There were two unsuccessful Japanese counterattacks which ultimately weakened the capability of the defending forces to resist the American onslaught. [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. Inside her were over 500 sailors of the Soviet Navy. 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. Plan Your Visit Current Exhibitions Calendar of Events . [85] This likewise excludes wounded who would be treated in-theater during an initial window of 30 days, later to be expanded to 120 days. China respects sovereign state status of ex-Soviet Union countries The Americans considered Okinawa a dress rehearsal for the invasion of the Japanese home islands, for which the United States was finalizing a two-stage plan. 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. Whereas the civilian population without this protection died in their thousands. The offensive was finally halted in December. The decision to use the atomic bomb | Britannica 6, part 1, History of Planning Division, ASF vol. That under such circumstances he can possibly amass from 2,000 to 2,500 planes in that area by exercising a rigid economy, and that this force can operate against Kyushu landings by staging through homeland fields.". They hoped that at least 15 to 20% (or even up to a half) of the US transport ships would be destroyed before disembarkation. Indeed, the first day of the invasion would have been . [60], The intelligence revelations about Japanese preparations on Kyushu emerging in mid-July transmitted powerful shock waves both in the Pacific and in Washington. . They supported mounting a large-scale thrust directly against the Japanese homeland, with none of the side operations that the Navy had suggested. . [35] During the Battle of Okinawa, Japanese officers had ordered civilians unable to fight to commit suicide rather than fall into American hands, and all available evidence suggests the same orders would have been given in the home islands. 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. Japanese military directives ordered the execution of all POWs being held if Japan was ever invaded. [53] The Okinawa experience was bad for the USalmost two fatalities and a similar number wounded per sortieand Kysh was likely to be worse. 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. "[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. On 1 April 1945, four US divisions landed on Okinawa;the fighting became a war of attrition that lasted almost three months for an island the size of 485 square miles. War with Japan. 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. Using Okinawa as a staging base, the objective would have been to seize the southern portion of Kysh. In the wee hours of Aug. 24, 1945, Soviet long-range bombers would take off from their air base not far from the Far Eastern port of Vladivostok and fly east, across the Sea of Japan, dropping. In planning for Operation Ketsugo, IGHQ overestimated the strength of the invading forces: while the Allied invasion plan called for fewer than 70 divisions, the Japanese expected up to 90.[37]. ", 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. The Atomic Bombs and the Soviet Invasion: What Drove Japan's Decision Airbases would be established, which would give cover for Operation Coronet, the attack on Tokyo Bay. However, Admiral Ernest King, Chief of Naval Operations, was prepared to oppose proceeding with the invasion, with Admiral Nimitz's concurrence, which would have set off a major dispute within the US government. [68], Fear of Japanese retaliation [to chemical weapon use] lessened because by the end of the war Japan's ability to deliver gas by air or long-range guns had all but disappeared. [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. Operation Olympic, the invasion of Kysh, was to begin on "X-Day", which was scheduled for 1 November 1945. Stavros Atlamazoglou. However, the Japanese forces in those islands resisted quite fiercely although some of them proved unwilling to fight after Japan's surrender on 15 August. "Underwater Guerrillas". The rise in . 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. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan staged an attack on Pearl Harbor, severely damaging the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The transferred vessels included amphibious assault ships. 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. 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. "[99] From D-Day to V-E Day, the Western Allies alone suffered some 766,294 casualties. Operation Downfall - Wikipedia The Japanese High Command instigated a massive defence plan, Ketsu Go (Operation Decisive) beginning with Kyushu that would eventually amount to almost 3 million men with the aim of breaking American morale by ferocious defence. Macron slams Chinese ambassador to France for remarks on ex-Soviet states The Soviets, however, had fewer than 400 ships, most of them not equipped for amphibious assault, when they declared war on Japan on 8 August 1945.[81]. It had already been decided that Germany would . Korea 247,000 In 1939, the armies of Japan and the Soviet Union clashed . Proposed Soviet invasion of Hokkaido | Detailed Pedia However the reality of the atomic bomb made some US leaders question whether Soviet intervention in Asia was indeed needed or even desirable. "[101], The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest in the Pacific, with an estimated total of over 82,000 direct casualties on both sides: 14,009 Allied deaths and 77,417 Japanese soldiers. Based on intelligence available early in 1945, their assumptions included the following:[13]. The capital Rangoon was retaken in May 1945. [25] Following negotiations, it was decided that Coronet would include a joint Commonwealth Corps, made up of infantry divisions from the Australian, British and Canadian armies. . [16] The Eighth was to upgrade their B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators to B-29 Superfortresses (the group received its first B-29 on 8 August 1945).[16]. 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. The military leaders were for outright rejection of the Allied surrender, as it did not guarantee the Emperors sovereignty. 