USA plan to Invade Japan #ww2

Codenamed Operation DOWNFALL and advocated by members of both the Army and Navy, this invasion plan for the Japanese home islands was separated into two parts.

The first stage would be the invasion of the Japanese island of Kyushu, with a diversionary attack to be made against the smaller island of Shikoku to the east. Here, 900,000 Japanese soldiers would await them, entrenched and dug in across the island's many mountains and caves. Scheduled to take place in the autumn of 1945, the invasion would involve 700,000 men who would attempt to secure the island and its airfields, to help support the subsequent invasions to the North.

The second stage of Operation DOWNFALL was to begin in March 1946. Needing an estimated 1.2 million American soldiers, they would target Honshu, the largest Japanese island, where Tokyo, the nation’s capital, was located.

This plan, however, was expected to be the bloodiest campaign of the Pacific to date, far exceeding the horrors seen on Okinawa, Iwo Jima and the Philippines combined. Okinawa had seen American forces experience over a 35 per cent casualty rate, with the invasion of Japan expected to at least match this number, if not exceed it. With almost 2 million troops lined up to participate in the invasion, it was estimated that this would result in over 700,000 American casualties.

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