Before the main invasion, the offshore islands of Tanegashima, Yakushima, and the Koshikijima Islands were to be taken, starting on X-5. 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. The most transformative conflict in history, World War II impacted the entire globe and set the stage for the Cold War. What Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Portends for Japan's Northern Territories Tokyo appears to have finally realized that Putin has no intention of ever handing any of the disputed islands back. They were to be armed with contact-fuzed mines, and to dive under landing craft and blow them up. The plans for war with Japan may have been related to a longstanding territorial dispute concerning the strategically. The battle lasted one day, with minor combat actions going on for four more after the official surrender of Japan and the garrison, during which the attacking Soviet forces lost over 516 troops and five of the 16 landing ships (many of these formerly belonged to the US Navy and were later given to the Soviet Union) to Japanese coastal artillery, and the Japanese lost over 256 troops. General Douglas MacArthur dismissed any need to change his plans: I am certain that the Japanese air potential reported to you as accumulating to counter our OLYMPIC operation is greatly exaggerated. More than seventy years after the end of World War II, the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains controversial. [21] Later, a follow-up force of up to 20 additional U.S. divisions and up to 5 or more British Commonwealth divisions would have landed as reinforcements. 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. Giangreco 7/19/2017 Daunting terrain and fanatical resistance threatened to take a horrific toll on GI invaders. Widespread chemical warfare was considered against Japan's population[65] and food crops. These were the Army plans to conquer Japan - We Are The Mighty Allied invasion planners in the Pacific were unaware that the Soviets were planning to keep that promise with an invasion of Hokkaido. Casualties were high, but the island provided another useful staging post for the bombers. Before 1944, the Japanese continued to plan for an aggressive attack against the Chinese and Soviets to advance their territorial goals in the Far East. Soviet soldiers in front of Harbin railway station. Operation Downfall, the codename for the invasion of Japan, was scheduled to begin on Nov 1, 1945. Operation Downfall - Wikipedia The 35 landing beaches were all named for automobiles: Austin, Buick, Cadillac, and so on through to Stutz, Winton, and Zephyr. What had led to the fateful decision to deploy these new weapons of mass destruction? [26] The British Government suggested that: Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Keightley should command the Commonwealth Corps, a combined Commonwealth fleet should be led by Vice-Admiral Sir William Tennant, and thatas Commonwealth air units would be dominated by the RAAF the Air Officer Commanding should be Australian. The Army began experimenting with compounds to destroy crops in April 1944, and within one year had narrowed over 1,000 agents to nine promising ones containing phenoxyacetic acids. The ingredients in LN-8 and another tested compound would later be used to create Agent Orange, used during the Vietnam War. [1] The operation had two parts: Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet. Proceedings. During World War II, the Japanese had a naval base at Paramushiro in the Kuril Islands and several bases in Hokkaido. This article appears in: . [78][79][80] As a result, in Project Hula (1945), the United States transferred about 100 naval vessels out of the 180 planned to the Soviet Union in preparation for the planned Soviet entry into the war against Japan. [25] The first official "plans indicated that assault, followup, and reserve units would all come from US forces".[25]. By September 1944, those plans . There was no mention of the Emperor in the declaration as public opinion was not in favour of his retention, although it had previously been decided in committee. Invasion of Manchuria | Harry S. Truman The Japanese planned to commit the entire population of Japan to resisting the invasion, and from June 1945 onward, a propaganda campaign calling for "The Glorious Death of One Hundred Million" commenced. [42] Unlike the larger ships, these, together with the destroyers and fleet submarines, were expected to see extensive action defending the shores, with a view to destroying about 60 Allied transports. To attack the ships off Okinawa, Japanese planes had to fly long distances over open water; to attack the ships off Kysh, they could fly overland and then short distances out to the landing fleets. Nimitz planned a pre-invasion feint, sending a fleet to the invasion beaches a couple of weeks before the real invasion, to lure out the Japanese on their one-way flights, who would then find ships bristling with anti-aircraft guns instead of the valuable, vulnerable transports. Mutual support was essential in defence and attack by either side. 50 "land attack planes," 50 seaplane bombers, and 50 torpedo bombers flown by highly trained pilots for night attacks on convoy escorts. IWM collections. Close to 66,000 people were killed. The Soviet declaration of war also changed the calculation of how much time was left for maneuver. An email sent by a whistleblower at FSB . Courtesy of the US National Archives. When these figures were questioned by General Marshall, MacArthur submitted a revised estimate of 105,000, in part by deducting wounded men able to return to duty. The battle resulted in 72,000 US casualties in 82 days, of whom 12,510 were killed or missing (this figure excludes the several thousand US soldiers who died after the battle indirectly, from their wounds). 