The official policy of the US government is that Thailand was not an ally of the Axis, and that the United States was not at war with Thailand . The policy of the US government ever since 1945 has been to treat Thailand not as a former enemy, but rather as a country which had been forced into certain actions by Japanese blackmail, before being occupied by Japanese troops . Thailand has been treated by the United States in the same way as such other Axis - occupied countries as Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Poland, and the Netherlands . </P>

How many american soldiers died in the pacific theatre