Invasion of Japan,
1945
Deep in the recesses of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., hidden
for nearly four decades lie thousands of pages of yellowing and dusty
documents stamped "Top Secret." These documents, now
declassified, are the plans for Operation DOWNFALL, the invasion of Japan
during WWII.
Only a few Americans in 1945 were aware of the
elaborate plans that had been prepared for the Allied invasion of the
Japanese home islands. Even fewer today are aware of the defenses the
Japanese had prepared to counter the invasion had it been launched.
Operation DOWNFALL was finalized during the spring and summer of 1945. It
called for two massive military undertakings to be carried out in
succession and aimed at the heart of the Japanese Empire.
In the first invasion, code named Operation
OLYMPIC, American combat troops would land on Japan by amphibious assault
during the early morning hours of November 1, 1945, - 66 years ago.
Fourteen combat divisions of soldiers and Marines would land on heavily
fortified and defended Kyushu, the southernmost of the Japanese home
islands, after an unprecedented naval and aerial bombardment.
The second invasion on March 1, 1946, code named
Operation CORONET, would send at least 22 divisions against one million
Japanese defenders on the main island of Honshu and the Tokyo Plain. Its
goal: the unconditional surrender of Japan.
With the exception of a part of the British Pacific Fleet, Operation
DOWNFALL was to be a strictly American operation. It called for using the
entire Marine Corps, the entire Pacific Navy, elements of the 7th Army Air
Force, the 8th Air Force (recently redeployed from Europe), 10th Air Force
and the American Far Eastern Air Force. More than 1.5 million combat
soldiers, with 3 million more in support or more than 40 percent of all
servicemen still in uniform in 1945 - would be directly involved in the
two amphibious assaults. Casualties were expected to be extremely heavy.
Adm. William Leahy estimated that there would be more than 250,000
Americans killed or wounded on Kyushu alone. Gen. Charles Willoughby,
chief of intelligence for Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of
the Southwest Pacific, estimated American casualties would be one million
men by the fall of 1946. Willoughby’s own intelligence staff considered
this to be a conservative estimate.
During the summer of 1945, America had little time to prepare for such an
endeavor, but top military leaders were in almost unanimous agreement that
an invasion was necessary.
While naval blockade and strategic bombing of Japan was considered to be
useful, General MacArthur, for instance, did not believe a blockade would
bring about an unconditional surrender. The advocates for invasion agreed
that while a naval blockade chokes, it does not kill; and though strategic
bombing might destroy cities, it leaves whole armies intact.
So on May 25, 1945, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after extensive
deliberation, issued to General MacArthur, Adm. Chester Nimitz, and Army
Air Force Gen. Henry Arnold, the top secret directive to proceed with the
invasion of Kyushu. The target date was after the typhoon season.
President Truman approved the plans for the invasions on July 24, 1945.
Two days later, the United Nations issued the Potsdam Proclamation, which
called upon Japan to surrender unconditionally or face total destruction.
Three days later, the Japanese governmental news agency broadcast to the
world . . .