planned soviet invasion of japan

Plan Your Visit Current Exhibitions Calendar of Events . Using Okinawa as a staging base, the objective would have been to seize the southern portion of Kysh. [71], Ken Nichols, the District Engineer of the Manhattan Engineer District, wrote that at the beginning of August 1945, "[p]lanning for the invasion of the main Japanese home islands had reached its final stages, and if the landings actually took place, we might supply about fifteen atomic bombs to support the troops. Osprey Publishing. 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. The capitulation followed three days of heated debate amongst Japanese leaders. 6 Potential Axis Plans To Invade America From The Height Of World War II [24] This was rejected by U.S. commanders and even the initial plans for Coronet, according to U.S. historian John Ray Skates, did not envisage that units from Commonwealth or other Allied armies would be landed on the Kant Plain in 1946. But the war in the east still raged on and Japanese surrender seemed a long way off. 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. In February, with the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine days away, officials in Kyiv were busy making plans to attack Moscow. Soviet soldiers in front of Harbin railway station. This would have been the Pacific equivalent of D-Day. 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. 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. Did Hiroshima Save Japan From Soviet Occupation? Inside her were over 500 sailors of the Soviet Navy. 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. 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]. [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]. 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). Stalin brought forward the invasion of Manchuria due to the dropping of the atomic bomb. "[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. 140 reconnaissance planes to detect the approach of the Allied fleet. [26] The British Government suggested that: Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Keightley should command the Commonwealth Corps, a combined Commonwealth fleet should be led by Vice-Admiral Sir William Tennant, and thatas Commonwealth air units would be dominated by the RAAF the Air Officer Commanding should be Australian. Japanese military directives ordered the execution of all POWs being held if Japan was ever invaded. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese-held Manchuria on the night of August 8. Japanese holdouts, especially on . [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. This implied a total of 70,000 American casualties in the battle of Kyushu using the June projection of 350,000 Japanese defenders. 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. Later at Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, they switched strategies and dug in their forces in the most defensible terrain. However dismantling the Japanese defence, built on taking one cave at a time, resulted in almost 8,000 American deaths. 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. Zaloga, Steven (2011). Kanto (Tokyo) 950,000 Truman's Options 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. The Americans considered Okinawa a dress rehearsal for the invasion of the Japanese home islands, for which the United States was finalizing a two-stage plan. The entire island of Okinawa is 464sqmi (1,200km2). Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. The casualty rate on Okinawa was 35%;with 767,000 men scheduled to participate in taking Kyushu, it was estimated that there would be 268,000 casualties. Militarily Japan was finished (as the Soviet invasion of Manchuria that August showed). [16] The Eighth was to upgrade their B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators to B-29 Superfortresses (the group received its first B-29 on 8 August 1945).[16]. 9 Aug 1945 - 2 Sep 1945. p. 43. The most transformative conflict in history, World War II impacted the entire globe and set the stage for the Cold War. Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. And it was, indeed, the death blow U.S . Apr 30, 2023, 2:37 PM PDT. These were responsible for attacking Japanese airfields and transportation arteries on Kyushu and Southern Honshu (e.g. There is strong evidence that Marshall remained committed to an invasion as late as 15 August. In 1944 Ultra revealed that the Japanese doubted their ability to retaliate against United States use of gas. In 1939, the armies of Japan and the Soviet Union clashed . 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. [29][pageneeded] The war ended before the details of the corps were finalized. In the Potsdam Declaration, issued on July 26, 1945, the United States made a call for the unconditional surrender of Japan. American support included Sherman tanks armed with flamethrowers. Early in the war (such as at Tarawa), the Japanese employed strong defenses on the beaches with little or no manpower in reserve, but this tactic proved vulnerable to pre-invasion shore bombardment. 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. As the war raged, the leaders of the Allies met several times to direct the course of the fighting and to begin planning for the postwar world. The offensive was finally halted in December. Airbases would be established, which would give cover for Operation Coronet, the attack on Tokyo Bay. 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. Kanto 1,280,000, US military intelligence initially estimated the number of Japanese aircraft to be around 2,500. 5:03 a.m. Proposed Invasion of Japan - Imperial War Museums According to Soviet claims, Soviet casualties during the Battle of Shumshu totaled up to 1,567, and the Japanese suffered 1,018 casualties, making Shumshu the only battle in the 1945 SovietJapanese War in which Soviet losses exceeded those of the Japanese, in stark contrast to overall Soviet-Japanese casualty rates in land-based fighting in Manchuria. ", "That the enemy may withdraw his land-based air forces to the Asiatic Mainland for protection from our neutralizing attacks. [53] The Okinawa experience was bad for the USalmost two fatalities and a similar number wounded per sortieand Kysh was likely to be worse. Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from Whereas the civilian population without this protection died in their thousands. For Soviet invasion of Manchuria under Japanese rule, see, Allied re-evaluation of Operation Olympic. 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. More than 10,000 aircraft were ready for use in July (with more by October), as well as hundreds of newly built small suicide boats to attack Allied ships offshore. On 15 January 1945, the U.S. Army Service Forces released a document, "Redeployment of the United States Army after the Defeat of Germany." Kawata, then 11, remembers understanding only two. . 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 . 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. Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. 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. In 2003, there were still 120,000 of these Purple Heart medals in stock. Operation Coronet, the invasion of Honshu at the Kant Plain south of the capital, was to begin on "Y-Day", which was tentatively scheduled for 1 March 1946. Up to 2,000 kamikaze planes launched attacks during the Battle of Okinawa, achieving approximately one hit per nine attacks. An hour later, the Soviets began their advance simultaneously on three fronts: to the east, west, and north of Manchuria. Only Kysh (the southernmost island of Japan) and the beaches of the Kant Plain (both southwest and southeast of Tokyo) were realistic invasion zones. The entry of the U.S. into the Alliance meant the scope of the planned cross-Channel invasion would grow. Admiral Matome Ugaki was recalled to Japan in February 1945 and given command of the Fifth Air Fleet on Kysh. The military leaders were for outright rejection of the Allied surrender, as it did not guarantee the Emperors sovereignty. Beach Organization for Operation against Kyushu; from COMPHIBSPAC OP Plan A11-45, August 10, 1945. It is unknown to what extent they could have opposed Soviet landings in the far north of Japan. 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. [104] Nearly 500,000 Purple Heart medals (awarded for combat casualties) were manufactured in anticipation of the casualties resulting from the invasion of Japan; the number exceeded that of all American military casualties of the 65 years following the end of World War II, including the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The Soviets invaded Japan-held Manchuria on Aug. 9. 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. At the Yalta Conference (February 1945), the Allies had agreed that the Soviet Union would take the southern part of the island of Sakhalin, which Japan had invaded during the 19041905 Russo-Japanese War, and which Russia had ceded in the Treaty of Portsmouth after the war (the Soviets already controlled the northern part), and the Kuril Islands, which had been assigned to Japan in the 1875 Treaty of St. Petersburg. Background A U.S. Invasion of Japan Would Have Left Maybe Millions Dead The Soviets, however, had fewer than 400 ships, most of them not equipped for amphibious assault, when they declared war on Japan on 8 August 1945.[81]. Surprise resort trips and empty hotel rooms reveal how Russia's plan for an easy victory in Ukraine fell apart. [3] [67], Although chemical warfare had been outlawed by the Geneva Protocol, neither the United States nor Japan was a signatory at the time. 6 part 1. The advancing Soviets claimed to have killed 84,000 Japanese soldiers and captured almost 600,000. On 1 April 1945, four US divisions landed on Okinawa;the fighting became a war of attrition that lasted almost three months for an island the size of 485 square miles. [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. 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. The Cold War Notes. ", 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. How Russia Was Humiliated by Japan When They Fought Before - Newsweek Why America shouldn't have nuked Japan - Asia Times [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). An email sent by a whistleblower at FSB . Harry Truman's Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb - National Park Service 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. The Proposed Invasion of Japan On 8 May 1945, the Allies celebrated VE Day, marking the end of the war in Europe. President Truman authorized the use of the atom bombs in an effort to bring about Japan's surrender in the Second World War. By August, the Japanese Army had the equivalent of 65 divisions in the homeland but only enough equipment for 40 and ammunition for 30. However, as reported Japanese strength in the Home Islands continued to climb and Japanese military performance increased, so too did the casualty estimates. One staff study estimated that the kamikazes could destroy a third to half of the invasion force before landing. [1] They were to be armed with contact-fuzed mines, and to dive under landing craft and blow them up. These were the Army plans to conquer Japan - We Are The Mighty WW2 Debate: Was The US Right To Drop Atomic Bombs On Hiroshima 50 "land attack planes," 50 seaplane bombers, and 50 torpedo bombers flown by highly trained pilots for night attacks on convoy escorts. The Soviets had arrived to train on the first of 149 vessels the U.S. Navy was transferring to the Soviet Union. An inventory of mines was anchored to the sea bottom off each potential invasion beach for their use by the suicide divers, with up to 10,000 mines planned. In 1944, early planning proposed a force of 5001,000 aircraft, including units dedicated to aerial refueling. This declaration was made by Soviet Foreign Prime Minister Vyacheslav Molotov to Japanese ambassador Naotake Sat at 11pm Trans-Baikal time. A July Navy estimate, abandoning any distinction between training and combat aircraft, was 8,750; in August, 10,290. 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. 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. In my opinion, there should not be the slightest thought of changing the Olympic operation.