The capture of the Mariana Islands in November 1944 meant that air bases could be established to bomb Japan. 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. [46] Although the Japanese were able to muster new soldiers, equipping them was more difficult. "[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. The Japanese would have lost at least 12 million men killed, due to the enormous losses fighting, from the nuclear bomb, and the mass of Kamikaze attacks. Invasion of Japan, 1945-46 by D.M. [9][10], The United States Navy urged the use of a blockade and airpower to bring about Japan's capitulation. It was the largest Japanese campaign on land during the war comprising 500,000 troops. 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. 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. By the end of the war, these bombing raids burned 66 cities, destroying 20% of the housing and leaving about 15 million homeless. On 8 May 1945, the Allies celebrated VE Day, marking the end of the war in Europe. Based on intelligence available early in 1945, their assumptions included the following:[13]. Part 8, pp. 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. 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. One compound designated LN-8 performed best in tests and went into mass production. [93] However dismantling the Japanese defence, built on taking one cave at a time, resulted in almost 8,000 American deaths. 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. Stavros Atlamazoglou. [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. 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. 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. Outside the government, well-informed civilians were also making guesses. 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. Pushing back against U.S. attempts to limit Japan's aggressive expansion, Japan launched a . This article appears in: . [54] By the time the war ended, the Japanese actually possessed some 12,700 aircraft in the Home Islands, roughly half kamikazes. Japan's rejection of the demand led to final order to proceed with atomic bombing. 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". 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. 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. 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. In 1944 Ultra revealed that the Japanese doubted their ability to retaliate against United States use of gas. In the Allied party were Generals Percival and Wainwright who had surrendered to the Japanese in 1942 at Singapore and in the Philippines respectively. Britain and Decolonisation in South East and South Asia, 1945-1948. Whereas the civilian population without this protection died in their thousands. ", "The Final Months of the War With Japan: Signals Intelligence, U.S. Here's what the U.S. Army had planned in case that didn't happen. Ultimately, the Navy partially conceded, and MacArthur was to be given total command of all forces if circumstances made it necessary. 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. What had led to the fateful decision to deploy these new weapons of mass destruction? 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. 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. 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. USASTAF and Tiger Force were to remain active through Operation Coronet. The remaining Imperial Japanese Navy was wiped out at Leyte Gulf off the Philippines, which was liberated in early 1945. [44][45], The two defensive options against amphibious invasion are strong defense of the beaches and defense in depth. Inside her were over 500 sailors of the Soviet Navy. [1] 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. This area would then be used as a further staging point to attack Honshu in Operation Coronet. There were two unsuccessful Japanese counterattacks which ultimately weakened the capability of the defending forces to resist the American onslaught. 'Every precaution must be taken not to give the enemy cause for a pretext to use gas,' the commanders were warned. So fearful were the Japanese leaders that they planned to ignore isolated tactical use of gas in the home islands by the US forces because they feared escalation. Admiral Matome Ugaki was recalled to Japan in February 1945 and given command of the Fifth Air Fleet on Kysh. 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. 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. Using Okinawa as a staging base, the objective would have been to seize the southern portion of Kysh. The Chief of the Army Operations Division thought them "entirely too high" under "our present plan of campaign. 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 . [67], Although chemical warfare had been outlawed by the Geneva Protocol, neither the United States nor Japan was a signatory at the time. Victory over JapanDay marked the end of the Second World War in August 1945. 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. Allied grave registration forces counted 110,071 dead bodies of Japanese soldiers, but this included conscripted Okinawans wearing Japanese uniforms. Japanese holdouts, especially on . Japan holds the G-7 presidency this year, and Kyodo News reported last week that such a step is being . American support included Sherman tanks armed with flamethrowers. 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 . [20] (The Overlord invasion of Normandy, by comparison, deployed 12 divisions in the initial landings.) The ingredients in LN-8 and another tested compound would later be used to create Agent Orange, used during the Vietnam War. [12], Physically, Japan made an imposing target, distant from other landmasses and with very few beaches geographically suitable for sea-borne invasion. Japanese surrender negotiations at Rangoon, A US Marine Corps machine gun crew watches flame throwing tanks fire a Japanese pillbox during the Battle of Okinawa, March - June 1945. President Harry Truman received news of itwhilst at the Potsdam Conference. Remaining major warships numbered four battleships (all damaged), five damaged aircraft carriers, two cruisers, 23 destroyers, and 46 submarines. [58], Allied counter-kamikaze preparations were known as the Big Blue Blanket. [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. 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. In early 1946 would come Operation Coronet, the planned invasion of the Kant Plain, near Tokyo, on the main Japanese island of Honshu. Zaloga, Steven (2011). The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was the impetus for the United States' entrance into World War II. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Plan 3 has the Japanese invading North America through the Panama Canal, then proceeding up through Mexico to the West Coast of the United States. The key assumption was large-scale participation by civilians in the defense of Japan. 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. Yalta Conference, (February 4-11, 1945), major World War II conference of the three chief Allied leadersPres. [citation needed]. One staff study estimated that the kamikazes could destroy a third to half of the invasion force before landing. Operation Olympic would attack southern Kysh. At the Tehran Conference in Nov 1943 and at the Yalta Conference in Feb 1945, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had agreed declare war on Japan three months after Germany would be defeated. Casualties were high, but the island provided another useful staging post for the bombers. That changed in July, with the discovery of four new divisions and indications of more to come. ", "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. 