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planned soviet invasion of japan

    planned soviet invasion of japan

    The well-established Japanese garrison had 8,500 troops and fielded about 77 tanks. This included the planned invasion of Japanese territory in Sakhalin. "[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. Despite the shattering damage it had absorbed by this stage of the war, the Imperial Japanese Navy, by then organized under the Navy General Command, was determined to inflict as much damage on the Allies as possible. Soviet forces invaded the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (Manchuria) under the command of Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky with 1.6 million soldiers. . 140 reconnaissance planes to detect the approach of the Allied fleet. Interservice rivalry over who it should be (the United States Navy wanted Nimitz, but the United States Army wanted MacArthur) was so serious that it threatened to derail planning. The provinces of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi were taken and by October 1944 Sichan was the last large province still held by the Chinese Nationalists. [74] Attacking northern Honshu would have the advantage of a much weaker defense but had the disadvantage of giving up land-based air support (except the B-29s) from Okinawa. [12], Physically, Japan made an imposing target, distant from other landmasses and with very few beaches geographically suitable for sea-borne invasion. On that list was a modest amphibious capability: * 30 Tacoma-class patrol frigates * 24 Admirable-class minesweepers * 36 auxiliary motor minesweepers . It is unknown to what extent they could have opposed Soviet landings in the far north of Japan. 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. The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, killing 210,000 peoplechildren, women, and men. The remaining Imperial Japanese Navy was wiped out at Leyte Gulf off the Philippines, which was liberated in early 1945. In the planned invasion of Japan, the US navy planners favoured the blockade and bombardment of Japan to instigate its collapse. [1] This implied a total of 70,000 American casualties in the battle of Kyushu using the June projection of 350,000 Japanese defenders. Richard B. Frank states that when the proposal reached Truman in June 1945, he vetoed the use of chemical weapons against personnel; their use against crops, however, remained under consideration. Korea 247,000 What Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Portends for Japan's Northern Territories Tokyo appears to have finally realized that Putin has no intention of ever handing any of the disputed islands back. [20] (The Overlord invasion of Normandy, by comparison, deployed 12 divisions in the initial landings.) More than seventy years after the end of World War II, the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains controversial. 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. [citation needed], While the geography of Japan was known, the U.S. military planners had to estimate the defending forces that they would face. Olympic was to be mounted with resources already present in the Pacific, including the British Pacific Fleet, a Commonwealth formation that included at least eighteen aircraft carriers (providing 25% of the Allied air power) and four battleships. About 39,000 were killed. They hoped that at least 15 to 20% (or even up to a half) of the US transport ships would be destroyed before disembarkation. 330 Navy bombers flown by highly trained pilots to attack the Allied carrier task force to prevent it from supporting the invasion convoys. Courtesy of the US National Archives. 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.) "[99] From D-Day to V-E Day, the Western Allies alone suffered some 766,294 casualties. All of which resulted in the first atomic bomb test carried out at the Alamagordo Air Force Base, New Mexicoon 16 July 1945. From CNN's Wayne Chang in Taipei Victory over JapanDay marked the end of the Second World War in August 1945. Plan Your Visit Current Exhibitions Calendar of Events . After the name Operation Olympic was compromised by being sent out in unsecured code, the name Operation Majestic was adopted. Widespread chemical warfare was considered against Japan's population[65] and food crops. There is strong evidence that Marshall remained committed to an invasion as late as 15 August. Kysh was to be invaded by the Sixth United States Army at three points: Miyazaki, Ariake, and Kushikino. Following the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, plans were also made to transfer some of the heavy bomber groups of the veteran Eighth Air Force to airbases on Okinawa to conduct strategic bombing raids in coordination with the Twentieth. Allied invasion planners in the Pacific were unaware that the Soviets were planning to keep that promise with an invasion of Hokkaido. The same day, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. "[87] This assessment included neither casualties suffered after the 90-day mark (US planners envisioned switching to the tactical defensive by X+120[88] ), nor personnel losses at sea from Japanese air attacks. [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. 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. They supported mounting a large-scale thrust directly against the Japanese homeland, with none of the side operations that the Navy had suggested. The entire island of Okinawa is 464sqmi (1,200km2). By mid-1945when plans for Coronet were being reworkedmany other Allied countries had, according to Skates, "offered ground forces, and a debate developed" amongst Western Allied political and military leaders, "over the size, mission, equipment, and support of these contingents". The offensive was finally halted in December. Had reinforcements been needed at an early stage of Olympic, they would have been diverted from US forces being assembled for Coronetfor which there was to be a massive redeployment of units from the US Army's Southwest Pacific, China-Burma-India and European commands, among others. Giangreco argues that the alternative, a land invasion of . [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". According to Edward J. Drea, the strategic use of chemical weapons on a massive scale was not seriously studied or proposed by any senior American leader; rather, they debated the tactical use of chemical weapons against pockets of Japanese resistance. 