Airbases on Kysh captured in Operation Olympic would allow land-based air support for Operation Coronet. The war cabinet met to consider peace terms for the first time the next morning, learning. The invasion of the second largest Japanese island of Hokkaido was originally planned by the Soviets to be part of the territory taken, when finally in August 7 the Soviets declared war on Japan. Even when rounded down to a conservative 200,000, this figure implied a total of nearly 500,000 all-causes losses, of whom perhaps 50,000 might return to duty after light to moderate care. However, MacArthur blocked proposals to include an Indian Army division because of differences in language, organization, composition, equipment, training and doctrine. Stalin brought forward the invasion of Manchuria due to the dropping of the atomic bomb. Japanese holdouts, especially on . The Soviets had arrived to train on the first of 149 vessels the U.S. Navy was transferring to the Soviet . Further blockade and urban destruction would have produced a surrender in August or September at the latest, without the need for the costly anticipated invasion or the atomic bomb. p. 43. The casualty rate on Okinawa was 35%;with 767,000 men scheduled to participate in taking Kyushu, it was estimated that there would be 268,000 casualties. One of the last operational pictures of naval bombing before Japans surrender. President Truman authorized the use of the atom bombs in an effort to bring about Japan's surrender in the Second World War. However, the Battle of Okinawa went on for so long that they concluded the Allies would not be able to launch another operation before the typhoon season, during which the weather would be too risky for amphibious operations. Depending on the degree to which Japanese civilians would have resisted the invasion, estimates ran up into the millions for Allied casualties. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan staged an attack on Pearl Harbor, severely damaging the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Countless more would have been wounded. Seeman advised that American troops not enter an area hit by a bomb for "at least 48 hours"; the risk of nuclear fallout was not well understood, and such a short time after detonation would have exposed American troops to substantial radiation. The capital Rangoon was retaken in May 1945. About 1.5 million Japanese in Manchuria, Korea and northern China became prisoners of the Soviets, many of whom spent years in prison camps. The capture of the Mariana Islands in November 1944 meant that air bases could be established to bomb Japan. intensified to pave the way for the planned invasion of Kyushu. Pastel was designed to convince the Japanese that the Joint Chiefs had rejected the notion of a direct invasion and instead were going to attempt to encircle and bombard Japan. [100] United States Naval Institute. But tempering Marshall's personal commitment to invasion would have been his comprehension that civilian sanction in general, and Truman's in particular, was unlikely for a costly invasion that no longer enjoyed consensus support from the armed services.[76]. Manchurian Strategic Offensive. Before the main invasion, the offshore islands of Tanegashima, Yakushima, and the Koshikijima Islands were to be taken, starting on X-5. Thankfully, Japan surrendered, unconditionally on Aug 15, 1945, some 77 days before the invasion was set to take place. There were two unsuccessful Japanese counterattacks which ultimately weakened the capability of the defending forces to resist the American onslaught. Historians and the public continue to debate if the bombings were justified, the causes of Japan's surrender, the casualties that would have resulted if the U.S. had invaded Japan, and more. The operation for the occupation of Japan following the landing may be a very long, costly and arduous struggle on our part. 140 reconnaissance planes to detect the approach of the Allied fleet. At Kysh, because of the more favorable circumstances (such as terrain that would reduce the Allies' radar advantage, and the impressment of wood and fabric airframe training aircraft into the kamikaze role which would have been difficult for Allied radar systems of the time to detect and track), they hoped to raise that to one for six by overwhelming the US defenses with large numbers of kamikaze attacks within a period of hours. [12], Physically, Japan made an imposing target, distant from other landmasses and with very few beaches geographically suitable for sea-borne invasion. General Umezu Yoshijiro, the army chief of staff, signed on behalf of the Imperial Japanese Army in front of the newly appointed Supreme Commander, Allied Powers in Japan, General Douglas MacArthur. IWM collections. By August, the Japanese Army had the equivalent of 65 divisions in the homeland but only enough equipment for 40 and ammunition for 30. Conflict in Asia began well before the official start of World War II. Share. In May, Admiral Nimitz's staff estimated 49,000 U.S casualties in the first 30 days of Operation Olympic, including 5,000 at sea. [citation needed] The Australian government had asked at an early stage for the inclusion of an Australian Army infantry division in the first wave (Olympic). The planned operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war, and the invasion of Manchuria. [57] The United States Strategic Bombing Survey subsequently estimated that if the Japanese managed 5,000 kamikaze sorties, they could have sunk around 90 ships and damaged another 900, roughly triple the Navy's losses at Okinawa. Set to begin in November 1945, Operation Olympic was intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island, Kysh, with the recently captured island of Okinawa to be used as a staging area. For Operation Downfall, the US military envisaged requiring more than 30 divisions for a successful invasion of the Japanese home islands. Commemorate75 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe and remember the personal stories of people who stood together during a time of national crisis. President Truman had four options: 1) continue conventional bombing of Japanese cities; 2) invade Japan; 3) demonstrate the bomb on an unpopulated island; or, 4 . [25] The first official "plans indicated that assault, followup, and reserve units would all come from US forces".