Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson stated "We shall in my opinion have to go through an even more bitter finish fight than in Germany. Herbert Hoover, in memorandums submitted to Truman and Stimson, also estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 fatalities, which were believed to be conservative estimates; however, it is not known if Hoover discussed these specific figures in his meetings with Truman. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan staged an attack on Pearl Harbor, severely damaging the U.S. Pacific Fleet. One compound designated LN-8 performed best in tests and went into mass production. "[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. [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). Some 1,200 suicide divers had been trained before the Japanese surrender. [7][8] The American Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that prolonging the war to such an extent was dangerous for national morale. 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. 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. One of the. 6, part 1, History of Planning Division, ASF vol. On 10 August Japan offered to surrender unconditionally under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration as long as the emperor remained sovereign ruler. There is strong evidence that Marshall remained committed to an invasion as late as 15 August. It consisted of more than 120,000 people working on 37 different sites across 19 states in the US and in Canada, at a cost of more than $2 billion. By the end of the war, these bombing raids burned 66 cities, destroying 20% of the housing and leaving about 15 million homeless. By 1937 Japan controlled large sections of China, and war crimes against the Chinese became commonplace. In 2003, there were still 120,000 of these Purple Heart medals in stock. [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. Operation Downfall, the codename for the invasion of Japan, was scheduled to begin on Nov 1, 1945. On 9 August, the Soviet Union repudiated the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact and launched a full-scale invasion of Manchuria in the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945. The race to produce the first atomic weapon before Germanywas headed by the Manhattan project. Using Okinawa as a staging base, the objective would have been to seize the southern portion of Kysh. By August, they had 14 divisions and various smaller formations, including three tank brigades, for a total of 900,000 men. 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. Stavros Atlamazoglou. They achieved complete surprise, outgunning and outflanking the defending Japanese Kwantung Army of 713,000 troops, commanded by General Otozo Yamada. 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. 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]. Conflict in Asia began well before the official start of World War II. If the US casualty rate during the invasion of Japan had been only 5% as high per unit area as it was at Okinawa, the US would still have lost 297,000 soldiers (killed or missing). 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. Proceedings. This also includes Soviet losses from the planned Soviet invasion of Hokkaido. Indeed, the first day of the invasion would have been . Top Image: Remains of a Shinto Shrine, Nagasaki, Japan, October 1945. The Atomic Bombs and the Soviet Invasion: What Drove Japan's Decision "[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. It's Time to Confront Painful Truths About Using the Atomic Bombs on Japan Dropping or spraying the herbicide was deemed most effective; a July 1945 test from an SPD Mark 2 bomb, originally crafted to hold biological weapons like anthrax or ricin, had the shell burst open in the air to scatter the chemical agent. [43], The Navy trained a unit of frogmen to serve as suicide bombers, the Fukuryu. The US had successfully tested the first atomic bomb in New Mexico 10 days earlier. On 5 Apr 1945, the Soviet Union informed Japan that the Soviet Union would . 140 reconnaissance planes to detect the approach of the Allied fleet. The transferred vessels included amphibious assault ships. Admiral Chester Nimitz agreed with MacArthur. The Japanese command intended to organize its Army personnel according to the following plan:[52], Total mobilized: 3,150,000 Because the U.S. military planners assumed "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",[13] high casualties were thought to be inevitable, but nobody knew with certainty how high. Operation Downfall - Wikipedia At 11 pm Trans-Baikal time on 8 August 1945, Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov informed Japanese ambassador . Airbases would be established, which would give cover for Operation Coronet, the attack on Tokyo Bay. Reinforcements would have been available from those countries, as well as other parts of the Commonwealth. Kanto (Tokyo) 950,000 This included the planned invasion of Japanese territory in Sakhalin. their plan for an all-out ground invasion of Japan. The Japanese plan for defeating the invasion was called Operation Ketsug (, ketsug sakusen) ("Operation Codename Decisive"). 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. 