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. The US Army Fifth and Seventh Air Forces and US Marine air units had moved into the islands immediately after the invasion, and air strength had been increasing in preparation for the all-out assault on Japan. A U.S. Invasion of Japan Would Have Left Maybe Millions Dead Share. The ensuing Operation Downfall envisaged two main assaults Operation Olympic on Kyushu, planned for early November and Operation Coronet, the invasion of Honshu in March 1946. 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. [38], Admiral Ernest King, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S Navy, was so concerned about losses from kamikaze attacks that he and other senior naval officers argued for canceling Operation Downfall, and instead continuing the fire-bombing campaign against Japanese cities and the blockade of food and supplies until the Japanese surrendered. These would have included spearheads of the war in Europe such as the US First Army (15 divisions) and the Eighth Air Force. Did Hiroshima Save Japan From Soviet Occupation? That changed in July, with the discovery of four new divisions and indications of more to come. But the war in the east still raged on and Japanese surrender seemed a long way off. At Potsdam the Soviets informed their Allied counterparts that they would be ready to move against Japan in mid-August. [19] Coronet would have been even larger than Olympic, with up to 45 U.S. divisions assigned for both the initial landing and follow-up. General Umezu Yoshijiro signs the surrender on behalf of the Imperial Japanese Army onboard the USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay, 2nd September 1945. "[72] An air burst 1,8002,000ft (550610m) above the ground had been chosen for the (Hiroshima) bomb to achieve maximum blast effects, and to minimize residual radiation on the ground, as it was hoped that American troops would soon occupy the city. In South East Asia, by late 1944, British and Commonwealth, US and Chinese forces had begun the reconquest of Burma (Myanmar). The B-29 Superfortresses were then withdrawn from China to bomb Japan from the Marianas. Japans surrender in Manchuria. World War II in the Pacific | Holocaust Encyclopedia [89] On 29 July, MacArthur's intelligence chief, Major General Charles A. Willoughby, was the first to note that the April estimate allowed for the Japanese capability to deploy six divisions on Kyushu, with the potential to deploy ten. Truman's Nightmare: U.S. Invasion of Japan, 1945-46 - HistoryNet [3], Responsibility for the planning of Operation Downfall fell to American commanders Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the Joint Chiefs of StaffFleet Admirals Ernest King and William D. Leahy, and Generals of the Army George Marshall and Hap Arnold (the latter being the commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces). [34] The main message of "The Glorious Death of One Hundred Million" campaign was that it was "glorious to die for the holy emperor of Japan, and every Japanese man, woman, and child should die for the Emperor when the Allies arrived". It was the largest Japanese campaign on land during the war comprising 500,000 troops. What if Hiroshima and Nagasaki never happened? [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). "[99] From D-Day to V-E Day, the Western Allies alone suffered some 766,294 casualties. These flamethrowers were used to drive Japanese defenders from their caves and pillboxes. [9][10], The United States Navy urged the use of a blockade and airpower to bring about Japan's capitulation. On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union officially declares war on Japan, pouring more than 1 million Soviet soldiers into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, northeastern China, to take on the. [95] Of these estimates, only Nimitz's included losses of the forces at sea, though kamikazes had inflicted 1.78 fatalities and a similar number of wounded per kamikaze pilot in the Battle of Okinawa,[96] and troop transports off Kysh would have been much more exposed. Using Okinawa as a staging base, the objective would have been to seize the southern portion of Kysh. Ending the war quickly would prevent Russian participation in the fighting and expansion into parts of Asia. Japan holds the G-7 presidency this year, and Kyodo News reported last week that such a step is being . On 15 January 1945, the U.S. Army Service Forces released a document, "Redeployment of the United States Army after the Defeat of Germany." Debate over the Bomb: An Annotated Bibliography In the last days of World War II, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, as Stalin secretly agreed at . It should be noted that this invasion occurred 2 days after the United States atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Soviet Invasion of Manchuria: Finishing the Japanese Army In 1944, early planning proposed a force of 5001,000 aircraft, including units dedicated to aerial refueling. 