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. 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. An hour later, the Soviets began their advance simultaneously on three fronts: to the east, west, and north of Manchuria. 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. [citation needed], While the geography of Japan was known, the U.S. military planners had to estimate the defending forces that they would face. The advancing Soviets claimed to have killed 84,000 Japanese soldiers and captured almost 600,000. [18] With one corps assigned to each landing, the invasion planners assumed that the Americans would outnumber the Japanese by roughly three to one. In early 1946 would come Operation Coronet, the planned invasion of the Kant Plain, near Tokyo, on the main Japanese island of Honshu. Allied invasion planners in the Pacific were unaware that the Soviets were planning to keep that promise with an invasion of Hokkaido. [citation needed], The Japanese had kamikaze aircraft in southern Honshu and Kyushu which would have opposed operations Olympic and Coronet. "[61], By the time of surrender, the Japanese had over 735,000 military personnel either in position or in various stages of deployment on Kyushu alone. 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. 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. Invasion of the Soviet Union, June 1941. Soviet-Japanese War 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. While some totals (particularly for items such as swords and small arms) may be inexact because of the problems of collection and the activities of the black market, the amount of military equipment available to the Japanese in and around the Home Islands by August 1945 was roughly as follows: "Invasion of Japan" redirects here. 6 part 1. By the end of the war, these bombing raids burned 66 cities, destroying 20% of the housing and leaving about 15 million homeless. 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]. For the failed Mongol invasion attempts, see, "Soviet invasion of Japan" redirects here. [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. 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 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. 'Every precaution must be taken not to give the enemy cause for a pretext to use gas,' the commanders were warned. 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. But the war in the east still raged on and Japanese surrender seemed a long way off. Japan and the Soviet Union formally made peace four years later, when they signed the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956. 330 Navy bombers flown by highly trained pilots to attack the Allied carrier task force to prevent it from supporting the invasion convoys. Japans surrender in Manchuria. By August, they had 14 divisions and various smaller formations, including three tank brigades, for a total of 900,000 men. At the Yalta Conference in February 1945 the Allies agreed to the Soviet conditions which included restoration of her special rights in Manchuria after their defeat during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5. 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. [1] The operation had two parts: Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet. [citation needed], In March 1945, there was only one combat division in Kysh. Top Image: Remains of a Shinto Shrine, Nagasaki, Japan, October 1945. This implied a total of 70,000 American casualties in the battle of Kyushu using the June projection of 350,000 Japanese defenders. Osprey Publishing. Unknown to the Americans, the Soviet Union also considered invading a major Japanese island, Hokkaido, by the end of August 1945,[77] which would have put pressure on the Allies to act sooner than November. Fourteen U.S. divisions and a "division-equivalent" (two regimental combat teams)[14] were scheduled to take part in the initial landings. Japan holds the G-7 presidency this year, and Kyodo News reported last week that such a step is being . 9 Aug 1945 - 2 Sep 1945. Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Unionwhich met at Yalta in Crimea to plan the final defeat and occupation of Nazi Germany. Japanese holdouts, especially on . The Soviet invasion of the Kuril Islands (18 August 1 September 1945) took place after Japan's capitulation on 15 August. Operation Olympic would attack southern Kysh. In 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, formerly a partner. USASTAF and Tiger Force were to remain active through Operation Coronet. You must aim for the abdomen. 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. 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. Russia in 2021 was preparing to attack Japan just months before Russia's President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, new leaked letters from the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), the successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB accessed by Newsweek revealed. 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. This also includes Soviet losses from the planned Soviet invasion of Hokkaido. 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. Surprise resort trips and empty hotel rooms reveal how Russia's plan for an easy victory in Ukraine fell apart. The Japanese staged a furious defence, which included kamikaze suicide attacks (c. 1900 sorties) against the invasion fleet. [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. Invasion of Japan, 1945-46 by D.M. In 2003, there were still 120,000 of these Purple Heart medals in stock. . All of which resulted in the first atomic bomb test carried out at the Alamagordo Air Force Base, New Mexicoon 16 July 1945. "[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. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese-held Manchuria on the night of August 8. In the initial stage, the First Army would have invaded at Kujkuri Beach, on the Bs Peninsula, while the Eighth Army invaded at Hiratsuka, on Sagami Bay; these armies would have comprised 25 divisions between them. They were to be armed with contact-fuzed mines, and to dive under landing craft and blow them up. They also considered skipping the preliminary invasion and going directly at Tokyo. [90] As set out in prior parts of the series, communications intelligence revealed the massive Japanese build up on southern Kyushu, the planned target for an initial invasion of Japan in November 1945 (Operation OLYMPIC.) [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. Initially, they were concerned about an invasion during the summer of 1945. Inside her were over 500 sailors of the Soviet Navy. Depending on the degree to which Japanese civilians would have resisted the invasion, estimates ran up into the millions for Allied casualties. The capture of the Mariana Islands in November 1944 meant that air bases could be established to bomb Japan. 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 combined Allied naval armada would have been the largest ever assembled, including 42 aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and 400 destroyers and destroyer escorts. Proceedings. 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. [34] From the Battle of Saipan onward, Japanese propaganda intensified the glory of patriotic death and depicted the Americans as merciless "white devils". Operation Coronet, the invasion of Honshu at the Kant Plain south of the capital, was to begin on "Y-Day", which was tentatively scheduled for 1 March 1946. 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. By August, the Japanese Army had the equivalent of 65 divisions in the homeland but only enough equipment for 40 and ammunition for 30. "These [six] divisions have since made their appearance, as predicted," he observed, "and the end is not in sight." 6, part 1, History of Planning Division, ASF vol. Even after the bombs and the Soviet invasion, some of Japan's hawks. 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. Close to 66,000 people were killed. Zaloga, Steven (2011). An Army estimate in May was 3,391 planes; in June, 4,862; in August, 5,911. 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. The well-established Japanese garrison had 8,500 troops and fielded about 77 tanks. The key assumption was large-scale participation by civilians in the defense of Japan. [86][pageneeded], In evaluating these estimates, especially those based on projected Japanese troop strength (such as General MacArthur's), it is important to consider what was known about the state of Japanese defenses at the time, as well as the actual condition of those defenses (MacArthur's staff believed Japanese manpower on Kyushu to be roughly 300,000). Truman's Options [63] The buildup of Japanese troops on Kysh led American war planners, most importantly General George Marshall, to consider drastic changes to Olympic, or replacing it with a different invasion plan. In the Battle of Shumshu (1823 August 1945), the Soviet Red Army had 8,821 troops that were not supported by tanks and without back-up from larger warships. Opposition from the United States and doubts within the Soviet high command caused the plans to be canceled before the invasion could begin. [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). intensified to pave the way for the planned invasion of Kyushu. [97] Opposition from the United States and doubts within the Soviet high command caused the plans to be cancelled before the invasion could begin. [66] While large quantities of gas munitions were manufactured and plans were drawn, it is unlikely they would have been used. The military leaders were for outright rejection of the Allied surrender, as it did not guarantee the Emperors sovereignty. About 39,000 were killed. [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. According to a newly leaked email from a whistleblower with Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), months before Vladimir Putin began his disastrous invasion of Ukraine he was . 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. Kanto 1,280,000, US military intelligence initially estimated the number of Japanese aircraft to be around 2,500. Colonel Lyle E. Seeman reported that at least seven Fat Man-type plutonium implosion bombs would be available by X-Day, which could be dropped on defending forces. The plans for war with Japan may have been related to a longstanding territorial dispute concerning the strategically. [5], The Pacific War was not under a single Allied commander-in-chief (C-in-C). Plan 2 has the Japanese invading the West Coast of America via Pearl Harbor and then California. 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. [102] They achieved complete surprise, outgunning and outflanking the defending Japanese Kwantung Army of 713,000 troops, commanded by General Otozo Yamada. This raid burned 15.8 square miles of Tokyo, killing almost 100,000 Japanese. 