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. [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. . 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. [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. 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. Militarily Japan was finished (as the Soviet invasion of Manchuria that August showed). Southern Kysh would offer a staging ground and a valuable airbase for Operation Coronet. In early 1946 would come Operation Coronet, the planned invasion of the Kant Plain, near Tokyo, on the main Japanese island of Honshu. 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. The Americans lost 36 ships. Russia switching to defensive positions in all areas of combat except 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. [15], Tactical air support was to be the responsibility of the Fifth, Seventh, and Thirteenth Air Forces. With the British Pacific Fleet, August 1945. In 1939, the armies of Japan and the Soviet Union clashed . Allied invasion planners in the Pacific were unaware that the Soviets were planning to keep that promise with an invasion of Hokkaido. 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. Japanese intelligence predicted fairly closely where the invasion would take place: southern Kysh at Miyazaki, Ariake Bay and/or the Satsuma Peninsula. Airbases on Kysh captured in Operation Olympic would allow land-based air support for Operation Coronet. A July Navy estimate, abandoning any distinction between training and combat aircraft, was 8,750; in August, 10,290. Yet the conflict did not end on this day, particularly in Asia. Soviet forces invaded the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (Manchuria) under the command of Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky with 1.6 million soldiers. Japan holds the G-7 presidency this year, and Kyodo News reported last week that such a step is being . Giangreco 7/19/2017 Daunting terrain and fanatical resistance threatened to take a horrific toll on GI invaders. Leaked documents reveal Russia's plan to invade Japan "[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. 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. An hour later, the Soviets began their advance simultaneously on three fronts: to the east, west, and north of Manchuria. Depending on the degree to which Japanese civilians would have resisted the invasion, estimates ran up into the millions for Allied casualties. U.S. plans for the invasion of Kyushu in Operation Olympic, the first phase of the planned invasion of Japan. 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. 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. Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from [102] 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. 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. [54] By the time the war ended, the Japanese actually possessed some 12,700 aircraft in the Home Islands, roughly half kamikazes. In addition, Japan had about 100 Kry-class midget submarines, 300 smaller Kairy-class midget submarines, 120 Kaiten manned torpedoes,[41] and 2,412 Shin'y suicide motorboats. General Umezu Yoshijiro signs the surrender on behalf of the Imperial Japanese Army onboard the USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay, 2nd September 1945. [74] Attacking northern Honshu would have the advantage of a much weaker defense but had the disadvantage of giving up land-based air support (except the B-29s) from Okinawa. The Soviets invaded Japan-held Manchuria on Aug. 9. Why Was the Decision Made to Use the Atomic Bomb on Japan? - ThoughtCo 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 Twentieth Air Force was to have continued its role as the main Allied strategic bomber force used against the Japanese home islands, operating from airfields in the Mariana Islands. What was the plan for the Soviet invasion of Japan? - Quora [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. (U.S. Army) The assault on Japan was expected to take 18 months, starting with an intense blockade and air bombardment of Japan. Manchurian Strategic Offensive | World War II Database - WW2DB President Truman authorized the use of the atom bombs in an effort to bring about Japan's surrender in the Second World War. From the middle of May, when fighters based on the island of Ie Shima first attacked targets on southern Japan, the scale of. 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. [34] While this was not realistic, both American and Japanese officers at the time predicted a Japanese death toll in the millions. ET, April 24, 2023 China respects sovereign state status of ex-Soviet Union countries, foreign ministry spokeswoman says. These would have included spearheads of the war in Europe such as the US First Army (15 divisions) and the Eighth Air Force. In early 1945, Miyazaki was virtually undefended, while Ariake, with its good nearby harbor, was heavily defended. 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. The rise in . They and their soldiers had endured three years of harsh captivity. 