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. Proposed Soviet invasion of Hokkaido - Wikipedia The same day, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The task of strategic bombing fell on the United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific (USASTAF)a formation which comprised the Eighth and Twentieth air forces, as well as the British Tiger Force. Casualty predictions varied widely, but were extremely high. Some 1,200 suicide divers had been trained before the Japanese surrender. 2,500 Army aircraft (conventional as well as suicide), together with 2,900 Naval trainers for, 2,000 Army and Navy "air superiority" fighters to escort the. However, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 forced the suspension of this plan: the Soviets had to divert most of their resources to fighting the Germans and their allies, primarily on land, throughout most of the war, leaving their navy relatively poorly equipped. [58], Allied counter-kamikaze preparations were known as the Big Blue Blanket. 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. ", "Are New Purple Hearts Being Manufactured to Meet the Demand? [4], At the time, the development of the atomic bomb was a very closely guarded secret (not even then-Vice President Harry Truman knew of its existence until he became President), known only to a few top officials outside the Manhattan Project (and to the Soviet espionage apparatus, which had managed to infiltrate agents into, or recruit agents from within the program, despite the tight security around it), and the initial planning for the invasion of Japan did not take its existence into consideration. 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. On 26 July, the United States, China and Great Britain issued the Potsdam Declaration calling for the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces and the occupation of Japan by the Allies. A number of surrender ceremonies took place across South East and East Asia culminating on 2 September when the formal instrument of surrender was signed by Allied and Japanese representatives on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Emperor Hirohito, in a meeting with his Imperial Council, stated that he wished to surrender as long as the role of the emperor was not compromised. In total, 368 ships, including 120 amphibious craft, were badly damaged, and another 28, including 15 landing ships and 12 destroyers, were sunk, mostly by kamikazes. [citation needed], For the defense of Kysh, the Japanese took an intermediate posture, with the bulk of their defensive forces a few kilometers inland, back far enough to avoid complete exposure to naval bombardment, but close enough that the Americans could not establish a secure foothold before engaging them. From the middle of May, when fighters based on the island of Ie Shima first attacked targets on southern Japan, the scale of. [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. On 8 May 1945, the Allies celebrated VE Day, marking the end of the war in Europe. The capture of the Mariana Islands in November 1944 meant that air bases could be established to bomb Japan. On June 22, 1941, more than 3 million German and Axis troops invaded the Soviet Union along an 1,800-mile-long front, launching Operation Barbarossa. If a clock were drawn on a map of Kysh, these points would roughly correspond to 4, 5, and 7 o'clock, respectively. 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. 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. However the declaration failed to shake Japanese hopes for Soviet mediation. Even if he wanted to grab as much territory in Asia as possible, he was too much focused on establishing a beachhead in Europe more so than Asia."[83]. Instead, at the Quebec conference, the Combined Chiefs of Staff agreed that Japan should be forced to surrender not more than one year after Germany's surrender. Since Japan and the Soviet Union maintained a state of wary neutrality until the Soviet declaration of war on Japan in August 1945, Japanese observers based in Japanese-held territories in Manchuria, Korea, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands constantly watched the port of Vladivostok and other seaports in the Soviet Union. 20 Steps in Planning for the Invasion of Japan in 1945 The entry of the U.S. into the Alliance meant the scope of the planned cross-Channel invasion would grow. 