[36] The Japanese were secretly constructing an underground headquarters in Matsushiro, Nagano Prefecture, to shelter the Emperor and the Imperial General Staff during an invasion. Seeman advised that American troops not enter an area hit by a bomb for "at least 48 hours"; the risk of nuclear fallout was not well understood, and such a short time after detonation would have exposed American troops to substantial radiation. [68], Fear of Japanese retaliation [to chemical weapon use] lessened because by the end of the war Japan's ability to deliver gas by air or long-range guns had all but disappeared. 5:03 a.m. The atom bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 killed by some estimates more than 200,000 people. [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. This included the planned invasion of Japanese territory in Sakhalin. [3] [98] [57] The United States Strategic Bombing Survey subsequently estimated that if the Japanese managed 5,000 kamikaze sorties, they could have sunk around 90 ships and damaged another 900, roughly triple the Navy's losses at Okinawa. The key assumption was large-scale participation by civilians in the defense of Japan. The ingredients in LN-8 and another tested compound would later be used to create Agent Orange, used during the Vietnam War. Before the main invasion, the offshore islands of Tanegashima, Yakushima, and the Koshikijima Islands were to be taken, starting on X-5. The Postwar World After World War II - ThoughtCo The Soviet Invasion of Manchuria led to Japan's Greatest Defeat The Soviets had arrived to train on the first of 149 vessels the U.S. Navy was transferring to the Soviet Union. Zaloga, Steven (2011). They supported mounting a large-scale thrust directly against the Japanese homeland, with none of the side operations that the Navy had suggested. 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. The entry of the U.S. into the Alliance meant the scope of the planned cross-Channel invasion would grow. . That fleet's secret mission: to transport the Red Army for an invasion of Japan . Initially, they were concerned about an invasion during the summer of 1945. 1940s 1945 - US USES ATOMIC BOMBS ON JAPAN TO END WWII In an attempt to end the war in the Pacific without a costly invasion of Japan, the US dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945 respectively. 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. 12 The Eastern Front: The German War against the Soviet Union. The race to produce the first atomic weapon before Germanywas headed by the Manhattan project. Later at Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, they switched strategies and dug in their forces in the most defensible terrain. Kanto 1,280,000, US military intelligence initially estimated the number of Japanese aircraft to be around 2,500. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Why America shouldn't have nuked Japan - Asia Times Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Unionwhich met at Yalta in Crimea to plan the final defeat and occupation of Nazi Germany. In the initial stage, the First Army would have invaded at Kujkuri Beach, on the Bs Peninsula, while the Eighth Army invaded at Hiratsuka, on Sagami Bay; these armies would have comprised 25 divisions between them. [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). [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). "[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. From CNN's Wayne Chang in Taipei [102] [67], Although chemical warfare had been outlawed by the Geneva Protocol, neither the United States nor Japan was a signatory at the time. 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. 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. These would have included spearheads of the war in Europe such as the US First Army (15 divisions) and the Eighth Air Force. In China, Operation Ichigo started in April 1944. 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. General Arthur MacArthur and the army planners urged an early assault on Kyushu followed by an invasion of the main island of Honshu. 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. [73], The Joint Staff planners, taking note of the extent to which the Japanese had concentrated on Kysh at the expense of the rest of Japan, considered alternate places to invade such as the island of Shikoku, northern Honshu at Sendai, or Ominato. The Soviets had arrived to train on the first of 149 vessels the U.S. Navy was transferring to the Soviet . Opposition from the United States and doubts within the Soviet high command caused the plans to be cancelled before the invasion could begin. The Cold War Notes. 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. Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. [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. Russia-Ukraine war news: Russian invasion fuels record defense spending Background Russia Planned To Attack Japan in 2021: Leaked FSB Letters - Newsweek As set out in prior parts of the series, communications intelligence revealed the massive Japanese build up on southern Kyushu, the planned target for an initial invasion of Japan in November 1945 (Operation OLYMPIC.) There is strong evidence that Marshall remained committed to an invasion as late as 15 August. 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). It's Time to Confront Painful Truths About Using the Atomic Bombs on Japan "[51] They were expected to serve as a "second defense line" during the Allied invasion, and to conduct guerrilla warfare in urban areas and mountains. The Soviets planned an invasion of Hokkaido in August 1945 At the Yalta Conference, Franklin Roosevelt secured a promise from Stalin to invade Japan, which was reiterated to Truman during the Potsdam Conference. Bombs filled with a new incendiary made of phosphorous and napalm were dropped on the city causing a firestorm that lasted several days causing tens of thousands of deaths. 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. 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. On that list was a modest amphibious capability: * 30 Tacoma-class patrol frigates * 24 Admirable-class minesweepers * 36 auxiliary motor minesweepers . "[87] To sustain the campaign on Kyushu, planners estimated a replacement stream of 100,000 men per month would be necessary, a figure achievable even after the partial demobilization following the defeat of Germany. The plans for war with Japan may have been related to a longstanding territorial dispute concerning the strategically. intensified to pave the way for the planned invasion of Kyushu. As with the fact that it was the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany at Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk that crushed Nazi Germany, not D-Day which came when Hitler's defeat was already inevitable, the truth about World War II against Japan is also gradually being admitted - even if it took 70 years to do it. This involved adding more fighter squadrons to the carriers in place of torpedo and dive bombers, and converting B-17s into airborne radar pickets in a manner similar to present-day AWACS.
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