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. However, as reported Japanese strength in the Home Islands continued to climb and Japanese military performance increased, so too did the casualty estimates. [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. They supported mounting a large-scale thrust directly against the Japanese homeland, with none of the side operations that the Navy had suggested. How Russia Was Humiliated by Japan When They Fought Before - Newsweek Richard B. Frank states that when the proposal reached Truman in June 1945, he vetoed the use of chemical weapons against personnel; their use against crops, however, remained under consideration. 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 . However, MacArthur blocked proposals to include an Indian Army division because of differences in language, organization, composition, equipment, training and doctrine. Then in February 1945, US Marines assaulted the tiny island of Iwo Jima, midway between the Marianas and Japan. On 8 May 1945, the Allies celebrated VE Day, marking the end of the war in Europe. 20 Steps in Planning for the Invasion of Japan in 1945 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. 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. At U.S. behest, Ukraine held off anniversary attacks on Russia The Bomb Didn't Beat Japan - The Soviet Union Did. Important analysis Inside her were over 500 sailors of the Soviet Navy. [53] The Okinawa experience was bad for the USalmost two fatalities and a similar number wounded per sortieand Kysh was likely to be worse. 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. 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). Soviet soldiers in front of Harbin railway station. 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.) Kawata, then 11, remembers understanding only two. 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. 100 transport planes carrying 1,200 commandos for a raid on the US airbases on Okinawa, following the success of earlier smaller-scale operations. [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]. This article appears in: . America Had Plans to Help Russia Invade Japan During World War II By September 1944, those plans . Plan 1 (shown below) detailed a German-Japanese invasion with each faction attacking an American coast. [39] However, General George Marshall argued that forcing surrender this way might take several years, if ever. Contributor: C. Peter Chen. 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. On the other hand, no agreement envisaged Soviet participation in the invasion of Japan itself. 12 The Eastern Front: The German War against the Soviet Union. One of the last operational pictures of naval bombing before Japans surrender. Tiger Force, a joint Commonwealth long-range heavy bomber unit, was to be transferred from RAF, RAAF, RCAF and RNZAF units and personnel serving with RAF Bomber Command in Europe. [12], Physically, Japan made an imposing target, distant from other landmasses and with very few beaches geographically suitable for sea-borne invasion. In July MacArthur's Intelligence Chief, Maj. Gen. Charles A. Willoughby, warned of between 210,000 and 280,000 battle casualties in the push to the "stop line" one-third of the way up Kyushu. The Cold War Notes. 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. The combined Allied naval armada would have been the largest ever assembled, including 42 aircraft carriers, 24 battleships, and 400 destroyers and destroyer escorts. Invasion of Manchuria | Harry S. Truman 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. Macron slams Chinese ambassador to France for remarks on ex-Soviet states Project Hula: How Russia Planned to Invade Japan (With - 19FortyFive The G-7 consists of the United States, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Canada. [citation needed]. The entire island of Okinawa is 464sqmi (1,200km2). [34] From the Battle of Saipan onward, Japanese propaganda intensified the glory of patriotic death and depicted the Americans as merciless "white devils". [46] Although the Japanese were able to muster new soldiers, equipping them was more difficult. Over 14 million Chinese died during the war, of which 2 million were battlefield casualties. 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 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. Soviet-Japanese War - Wikispooks This would have been the Pacific equivalent of D-Day. Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. The ingredients in LN-8 and another tested compound would later be used to create Agent Orange, used during the Vietnam War. 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. General Arthur MacArthur and the army planners urged an early assault on Kyushu followed by an invasion of the main island of Honshu. [22][23] The Allied forces would then have driven north and inland, encircling Tokyo and pressing on toward Nagano. China respects sovereign state status of ex-Soviet Union countries The Greatest Hoax In American History: Japan's Alleged Willingness to President Harry Truman received news of itwhilst at the Potsdam Conference. Soviet Invasion of Manchuria: Finishing the Japanese Army [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. Later at Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, they switched strategies and dug in their forces in the most defensible terrain. 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].
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