5:03 a.m. 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. Initially, US planners also did not plan to use any non-US Allied ground forces in Operation Downfall. In a conference with President Truman on June 18, Marshall, taking the Battle of Luzon as the best model for Olympic, thought the Americans would suffer 31,000 casualties in the first 30 days and ultimately 20% of Japanese casualties, which he estimated would include the entire Japanese force. [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. The offensive was finally halted in December. If not checked, this threatened "to grow to [the] point where we attack on a ratio of one (1) to one (1) which is not the recipe for victory. "[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. The remaining Imperial Japanese Navy was wiped out at Leyte Gulf off the Philippines, which was liberated in early 1945. Militarily Japan was finished (as the Soviet invasion of Manchuria that August showed). Several estimates were made, but varied widely in numbers, assumptions and purposes, which included advocating and opposing the invasion. American support included Sherman tanks armed with flamethrowers. Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. [1] [53] The Okinawa experience was bad for the USalmost two fatalities and a similar number wounded per sortieand Kysh was likely to be worse. In the Allied party were Generals Percival and Wainwright who had surrendered to the Japanese in 1942 at Singapore and in the Philippines respectively. Asada argues that the atomic bombs provided a greater shock to Japanese policymakers than the Soviet entry into the war because (1) the bombing was a direct attack on the Japanese homeland, compared with the Soviet Union's "indirect" invasion in Manchuria; and (2) it was not anticipated. Share. An email sent by a whistleblower at FSB . 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 . This would require capturing bases in Formosa, along the Chinese coast, and in the Yellow Sea area. [20] (The Overlord invasion of Normandy, by comparison, deployed 12 divisions in the initial landings.) [94] Admiral Leahy, more impressed by the Battle of Okinawa, thought the American forces would suffer a 35% casualty rate (implying an ultimate toll of 268,000). Admiral Chester Nimitz agreed with MacArthur. In China, Operation Ichigo started in April 1944. 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. 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. By one estimate, the forces in Kysh had 40% of all the ammunition in the Home Islands.[48]. For comparative purposes, about 1,300 Western Allied ships deployed during the Battle of Okinawa (AprilJune 1945). Then in February 1945, US Marines assaulted the tiny island of Iwo Jima, midway between the Marianas and Japan. Thankfully, Japan surrendered, unconditionally on Aug 15, 1945, some 77 days before the invasion was set to take place. One of the last operational pictures of naval bombing before Japans surrender. More than seventy years after the end of World War II, the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains controversial. Kanto (Tokyo) 950,000 In preparation for the invasion, an air campaign against Japanese airfields and transportation arteries had commenced before the Japanese surrender. On August 8, the Soviet Union declared war on the Japanese Empire. The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, killing 210,000 peoplechildren, women, and men. It was Germany's largest invasion force. The main attack was carried out by the Fourteenth Army, comprising 340,000 Indian troops, 100,000 British and 80,000 African soldiers, which defeated the Japanese defending forces in central Burma. Yet the conflict did not end on this day, particularly in Asia. 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". 109 (8): 4647, History of Planning division, ASF. During World War II, the Japanese had a naval base at Paramushiro in the Kuril Islands and several bases in Hokkaido. 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. 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. This would have been the Pacific equivalent of D-Day. [citation needed], The main defense against Japanese air attacks would have come from the massive fighter forces being assembled in the Ryukyu Islands. [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. 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. 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. The entire island of Okinawa is 464sqmi (1,200km2). [60], The intelligence revelations about Japanese preparations on Kyushu emerging in mid-July transmitted powerful shock waves both in the Pacific and in Washington. A destroyed hotel in Kyiv after a . 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]. Widespread chemical warfare was considered against Japan's population[65] and food crops. 1940s 1945 - US USES ATOMIC BOMBS ON JAPAN TO END WWII In an attempt to end the war in the Pacific without a costly invasion of Japan, the US dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945 respectively. The Soviet declaration of war also changed the calculation of how much time was left for maneuver. [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. This page was last edited on 30 April 2023, at 20:51. Gradually, intelligence learned that the Japanese were devoting all their aircraft to the kamikaze mission and taking effective measures to conserve them until the battle.