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". Members of the imperial family were despatched across China, Manchuria and South East Asia to convey the Emperors desire for an orderly surrender at his personal behest. 12 The Eastern Front: The German War against the Soviet Union. By the end of the war, these bombing raids burned 66 cities, destroying 20% of the housing and leaving about 15 million homeless. Fact Check: Military limitations stopped Japanese invasion, not guns [citation needed], The main defense against Japanese air attacks would have come from the massive fighter forces being assembled in the Ryukyu Islands. [1] Barton, Charles A. Stalin had agreed to enter the war against Japan at the Teheran Conference in 1943. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As the war raged, the leaders of the Allies met several times to direct the course of the fighting and to begin planning for the postwar world. Leaked documents reveal Russia's plan to invade Japan [24] This was rejected by U.S. commanders and even the initial plans for Coronet, according to U.S. historian John Ray Skates, did not envisage that units from Commonwealth or other Allied armies would be landed on the Kant Plain in 1946. Invasion of Japan, 1945-46 by D.M. The Japanese defense relied heavily on kamikaze planes. [97] [40] Accordingly, Marshall and United States Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox concluded the Americans would have to invade Japan to end the war, regardless of casualties.[40]. 330 Navy bombers flown by highly trained pilots to attack the Allied carrier task force to prevent it from supporting the invasion convoys. In the Allied party were Generals Percival and Wainwright who had surrendered to the Japanese in 1942 at Singapore and in the Philippines respectively. On 5 Apr 1945, the Soviet Union informed Japan that the Soviet Union would . Truman's Nightmare: U.S. Despite the shattering damage it had absorbed by this stage of the war, the Imperial Japanese Navy, by then organized under the Navy General Command, was determined to inflict as much damage on the Allies as possible. Ultimately, the Navy partially conceded, and MacArthur was to be given total command of all forces if circumstances made it necessary. As with the fact that it was the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany at Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk that crushed Nazi Germany, not D-Day which came when Hitler's defeat was already inevitable, the truth about World War II against Japan is also gradually being admitted - even if it took 70 years to do it. The counteroffensive forces were still farther back, prepared to move against the largest landing. . [102] Apr 30, 2023, 2:37 PM PDT. "[87] This assessment included neither casualties suffered after the 90-day mark (US planners envisioned switching to the tactical defensive by X+120[88] ), nor personnel losses at sea from Japanese air attacks. America Had Plans to Help Russia Invade Japan During World War II [11] The Army, on the other hand, argued that such a strategy could "prolong the war indefinitely" and expend lives needlessly, and therefore that an invasion was necessary. President Harry Truman received news of itwhilst at the Potsdam Conference. ", "That approximately twenty-one (21) hostile divisions, including depot divisions, will be on Honshu at the initiation of [Coronet] and that fourteen (14) of these divisions may be employed in the Kanto Plain area. Even after the bombs and the Soviet invasion, some of Japan's hawks. "[87] To sustain the campaign on Kyushu, planners estimated a replacement stream of 100,000 men per month would be necessary, a figure achievable even after the partial demobilization following the defeat of Germany. With the apparent rejection of the Potsdam Declaration, Truman and his advisers went ahead with the atomic attack on the Japanese mainland. For Operation Downfall, the US military envisaged requiring more than 30 divisions for a successful invasion of the Japanese home islands. [103] 149,425 Okinawans were killed, committed suicide, or went missing, which was one-half of the estimated pre-war local population of 300,000. Initially the US undertook daylight precision bombing raids, but on the nights of 9-10 March,a change of strategy began with low level mass incendiary attacks on Japanese cities. The Japanese staged a furious defence, which included kamikaze suicide attacks (c. 1900 sorties) against the invasion fleet. As at Hiroshima, thousands more were to die from their injuries or the after-effects of radiation. Once the atomic bomb became available, General Marshall envisioned using it to support the invasion if sufficient numbers could be produced in time. The Soviets planned an invasion of Hokkaido in August 1945 At the Yalta Conference, Franklin Roosevelt secured a promise from Stalin to invade Japan, which was reiterated to Truman during the Potsdam Conference. Following the surrender and demobilization of Japan, vast amounts of war matriel were turned over to the US occupation forces in the Japanese Home Islands and South Korea. However the reality of the atomic bomb made some US leaders question whether Soviet intervention in Asia was indeed needed or even desirable. In early 1945, Miyazaki was virtually undefended, while Ariake, with its good nearby harbor, was heavily defended. Countless more would have been wounded. However, MacArthur blocked proposals to include an Indian Army division because of differences in language, organization, composition, equipment, training and doctrine. It was followed by a second bomb on 9 August on Nagasaki. 