[25]. Victory over JapanDay marked the end of the Second World War in August 1945. Invasion Planning, and the A-Bomb Decision", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Downfall&oldid=1152535827, "That operations in this area will be opposed not only by the available organized military forces of the Empire, but also by a fanatically hostile population. The invasion was not intended to conquer the entire island, just the southernmost third of it, as indicated by the dashed line on the map labeled "general limit of northern advance". In preparation for Operation Olympic, the invasion of southern Kyushu, various figures and organizations made casualty estimates based on the terrain, strength, and disposition of known Japanese forces. ET, April 24, 2023 China respects sovereign state status of ex-Soviet Union countries, foreign ministry spokeswoman says. If the US casualty rate during the invasion of Japan had been only 5% as high per unit area as it was at Okinawa, the US would still have lost 297,000 soldiers (killed or missing). In 1939, the armies of Japan and the Soviet Union clashed . During the Soviet-Japanese War in August 1945, the Soviet Union made plans to invade Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan 's four main home islands. The Fifth Air Fleet was assigned the task of kamikaze attacks against ships involved in the invasion of Okinawa, Operation Ten-Go, and began training pilots and assembling aircraft for the defense of Kysh, the first invasion target. Olympic was to be mounted with resources already present in the Pacific, including the British Pacific Fleet, a Commonwealth formation that included at least eighteen aircraft carriers (providing 25% of the Allied air power) and four battleships. Chitrapu 1 CHAPTER 25 Operation Downfall: Proposed invasion of Japan that was replaced by atomic bombs Manhattan Project: Top Secret plan to convert nuclear power into a weapon Divine Wind: Japanese kamikaze pilots Yalta: Where Big Three met to discuss postwar plans D-Day: invasion of Normandy to liberate France from Germans Relocation centers: Prison camps where Japanese-Americans r detained . On 15 January 1945, the U.S. Army Service Forces released a document, "Redeployment of the United States Army after the Defeat of Germany." Also, by the end of that year, the United States entered the war after Japan (an ally of Germany) attacked the American base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 'Every precaution must be taken not to give the enemy cause for a pretext to use gas,' the commanders were warned. Invasion of the Soviet Union, June 1941. "It is an awful responsibility that has come to us," the president wrote. Through April, May, and June, Allied intelligence followed the buildup of Japanese ground forces, including five divisions added to Kysh, with great interest, but also some complacency, still projecting that in November the total for Kysh would be about 350,000 servicemen. However, as reported Japanese strength in the Home Islands continued to climb and Japanese military performance increased, so too did the casualty estimates. All of which resulted in the first atomic bomb test carried out at the Alamagordo Air Force Base, New Mexicoon 16 July 1945. Several estimates were made, but varied widely in numbers, assumptions and purposes, which included advocating and opposing the invasion. In addition, the Japanese had organized the Volunteer Fighting Corps, which included all healthy men aged 15 to 60 and women 17 to 40 for a total of 28 million people, for combat support and, later, combat jobs. They and their soldiers had endured three years of harsh captivity. The ingredients in LN-8 and another tested compound would later be used to create Agent Orange, used during the Vietnam War. Later at Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, they switched strategies and dug in their forces in the most defensible terrain. Bombs filled with a new incendiary made of phosphorous and napalm were dropped on the city causing a firestorm that lasted several days causing tens of thousands of deaths. This article appears in: . The planned operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war, and the invasion of Manchuria. [26][27] He also recommended that the corps be organized along the lines of a U.S. corps, should use only U.S. equipment and logistics, and should train in the U.S. for six months before deployment; these suggestions were accepted. By mid-1945when plans for Coronet were being reworkedmany other Allied countries had, according to Skates, "offered ground forces, and a debate developed" amongst Western Allied political and military leaders, "over the size, mission, equipment, and support of these contingents". [104] Nearly 500,000 Purple Heart medals (awarded for combat casualties) were manufactured in anticipation of the casualties resulting from the invasion of Japan; the number exceeded that of all American military casualties of the 65 years following the end of World War II, including the Korean and Vietnam Wars. the Kanmon Tunnel) and for gaining and maintaining air superiority over the beaches. Answer (1 of 4): When Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan, he presented the US with a considerable wish list of Lend-Lease materials. . Kyle Palmer, war correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, said half a million to a million Americans would die by the end of the war. In July MacArthur's Intelligence Chief, Maj. Gen. Charles A. Willoughby, warned of between 210,000 and 280,000 battle casualties in the push to the "stop line" one-third of the way up Kyushu. ", "That the enemy may withdraw his land-based air forces to the Asiatic Mainland for protection from our neutralizing attacks. At 11 pm Trans-Baikal time on 8 August 1945, Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov informed Japanese ambassador . 5:03 a.m. During the Soviet-Japanese War in August 1945, the Soviet Union made plans to invade Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's four main Home Islands. Planning was later scaled back to 22 squadrons and, by the time the war ended, to 10 squadrons: between 120 and 150 Avro Lancasters/Lincolns, operating out of airbases on Okinawa. 50 "land attack planes," 50 seaplane bombers, and 50 torpedo bombers flown by highly trained pilots for night attacks on convoy escorts. When the Western Allies began planning for the invasion of Japan's home islands, they asked for Soviet assistance to keep the large Kwantung army in Manchuria tied down so the troops could. [54] By the time the war ended, the Japanese actually possessed some 12,700 aircraft in the Home Islands, roughly half kamikazes. A World War II history many have seemed to have forgotten - Russia was getting ready to invade Japan: On April 10, 1945 a Soviet freighter slipped up to a quay at a frozen military base on a remote tip of Alaska aptly named Cold Bay. Figures for Coronet exclude values for both the immediate strategic reserve of 3 divisions as well as the 17 division strategic reserve in the U.S. and any British/Commonwealth forces. [82], According to Thomas B. Allen and Norman Polmar, the Soviets had carefully drawn up detailed plans for the Far East invasions, except that the landing for Hokkaido "existed in detail" only in Stalin's mind and that it was "unlikely that Stalin had interests in taking Manchuria and even taking on Hokkaido. In 1944 Ultra revealed that the Japanese doubted their ability to retaliate against United States use of gas. These were responsible for attacking Japanese airfields and transportation arteries on Kyushu and Southern Honshu (e.g.

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