Why use Apache with Tomcat rather than just Tomcat itself?
 

I only use java and/or HTML. Do I really need Apache? Is it any faster to serve HTML?

Dave

It is actually a good bit faster for most types of static content, including html. It also handle SSL a little better, less of a pain to setup :)

Another big advantage is that you can use mod_jk to connect to a tomcat instance running on a different box, or boxes. This allows you to run Apache on a lower end machine and put Tomcat on a box with more memory, processors, etc...

Tomcat works fine standalone if you don't have high usage or do anything really heavy. So, it really depends on what you need.

Mike