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. A study done by General MacArthur's staff in June estimated 23,000 US casualties in the first 30 days of Olympic and 125,000 after 120 days, fighting an assumed Japanese force of 300,000[91] (in actuality some 917,000 Japanese troops were on Kyushu,[92]). 9 Aug 1945 - 2 Sep 1945. Learn About D-Day, The Memorial, and Bedford - National D-Day Memorial An hour later, the Soviets began their advance simultaneously on three fronts: to the east, west, and north of Manchuria. Here's what the U.S. Army had planned in case that didn't happen. ", Henry L. Stimson, "The Decision to use the Atomic Bomb" p. 11, "Okinawa: The Final Great Battle of World War II", "The Final Months of the War with Japan. Britain and Decolonisation in South East and South Asia, 1945-1948. The Americans lost 36 ships. More than 10,000 aircraft were ready for use in July (with more by October), as well as hundreds of newly built small suicide boats to attack Allied ships offshore. As to the movement of ground forces I do not credit the heavy strengths reported to you in southern Kyushu. Allied command was divided into regions: by 1945, for example, Chester Nimitz was the Allied C-in-C Pacific Ocean Areas, while Douglas MacArthur was Supreme Allied Commander, South West Pacific Area, and Admiral Louis Mountbatten was the Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command. Operation Barbarossa: Date & Significance - HISTORY 10:11pm: EU, Japan resist US plan to ban all G7 exports to Russia, FT reports The European Union and Japan have pushed back against a US proposal for G7 countries to ban all exports to Russia . Invasion of the Soviet Union, June 1941. Vladimir Putin Wanted To 'Attack' Japan, Before He Chose To Invade These redeployments would have been complicated by the simultaneous demobilization and replacement of highly experienced, time-served personnel, which would have drastically reduced the combat effectiveness of many units. A study done for Stimson's staff by William Shockley estimated that invading Japan would cost 1.74 million American casualties, including 400,000800,000 fatalities, and five to ten million Japanese fatalities. 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. 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. Kawata, then 11, remembers understanding only two. The Bomb Didn't Beat Japan - The Soviet Union Did. Important analysis Estimated troop strength in early July was 350,000,[59] rising to 545,000 in early August. This would require capturing bases in Formosa, along the Chinese coast, and in the Yellow Sea area. They and their soldiers had endured three years of harsh captivity. On July 26, the leaders of the US, Britain and China issued the Potsdam Declaration, demanding unconditional Japanese surrender and vowing "prompt and utter destruction" if Japan refused. The Soviets invaded Japan-held Manchuria on Aug. 9. Emperor Hirohito summoned an Imperial Council asking that his ministers accept the terms forthwith and surrender unconditionally. The provinces of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi were taken and by October 1944 Sichan was the last large province still held by the Chinese Nationalists. [citation needed], Fears of "an Okinawa from one end of Japan to the other"[64] encouraged the Allies to consider unconventional weapons, including chemical warfare. The transferred vessels included amphibious assault ships. [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. A devastating typhoon in October 1945 would have delayed Allied invasion preparations, while bad weather in the winter and spring of 1946 would have hampered operations and logistics. Operation Olympic, the invasion of Kysh, was to begin on "X-Day", which was scheduled for 1 November 1945. The defending forces of 77,000 troops (and 20,000 Okinawan militia) largely hid in the caves during the bombardment which withstood all but a direct hit to the entrance, with the resulting raising of Japanese morale. Interservice rivalry over who it should be (the United States Navy wanted Nimitz, but the United States Army wanted MacArthur) was so serious that it threatened to derail planning. [7][8] The American Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that prolonging the war to such an extent was dangerous for national morale. 'Every precaution must be taken not to give the enemy cause for a pretext to use gas,' the commanders were warned.
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