100 transport planes carrying 1,200 commandos for a raid on the US airbases on Okinawa, following the success of earlier smaller-scale operations. On 5 Apr 1945, the Soviet Union informed Japan that the Soviet Union would . 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. [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). 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. Barton, Charles A. Zaloga, Steven (2011). War with Japan. President Truman had four options: 1) continue conventional bombing of Japanese cities; 2) invade Japan; 3) demonstrate the bomb on an unpopulated island; or, 4 . As for the second bomb on Nagasaki, that was just as unnecessary as the . Emperor Hirohito summoned an Imperial Council asking that his ministers accept the terms forthwith and surrender unconditionally. The Fifth Air Fleet was assigned the task of kamikaze attacks against ships involved in the invasion of Okinawa, Operation Ten-Go, and began training pilots and assembling aircraft for the defense of Kysh, the first invasion target. 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. In July MacArthur's Intelligence Chief, Maj. Gen. Charles A. Willoughby, warned of between 210,000 and 280,000 battle casualties in the push to the "stop line" one-third of the way up Kyushu. Some 1,200 suicide divers had been trained before the Japanese surrender. ET, April 24, 2023 China respects sovereign state status of ex-Soviet Union countries, foreign ministry spokeswoman says. [78][79][80] As a result, in Project Hula (1945), the United States transferred about 100 naval vessels out of the 180 planned to the Soviet Union in preparation for the planned Soviet entry into the war against Japan. [53] The Okinawa experience was bad for the USalmost two fatalities and a similar number wounded per sortieand Kysh was likely to be worse. 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. The G-7 consists of the United States, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Canada. As to the movement of ground forces I do not credit the heavy strengths reported to you in southern Kyushu. [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]. However, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 forced the suspension of this plan: the Soviets had to divert most of their resources to fighting the Germans and their allies, primarily on land, throughout most of the war, leaving their navy relatively poorly equipped. 6 part 1. An Army estimate in May was 3,391 planes; in June, 4,862; in August, 5,911. For the failed Mongol invasion attempts, see, "Soviet invasion of Japan" redirects here. In 1939, the armies of Japan and the Soviet Union clashed . Japans surrender in Manchuria. Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from 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. [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. Japan holds the G-7 presidency this year, and Kyodo News reported last week that such a step is being . The capital Rangoon was retaken in May 1945. The Soviet invasion of Manchuria and other Japanese colonies began at midnight on August 8, sandwiched between the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. [9][10], The United States Navy urged the use of a blockade and airpower to bring about Japan's capitulation. [19] Coronet would have been even larger than Olympic, with up to 45 U.S. divisions assigned for both the initial landing and follow-up. On 26 July, the United States, China and Great Britain issued the Potsdam Declaration calling for the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces and the occupation of Japan by the Allies. On 10 August Japan offered to surrender unconditionally under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration as long as the emperor remained sovereign ruler. 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. NEMURO, Japan Soviet soldiers barged into Hirotoshi Kawata's home on Sept. 4, 1945, searching for hidden Japanese soldiers and valuables. [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. Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II. 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. We shall incur the losses incident to such a war and we shall leave the Japanese islands even more thoroughly destroyed than was the case with Germany. Chitrapu 1 CHAPTER 25 Operation Downfall: Proposed invasion of Japan that was replaced by atomic bombs Manhattan Project: Top Secret plan to convert nuclear power into a weapon Divine Wind: Japanese kamikaze pilots Yalta: Where Big Three met to discuss postwar plans D-Day: invasion of Normandy to liberate France from Germans Relocation centers: Prison camps where Japanese-Americans r detained . They achieved complete surprise, outgunning and outflanking the defending Japanese Kwantung Army of 713,000 troops, commanded by General Otozo Yamada. Background As president, it was Harry Truman's decision if the weapon would be used with the goal to end the war. On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union officially declares war on Japan, pouring more than 1 million Soviet soldiers into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, northeastern China, to take on the. Ultimately, the Army's viewpoint prevailed. It was the largest Japanese campaign on land during the war comprising 500,000 troops. 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. [100] [3] In the last days of World War II, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, as Stalin secretly agreed at . That fleet's secret mission: to transport the Red Army for an invasion of Japan . A July Navy estimate, abandoning any distinction between training and combat aircraft, was 8,750; in August, 10,290. In the early years of World War II, the Soviets had planned on building a huge navy to catch up with the Western world. There was no mention of the Emperor in the declaration as public opinion was not in favour of his retention, although it had previously been decided in committee. [41] Despite its inability to conduct large-scale fleet operations, the IJN still maintained a fleet of thousands of warplanes and possessed nearly 2 million personnel in the Home Islands, ensuring it a large role in the coming defensive operation. Soviet declaration of war. The Soviets invaded Japan-held Manchuria on Aug. 9. The battle resulted in 72,000 US casualties in 82 days, of whom 12,510 were killed or missing (this figure excludes the several thousand US soldiers who died after the battle indirectly, from their wounds). Ultimately, the Navy partially conceded, and MacArthur was to be given total command of all forces if circumstances made it necessary. 