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. Apr 30, 2023, 2:37 PM PDT. IWM collections. Had reinforcements been needed at an early stage of Olympic, they would have been diverted from US forces being assembled for Coronetfor which there was to be a massive redeployment of units from the US Army's Southwest Pacific, China-Burma-India and European commands, among others. [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. Initially, US planners also did not plan to use any non-US Allied ground forces in Operation Downfall. Kyushu 990,000 Invasion of the Soviet Union, June 1941. The B-29 Superfortresses were then withdrawn from China to bomb Japan from the Marianas. 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. Following the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, plans were also made to transfer some of the heavy bomber groups of the veteran Eighth Air Force to airbases on Okinawa to conduct strategic bombing raids in coordination with the Twentieth. "[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 email sent by a whistleblower at FSB . Operation August Storm, the massive 1945 Soviet invasion of Manchuria, was Japan's death blow, and brought an end to World War II. A July Navy estimate, abandoning any distinction between training and combat aircraft, was 8,750; in August, 10,290. 100 transport planes carrying 1,200 commandos for a raid on the US airbases on Okinawa, following the success of earlier smaller-scale operations. With the apparent rejection of the Potsdam Declaration, Truman and his advisers went ahead with the atomic attack on the Japanese mainland. [2], Japan's geography made this invasion plan quite obvious to the Japanese as well; they were able to accurately predict the Allied invasion plans and thus adjust their defensive plan, Operation Ketsug, accordingly. 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. 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. The race to produce the first atomic weapon before Germanywas headed by the Manhattan project. "[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. [105] There were so many left that combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan could keep Purple Hearts on hand for immediate award to soldiers wounded in the field.[105]. About 39,000 were killed. [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). This page was last edited on 30 April 2023, at 20:51. [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. [citation needed]. All of which resulted in the first atomic bomb test carried out at the Alamagordo Air Force Base, New Mexicoon 16 July 1945. If Downfall had taken place, it would have been the largest amphibious operation in history, surpassing D-Day. The Japanese defense relied heavily on kamikaze planes. 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. [47], The Japanese did not formally decide to stake everything on the outcome of the Battle of Kysh, but they concentrated their assets to such a degree that there would be little left in reserve. Up to 2,000 kamikaze planes launched attacks during the Battle of Okinawa, achieving approximately one hit per nine attacks. 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. They were to be armed with contact-fuzed mines, and to dive under landing craft and blow them up. [citation needed], While the geography of Japan was known, the U.S. military planners had to estimate the defending forces that they would face. Indeed, the first day of the invasion would have been . Emperor Hirohito summoned an Imperial Council asking that his ministers accept the terms forthwith and surrender unconditionally. Korea 247,000 A unified command was deemed necessary for an invasion of Japan. 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 Arthur MacArthur and the army planners urged an early assault on Kyushu followed by an invasion of the main island of Honshu. Kanto 1,280,000, US military intelligence initially estimated the number of Japanese aircraft to be around 2,500. 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. [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. 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. [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. Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from This raid burned 15.8 square miles of Tokyo, killing almost 100,000 Japanese. Background 12 The Eastern Front: The German War against the Soviet Union. Over 14 million Chinese died during the war, of which 2 million were battlefield casualties. The Japanese planned an all-out defense of Kysh, with little left in reserve for any subsequent defense operations. The war cabinet met to consider peace terms for the first time the next morning, learning. The entire island of Okinawa is 464sqmi (1,200km2). However, MacArthur blocked proposals to include an Indian Army division because of differences in language, organization, composition, equipment, training and doctrine. 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]). [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 [97] This included the planned invasion of Japanese territory in Sakhalin. ", 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. But the war in the east still raged on and Japanese surrender seemed a long way off. Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the . "[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. That fleet's secret mission: to transport the Red Army for an invasion of Japan . 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. United States Naval Institute. Manchurian Strategic Offensive. Japan and the Soviet Union formally made peace four years later, when they signed the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956. The first firebombing attack was on Wuhan, the Imperial Japanese Army headquarters in China, on 18 December 1944. [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). More than 170,000 US servicemen took part in the islands capture, it was the most costly operation in the Pacific war. They proposed operations to capture airbases in nearby Shanghai, China, and Korea, which would give the United States Army Air Forces a series of forward airbases from which to bombard Japan into submission. By September 1944, those plans . "[99] From D-Day to V-E Day, the Western Allies alone suffered some 766,294 casualties. Kamikaze: Japanese Special Attack Weapons 194445. As for the second bomb on Nagasaki, that was just as unnecessary as the . 5:03 a.m. Soviet soldiers in front of Harbin railway station. Widespread chemical warfare was considered against Japan's population[65] and food crops. ET, April 24, 2023 China respects sovereign state status of ex-Soviet Union countries, foreign ministry spokeswoman says. The fighter-bombers from 40 aircraft carriers made 3000 trips to bomb the island and the big guns of ten battleships and nine cruisers fired 13,000 shells. 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. Airbases on Kysh captured in Operation Olympic would allow land-based air support for Operation Coronet. [41] Despite its inability to conduct large-scale fleet operations, the IJN still maintained a fleet of thousands of warplanes and possessed nearly 2 million personnel in the Home Islands, ensuring it a large role in the coming defensive operation. 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. Mutual support was essential in defence and attack by either side. [70], On Marshall's orders, Major General John E. Hull looked into the tactical use of nuclear weapons for the invasion of the Japanese home islands, even after the dropping of two strategic atomic bombs on Japan (Marshall did not think that the Japanese would capitulate immediately). 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. The Japanese command intended to organize its Army personnel according to the following plan:[52], Total mobilized: 3,150,000 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. In the Potsdam Declaration, issued on July 26, 1945, the United States made a call for the unconditional surrender of Japan. 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.
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