planned soviet invasion of japan

But the war in the east still raged on and Japanese surrender seemed a long way off. After the name Operation Olympic was compromised by being sent out in unsecured code, the name Operation Majestic was adopted. Thankfully, Japan surrendered, unconditionally on Aug 15, 1945, some 77 days before the invasion was set to take place. The capitulation followed three days of heated debate amongst Japanese leaders. 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. The most transformative conflict in history, World War II impacted the entire globe and set the stage for the Cold War. Operation Olympic would attack southern Kysh. In Hell To Pay, military historian D.M. An email sent by a whistleblower at FSB . [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. [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. These were responsible for attacking Japanese airfields and transportation arteries on Kyushu and Southern Honshu (e.g. They were to be armed with contact-fuzed mines, and to dive under landing craft and blow them up. 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 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. While decolonisation across South and South East Asia seemed inevitable, the territory of the British Empire was at its apogee in 1945 and the journey to independence for countries in this region was not simple. Part 8, pp. Pushing back against U.S. attempts to limit Japan's aggressive expansion, Japan launched a . Would Japan have surrendered without the atomic bombings? The Japanese planned an all-out defense of Kysh, with little left in reserve for any subsequent defense operations. One staff study estimated that the kamikazes could destroy a third to half of the invasion force before landing. [12], Physically, Japan made an imposing target, distant from other landmasses and with very few beaches geographically suitable for sea-borne invasion. ", "The Final Months of the War With Japan: Signals Intelligence, U.S. This would have been the Pacific equivalent of D-Day. In 1944 Ultra revealed that the Japanese doubted their ability to retaliate against United States use of gas. The Soviets informed the Japanese in April that their neutrality pact was at an end. [citation needed], Fears of "an Okinawa from one end of Japan to the other"[64] encouraged the Allies to consider unconventional weapons, including chemical warfare. This declaration was made by Soviet Foreign Prime Minister Vyacheslav Molotov to Japanese ambassador Naotake Sat at 11pm Trans-Baikal time. The plans for war with Japan may have been related to a longstanding territorial dispute concerning the strategically. [18] With one corps assigned to each landing, the invasion planners assumed that the Americans would outnumber the Japanese by roughly three to one. Up to 2,000 kamikaze planes launched attacks during the Battle of Okinawa, achieving approximately one hit per nine attacks. 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. Learn About D-Day, The Memorial, and Bedford - National D-Day Memorial [54] By the time the war ended, the Japanese actually possessed some 12,700 aircraft in the Home Islands, roughly half kamikazes. 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. 'Every precaution must be taken not to give the enemy cause for a pretext to use gas,' the commanders were warned. It had already been decided that Germany would . Operation August Storm, the massive 1945 Soviet invasion of Manchuria, was Japan's death blow, and brought an end to World War II. The race to produce the first atomic weapon before Germanywas headed by the Manhattan project. Resort trips and hotel rooms - Business Insider 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]). The estimated casualty figures later became a crucial point in postwar debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ending the war quickly would prevent Russian participation in the fighting and expansion into parts of 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". Even when rounded down to a conservative 200,000, this figure implied a total of nearly 500,000 all-causes losses, of whom perhaps 50,000 might return to duty after light to moderate care. Opposition from the United States and doubts within the Soviet high command caused the plans to be cancelled before the invasion could begin. In South East Asia, by late 1944, British and Commonwealth, US and Chinese forces had begun the reconquest of Burma (Myanmar). Ultimately, the Navy partially conceded, and MacArthur was to be given total command of all forces if circumstances made it necessary. [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. ", 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. Kyushu 900,000 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 Japanese command intended to organize its Army personnel according to the following plan:[52], Total mobilized: 3,150,000 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. What if Hiroshima and Nagasaki never happened? "[99] From D-Day to V-E Day, the Western Allies alone suffered some 766,294 casualties. Operation Barbarossa: Date & Significance - HISTORY 2,500 Army aircraft (conventional as well as suicide), together with 2,900 Naval trainers for, 2,000 Army and Navy "air superiority" fighters to escort the. This also includes Soviet losses from the planned Soviet invasion of Hokkaido. There were two unsuccessful Japanese counterattacks which ultimately weakened the capability of the defending forces to resist the American onslaught. General Umezu Yoshijiro signs the surrender on behalf of the Imperial Japanese Army onboard the USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay, 2nd September 1945. 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 Atomic Bombs and the Soviet Invasion: What Drove Japan's Decision IWM collections. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese-held Manchuria on the night of August 8. The last great island battle of Okinawa began with an onslaught of shells, rockets and bombs from 1300 ships (the British Pacific Fleet also took part). 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. [66] While large quantities of gas munitions were manufactured and plans were drawn, it is unlikely they would have been used. The Japanese planned to commit the entire population of Japan to resisting the invasion, and from June 1945 onward, a propaganda campaign calling for "The Glorious Death of One Hundred Million" commenced. [20] (The Overlord invasion of Normandy, by comparison, deployed 12 divisions in the initial landings.) Macron slams Chinese ambassador to France for remarks on ex-Soviet states Manchurian Strategic Offensive | World War II Database - WW2DB 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. [95] Of these estimates, only Nimitz's included losses of the forces at sea, though kamikazes had inflicted 1.78 fatalities and a similar number of wounded per kamikaze pilot in the Battle of Okinawa,[96] and troop transports off Kysh would have been much more exposed. 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. 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]. Truman's Nightmare: U.S. Stavros Atlamazoglou. Ukraine war dashes hopes of elderly Japanese on returning to Kuril 9 Aug 1945 - 2 Sep 1945. As president, it was Harry Truman's decision if the weapon would be used with the goal to end the war. [60], The intelligence revelations about Japanese preparations on Kyushu emerging in mid-July transmitted powerful shock waves both in the Pacific and in Washington. Initially, US planners also did not plan to use any non-US Allied ground forces in Operation Downfall. 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. Meanwhile, the Japanese had their own plans. Here's what the U.S. Army had planned in case that didn't happen. However, the Battle of Okinawa went on for so long that they concluded the Allies would not be able to launch another operation before the typhoon season, during which the weather would be too risky for amphibious operations. These were the Army plans to conquer Japan - We Are The Mighty It is unknown to what extent they could have opposed Soviet landings in the far north of Japan. Vladimir Putin Wanted To 'Attack' Japan, Before He Chose To Invade Conflict in Asia began well before the official start of World War II. [6], The primary considerations that the planners had to deal with were time and casualtieshow they could force Japan's surrender as quickly as possible with as few Allied casualties as possible. Casualty predictions varied widely, but were extremely high. 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. In comparison, the Soviet Union had about 11 divisions available, comparable to the 14 divisions the US estimated that it would require to invade southern Kyushu. 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. There is strong evidence that Marshall remained committed to an invasion as late as 15 August. In addition to fighters and bombers, they reassigned almost all of their trainers for the mission. Manchurian Strategic Offensive. Only Kysh (the southernmost island of Japan) and the beaches of the Kant Plain (both southwest and southeast of Tokyo) were realistic invasion zones. 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. The first phase, code-named Olympic , was scheduled for late October 1945, with a landing on Kyushu, defended by an estimated 350,000 Japanese troops backed by at least 1,000 kamikaze planes. This implied a total of 70,000 American casualties in the battle of Kyushu using the June projection of 350,000 Japanese defenders.

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