Allied command was divided into regions: by 1945, for example, Chester Nimitz was the Allied C-in-C Pacific Ocean Areas, while Douglas MacArthur was Supreme Allied Commander, South West Pacific Area, and Admiral Louis Mountbatten was the Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command. 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. 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. 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. In the days following the bombings Japan surrendered. Japanese military directives ordered the execution of all POWs being held if Japan was ever invaded. The atom bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 killed by some estimates more than 200,000 people. On 29 July, MacArthur's intelligence chief, Major General Charles A. Willoughby, was the first to note that the April estimate allowed for the Japanese capability to deploy six divisions on Kyushu, with the potential to deploy ten. 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. On 5 Apr 1945, the Soviet Union informed Japan that the Soviet Union would . By 1937 Japan controlled large sections of China, and war crimes against the Chinese became commonplace. Britain and Decolonisation in South East and South Asia, 1945-1948. By August, they had 14 divisions and various smaller formations, including three tank brigades, for a total of 900,000 men. The same day, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. [citation needed]. "It is an awful responsibility that has come to us," the president wrote. Stalin had agreed to enter the war against Japan at the Teheran Conference in 1943. In 1939, the armies of Japan and the Soviet Union clashed . On 6 August the lead bomber of three B-29s, Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibits, commander of 509th Composite Group, dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. For the failed Mongol invasion attempts, see, "Soviet invasion of Japan" redirects here. These flamethrowers were used to drive Japanese defenders from their caves and pillboxes. Only Kysh (the southernmost island of Japan) and the beaches of the Kant Plain (both southwest and southeast of Tokyo) were realistic invasion zones. Kyushu 900,000 Operation Olympic, the invasion of Kysh, was to begin on "X-Day", which was scheduled for 1 November 1945. 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. It's Time to Confront Painful Truths About Using the Atomic Bombs on Japan 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. Instead, at the Quebec conference, the Combined Chiefs of Staff agreed that Japan should be forced to surrender not more than one year after Germany's surrender. ", "That approximately twenty-one (21) hostile divisions, including depot divisions, will be on Honshu at the initiation of [Coronet] and that fourteen (14) of these divisions may be employed in the Kanto Plain area. [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. 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. 9 Aug 1945 - 2 Sep 1945. (U.S. Army) The assault on Japan was expected to take 18 months, starting with an intense blockade and air bombardment of Japan. 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. During World War II, the Japanese had a naval base at Paramushiro in the Kuril Islands and several bases in Hokkaido. Countless more would have been wounded. As for the second bomb on Nagasaki, that was just as unnecessary as the . Invasion of the Soviet Union, June 1941. Allied grave registration forces counted 110,071 dead bodies of Japanese soldiers, but this included conscripted Okinawans wearing Japanese uniforms. Truman's Options 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. 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. Operation Downfall, the codename for the invasion of Japan, was scheduled to begin on Nov 1, 1945. In May, Admiral Nimitz's staff estimated 49,000 U.S casualties in the first 30 days of Operation Olympic, including 5,000 at sea. 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. In the planned invasion of Japan, the US navy planners favoured the blockade and bombardment of Japan to instigate its collapse. One staff study estimated that the kamikazes could destroy a third to half of the invasion force before landing. Following the surrender and demobilization of Japan, vast amounts of war matriel were turned over to the US occupation forces in the Japanese Home Islands and South Korea. [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. [63] The buildup of Japanese troops on Kysh led American war planners, most importantly General George Marshall, to consider drastic changes to Olympic, or replacing it with a different invasion plan. Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. [citation needed], While the geography of Japan was known, the U.S. military planners had to estimate the defending forces that they would face. 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. The war cabinet met to consider peace terms for the first time the next morning, learning. 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. Operation Barbarossa: Date & Significance - HISTORY Learn About D-Day, The Memorial, and Bedford - National D-Day Memorial An hour later, the Soviets began their advance simultaneously on three fronts: to the east, west, and north of Manchuria. On 14 August Japan surrendered. The Soviet declaration of war also changed the calculation of how much time was left for maneuver. American support included Sherman tanks armed with flamethrowers. Unknown to the Americans, the Soviet Union also considered invading a major Japanese island, Hokkaido, by the end of August 1945,[77] which would have put pressure on the Allies to act sooner than November. 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. [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). This page was last edited on 30 April 2023, at 20:51. Victory over JapanDay marked the end of the Second World War in August 1945. Was the invasion of Okinawa even necessary? - Axis & Allies .org Manchurian Strategic Offensive | World War II Database - WW2DB Ultimately, the Army's viewpoint prevailed. The Invasion of Japan - Nov 1, 1945 - The Andalusia Star-News For the Decisive Battle Russia planned to attack Japan in 2021 according to leaked FSB letters Would Japan have surrendered without the atomic bombings? Once the atomic bomb became available, General Marshall envisioned using it to support the invasion if sufficient numbers could be produced in time. [25] The first official "plans indicated that assault, followup, and reserve units would all come from US forces".[25]. Background Soviet soldiers in front of Harbin railway station. Set to begin in November 1945, Operation Olympic was intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island, Kysh, with the recently captured island of Okinawa to be used as a staging area. 12 The Eastern Front: The German War against the Soviet Union. 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. Russia was preparing to attack Japan in the summer of 2021, months before President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an email featuring a letter from a whistleblower at. Kanto (Tokyo) 950,000 [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.