[75]. Soviet Invasion of Manchuria: Finishing the Japanese Army Conflict in Asia began well before the official start of World War II. At U.S. behest, Ukraine held off anniversary attacks on Russia The Army began experimenting with compounds to destroy crops in April 1944, and within one year had narrowed over 1,000 agents to nine promising ones containing phenoxyacetic acids. These ranged from 0.42 dead and missing and 2.16 total casualties per 1000 men per day under the "European Experience" to 1.95 dead and missing and 7.45 total casualties per 1000 men per day under the "Pacific Experience. But the war in the east still raged on and Japanese surrender seemed a long way off. Ultimately, the Army's viewpoint prevailed. 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. On 8 August the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan at midnight. What if Hiroshima and Nagasaki never happened? That fleet's secret mission: to transport the Red Army for an invasion of Japan . 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. For the failed Mongol invasion attempts, see, "Soviet invasion of Japan" redirects here. [39] However, General George Marshall argued that forcing surrender this way might take several years, if ever. Courtesy of the US National Archives. Part 8, pp. [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. A number of surrender ceremonies took place across South East and East Asia culminating on 2 September when the formal instrument of surrender was signed by Allied and Japanese representatives on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. [34] The main message of "The Glorious Death of One Hundred Million" campaign was that it was "glorious to die for the holy emperor of Japan, and every Japanese man, woman, and child should die for the Emperor when the Allies arrived". Answer (1 of 4): When Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan, he presented the US with a considerable wish list of Lend-Lease materials. Emperor Hirohito, in a meeting with his Imperial Council, stated that he wished to surrender as long as the role of the emperor was not compromised. More than seventy years after the end of World War II, the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains controversial. In early 1946 would come Operation Coronet, the planned invasion of the Kant Plain, near Tokyo, on the main Japanese island of Honshu. The US had successfully tested the first atomic bomb in New Mexico 10 days earlier. The US Sixth Army, the formation tasked with carrying out the major land fighting on Kyushu, estimated a figure of 394,859 casualties serious enough to be permanently removed from unit roll calls during the first 120 days on Kyushu, almost enough to outstrip the planned replacement stream. Learn About D-Day, The Memorial, and Bedford - National D-Day Memorial The rise in . 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. 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. By the end of the war, these bombing raids burned 66 cities, destroying 20% of the housing and leaving about 15 million homeless. 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. 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. [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. [citation needed], While the geography of Japan was known, the U.S. military planners had to estimate the defending forces that they would face. [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. Allied grave registration forces counted 110,071 dead bodies of Japanese soldiers, but this included conscripted Okinawans wearing Japanese uniforms. Their surrender was caused by the dropping of two nuclear bombs by the United States on Aug 6 and Aug 9, on the cities of . The Soviet invasion of the Kuril Islands (18 August 1 September 1945) took place after Japan's capitulation on 15 August. Weapons, training and uniforms were generally lacking: many were armed with nothing better than antiquated firearms, molotov cocktails, longbows, swords, knives, bamboo or wooden spears, and even clubs and truncheons: they were expected to make do with what they had. 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. Prior to the First Quebec Conference, a joint CanadianBritishAmerican planning team produced a plan ("Appreciation and Plan for the Defeat of Japan") which did not call for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands until 194748. [25] The first official "plans indicated that assault, followup, and reserve units would all come from US forces".[25]. 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. The operation for the occupation of Japan following the landing may be a very long, costly and arduous struggle on our part. [86][pageneeded], In evaluating these estimates, especially those based on projected Japanese troop strength (such as General MacArthur's), it is important to consider what was known about the state of Japanese defenses at the time, as well as the actual condition of those defenses (MacArthur's staff believed Japanese manpower on Kyushu to be roughly 300,000). These flamethrowers were used to drive Japanese defenders from their caves and pillboxes. As for the second bomb on Nagasaki, that was just as unnecessary as the . 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. Invasion of Manchuria | Harry S. Truman As president, it was Harry Truman's decision if the weapon would be used with the goal to end the war. Here's what the U.S. Army had planned in case that didn't happen. Soviet forces invaded the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (Manchuria) under the command of Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky with 1.6 million soldiers. Reinforcements would have been available from those countries, as well as other parts of the Commonwealth. On that list was a modest amphibious capability: * 30 Tacoma-class patrol frigates * 24 Admirable-class minesweepers * 36 auxiliary motor minesweepers . [89] The Allies decided to launch a two-stage invasion. Fourteen U.S. divisions and a "division-equivalent" (two regimental combat teams)[14] were scheduled to take part in the initial landings. The counteroffensive forces were still farther back, prepared to move against the largest landing. The Americans lost 36 ships. Allied invasion planners in the Pacific were unaware that the Soviets were planning to keep that promise with an invasion of Hokkaido. [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).

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