The Patriot Files Forums - The Invasion of Japan

If, for some reason, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs did not bring about a Japanese surrender, then the mainland of Japan would have to be taken by Allied forces.

Thankfully it wasn't required.

But I thought maybe ya'll would be interested in seeing how it would have come about, and who would have done it.

The plan was OPERATION DOWNFALL and would have taken place between November 1, 1945 and March 1, 1946.

It was an entirely American operation with the exception of the British Navy. All assault units were American.

It was conservatively estimated that DOWNFALL would result in 1.2 MILLION American casualties with 465,000 KIA.

We know now that that was not only conservative...it was totally off-scale on the low side.

Operation DOWNFALL consisted of two sub-operations:

Operation CORONET to assault the northern half of Honshu (including Tokyo) , the large island of Hokkaido, and the other islands in the northern half of Japan.

Operation OLYMPIC to assault the southern half of Honshu, the large islands of Kyushu and Shikoku and all other islands of southern Japan.
This assault would include the major cities of Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka, and Nagasaki.

Did I mention that Japan is composed of four main islands and THREE THOUSAND small islands?

U.S. High Command for DOWNFALL:

Kreuger, Hodges, Eichelberger, MacArthur, Nimitz, Spaatz, and Marshall.

I don't have any info on the specific Naval units to be involved, but needless to say, the combined British/American Naval effort would have been stupendous.

Initial assault units for operation CORONET:

1st Marine Division
2nd Marine Division
6th Marine Division

7th Infantry Division
27th Infantry Division
96th Infantry Division

24th Infantry Division
31st Infantry Division
37th Infantry Division

13th Armored Division
20th Armored Division

6th Infantry Division
32nd Infantry Division
38th Infantry Division

97th Infantry Division (Reserve)

Initial assault units for operation OLYMPIC:

25th Infantry Division
33rd Infantry Division
41st Infantry Division

3 d Marine Division
4th Marine Division
5th Marine Division

81st Infantry Division
98th Infantry Division

1st Cavalry Division
Americal Division
43rd Infantry Division

40th Infantry Division
158th Infantry Division

11th Airborne Division
77th Infantry Division

WHAT WE KNEW:

1. We knew that the Japanese code of BUSHIDO meant that the enemy would be fighting to the death. Our Marines and soldiers learned that the hard way on their march through the Pacific islands.

2. We knew that the Japanese would be fighting for their very hearths and homes.

WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW:

We didn't know that for months the Japanese had been stockpiling aircraft, kamikaze pilots, ammunition, aviation gasoline, and explosives for the express purpose of repelling an invasion.
Not dozens of planes, HUNDREDS of planes.
The kamikaze pilots were being trained to identify and to hit the troop carriers.

We didn't know much about atomic radiation.
Seven nuclear weapons were planned for use against heavy enemy concentrations, with occupation of those areas by troops "after about 48 hours".
We know now that entire divisions would have been comitting suicide when they occupied those bombed areas.

The green circles are staging areas.

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