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). Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. 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. The next day a reply was drafted by the US which insisted that any imperial authority would be in the hands of the Supreme Commander of the Allied powers. The Japanese command intended to organize its Army personnel according to the following plan:[52], Total mobilized: 3,150,000 [3] Then in February 1945, US Marines assaulted the tiny island of Iwo Jima, midway between the Marianas and Japan. Pushing back against U.S. attempts to limit Japan's aggressive expansion, Japan launched a . The Americans lost 36 ships. [15], Tactical air support was to be the responsibility of the Fifth, Seventh, and Thirteenth Air Forces. The Greatest Hoax In American History: Japan's Alleged Willingness to [84] From analysis of the replacement schedule and projected strengths in overseas theaters, it suggested that Army losses alone in those categories, excluding the Navy and Marine Corps, would be approximately 863,000 through the first part of 1947, of whom 267,000 would be killed or missing. 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. We shall incur the losses incident to such a war and we shall leave the Japanese islands even more thoroughly destroyed than was the case with Germany. 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. Initially, they were concerned about an invasion during the summer of 1945. Weapons, training and uniforms were generally lacking: many were armed with nothing better than antiquated firearms, molotov cocktails, longbows, swords, knives, bamboo or wooden spears, and even clubs and truncheons: they were expected to make do with what they had. "[51] They were expected to serve as a "second defense line" during the Allied invasion, and to conduct guerrilla warfare in urban areas and mountains. An inventory of mines was anchored to the sea bottom off each potential invasion beach for their use by the suicide divers, with up to 10,000 mines planned. These were responsible for attacking Japanese airfields and transportation arteries on Kyushu and Southern Honshu (e.g. Soviet forces invaded the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (Manchuria) under the command of Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky with 1.6 million soldiers. 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. The Japanese staged a furious defence, which included kamikaze suicide attacks (c. 1900 sorties) against the invasion fleet. [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. Olympic was also to include a deception plan, known as Operation Pastel. 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. At U.S. behest, Ukraine held off anniversary attacks on Russia Project Hula: How Russia Planned to Invade Japan (With - 19FortyFive On 10 August Japan offered to surrender unconditionally under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration as long as the emperor remained sovereign ruler. [98] 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. By August, the Japanese Army had the equivalent of 65 divisions in the homeland but only enough equipment for 40 and ammunition for 30. It is unknown to what extent they could have opposed Soviet landings in the far north of Japan. The atomic bomb & The Manhattan Project (article) | Khan Academy The Cold War Notes. [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]. Background [86][pageneeded] As time went on, other US leaders made estimates of their own: In a letter to General Curtis LeMay when LeMay assumed command of the B-29 force on Guam, General Lauris Norstad told LeMay that if an invasion took place, it would cost the US "half a million" dead. 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 . Over the next four months, the Imperial Japanese Army transferred forces from Manchuria, Korea, and northern Japan, while raising other forces in place. Did Hiroshima Save Japan From Soviet Occupation? [citation needed], In March 1945, there was only one combat division in Kysh. 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]. This area would then be used as a further staging point to attack Honshu in Operation Coronet. November 26, 2022 Months before President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he was planning to attack Japan, according to an alleged letter from a whistleblower at Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). Once the atomic bomb became available, General Marshall envisioned using it to support the invasion if sufficient numbers could be produced in time. According to this analysis, the real reason for Japan's surrender was the Soviet invasion of Japanese-controlled Manchuria on 9 August 1945, mere hours before the Nagasaki bombing. The Invasion of Japan - Nov 1, 1945 - The Andalusia Star-News [44][45], The two defensive options against amphibious invasion are strong defense of the beaches and defense in depth. 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. If a clock were drawn on a map of Kysh, these points would roughly correspond to 4, 5, and 7 o'clock, respectively. 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]. Osprey Publishing. "These [six] divisions have since made their appearance, as predicted," he observed, "and the end is not in sight." Europe's military spending grew at a record pace in 2022, reaching a level unseen since the cold war following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, global security researchers said. Vladimir Putin Wanted To 'Attack' Japan, Before He Chose To Invade Why America shouldn't have nuked Japan - Asia Times Invasion of Japan, 1945-46 by D.M. 12 The Eastern Front: The German War against the Soviet Union. 6 part 1. 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. [34] While this was not realistic, both American and Japanese officers at the time predicted a Japanese death toll in the millions. However, MacArthur blocked proposals to include an Indian Army division because of differences in language, organization, composition, equipment, training and doctrine.