'Every precaution must be taken not to give the enemy cause for a pretext to use gas,' the commanders were warned. 109 (8): 4647, History of Planning division, ASF. Opposition from the United States and doubts within the Soviet high command caused the plans to be cancelled before the invasion could begin. The Americans lost 36 ships. General Umezu Yoshijiro, the army chief of staff, signed on behalf of the Imperial Japanese Army in front of the newly appointed Supreme Commander, Allied Powers in Japan, General Douglas MacArthur. If not checked, this threatened "to grow to [the] point where we attack on a ratio of one (1) to one (1) which is not the recipe for victory. 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. The Japanese planned an all-out defense of Kysh, with little left in reserve for any subsequent defense operations. American support included Sherman tanks armed with flamethrowers. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese-held Manchuria on the night of August 8. "[72] An air burst 1,8002,000ft (550610m) above the ground had been chosen for the (Hiroshima) bomb to achieve maximum blast effects, and to minimize residual radiation on the ground, as it was hoped that American troops would soon occupy the city. Beach Organization for Operation against Kyushu; from COMPHIBSPAC OP Plan A11-45, August 10, 1945. The entry of the U.S. into the Alliance meant the scope of the planned cross-Channel invasion would grow. A study done by General MacArthur's staff in June estimated 23,000 US casualties in the first 30 days of Olympic and 125,000 after 120 days, fighting an assumed Japanese force of 300,000[91] (in actuality some 917,000 Japanese troops were on Kyushu,[92]). Even after the bombs and the Soviet invasion, some of Japan's hawks. 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. Manchurian Strategic Offensive. Top Image: Remains of a Shinto Shrine, Nagasaki, Japan, October 1945. The transferred vessels included amphibious assault ships. 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. Soviet soldiers in front of Harbin railway station. [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. 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. Japan's rejection of the demand led to final order to proceed with atomic bombing. While some totals (particularly for items such as swords and small arms) may be inexact because of the problems of collection and the activities of the black market, the amount of military equipment available to the Japanese in and around the Home Islands by August 1945 was roughly as follows: "Invasion of Japan" redirects here. Based on intelligence available early in 1945, their assumptions included the following:[13]. 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. Opposition from the United States and doubts within the Soviet high command caused the plans to be canceled before the invasion could begin. (U.S. Army) The assault on Japan was expected to take 18 months, starting with an intense blockade and air bombardment of Japan. The defending forces of 77,000 troops (and 20,000 Okinawan militia) largely hid in the caves during the bombardment which withstood all but a direct hit to the entrance, with the resulting raising of Japanese morale. Herbert Hoover, in memorandums submitted to Truman and Stimson, also estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 fatalities, which were believed to be conservative estimates; however, it is not known if Hoover discussed these specific figures in his meetings with Truman. One compound designated LN-8 performed best in tests and went into mass production. Olympic was also to include a deception plan, known as Operation Pastel. It had already been decided that Germany would . At this juncture, the key interaction would likely have been between Marshall and Truman. 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. The Soviets informed the Japanese in April that their neutrality pact was at an end. Allied grave registration forces counted 110,071 dead bodies of Japanese soldiers, but this included conscripted Okinawans wearing Japanese uniforms. Contributor: C. Peter Chen. Share. 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. The next day a reply was drafted by the US which insisted that any imperial authority would be in the hands of the Supreme Commander of the Allied powers. Militarily Japan was finished (as the Soviet invasion of Manchuria that August showed). [67], Although chemical warfare had been outlawed by the Geneva Protocol, neither the United States nor Japan was a signatory at the time. Planning was later scaled back to 22 squadrons and, by the time the war ended, to 10 squadrons: between 120 and 150 Avro Lancasters/Lincolns, operating out of airbases on Okinawa. The Allies decided to launch a two-stage invasion. 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. On 8 May 1945, the Allies celebrated VE Day, marking the end of the war in Europe. The Soviet declaration of war also changed the calculation of how much time was left for maneuver. [95] Admiral King thought that casualties in the first 30 days would fall between Luzon and Okinawa, i.e., between 31,000 and 41,000. 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. The Soviets had arrived to train on the first of 149 vessels the U.S. Navy was transferring to the Soviet . General Arthur MacArthur and the army planners urged an early assault on Kyushu followed by an invasion of the main island of Honshu. Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the . Over 14 million Chinese died during the war, of which 2 million were battlefield casualties. That under such circumstances he can possibly amass from 2,000 to 2,500 planes in that area by exercising a rigid economy, and that this force can operate against Kyushu landings by staging through homeland fields.". [citation needed]. Operation Olympic would attack southern Kysh. [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.

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