Japanese Plan to Defend the Home Islands

[jacob-Lundgren]

thats what happens when 1 side totaly loses a way but wont admit it my friend. drastic situations wind up with drastic solutions for good or bad.

japan should have given in to almost any demands because once an invasion started the US would not have stopped no matter the cost. at that point total victory would be required over japan. and if japan had been invaded odds are a big log of its citizens today might not be alive.

 

[Stonewall]

I think I saw the same program on the History channel describing the American plans for Operation Olympic. They showed the beaches that were to be assaulted, and all that stuff. Then the focus changed dramatically to the Japanese perspective. The Japanese knew exactly where an invasion would have come from and on which beaches the Americans would have landed.

There was no hope for Japan to win any kind of a military victory. And as a previos poster pointed out, the Japoanese objective was to create enough casualties to force the Americans to negotiate a peace.

I don't think that Japan's industrial capacity or strategic materials mattered much in August of 1945.
They had plenty of material to fight the kind of battle that they thought they needed to force the US to the peace table. They had plenty of aircraft to Kamikaze the invasion fleet. Their shortage was in pilots, just like the Germans. And certainly, the Japanese had plenty of people willing to die fighting and killing Americans.

 

[unmerged(9422)]

Originally posted by jacob-Lundgren
thats what happens when 1 side totaly loses a way but wont admit it my friend. drastic situations wind up with drastic solutions for good or bad.

japan should have given in to almost any demands because once an invasion started the US would not have stopped no matter the cost. at that point total victory would be required over japan. and if japan had been invaded odds are a big log of its citizens today might not be alive.

Thank you for replying to my post, friend.

However, I disagree that Japan did not admit losing. Most of the Japanese people and government knew that the war was going against Japan many months before. There were several attempts to make peace with the Americans. In January, 1945 a negotiation was attempted which, I have read, was quite similar to that which the United States demanded at the end of the war. But, unfortunately, I don't know if that is true or not as I have not read the original copy myself. The U.S. Government ignored this.

During the summer of 1945, the Suzuki Cabinet had worked towards trying to make a peaceful resolution, and also there were plans to send Prince Konoe Fumimaro as a diplomat to the United States to try and discuss peace. Before the atomic bombs were dropped, Japan tried to make peace through neutral Soviet Union to the United States (The U.S. closed off its diplomacy with Japan by this time). But, the USSR was already planning to invade Manchukuo and Chishima, so they didn't pass it along. In the end, peace was sent through neutral Switzerland.

I think that the Americans delayed the peace because of the atomic bomb project. They were building the bombs through the war, and by 1945 they were near completion. They had already deliberately left the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki untouched unlike the other cities, so that they could use the bombs on them when they were complete. The invasion of Japan was being planned as a consideration of the bombs not yet being complete. If they were complete during the invasion, then probably a way to use them effectively with the invasion would be planned.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki, if the invasion happened, would have probably been destroyed by normal bombing and chemical warfare. If the invasion didn't happen, as historical, that would be because the bombs were to be dropped. After the United States used its atomic bombs, it accepted peace with Japan. I think also the United States wanted peace fast in the end, was because they realized the growing power of the Soviet Union.

I don't think the war was completely over in the last years and months. I think Japan did have a chance to make peace, using the "decisive battle" strategy which was being used.

 

[unmerged(9422)]

Originally posted by Stonewall
I think I saw the same program on the History channel describing the American plans for Operation Olympic. They showed the beaches that were to be assaulted, and all that stuff. Then the focus changed dramatically to the Japanese perspective. The Japanese knew exactly where an invasion would have come from and on which beaches the Americans would have landed.

There was no hope for Japan to win any kind of a military victory. And as a previos poster pointed out, the Japoanese objective was to create enough casualties to force the Americans to negotiate a peace.

I don't think that Japan's industrial capacity or strategic materials mattered much in August of 1945.
They had plenty of material to fight the kind of battle that they thought they needed to force the US to the peace table. They had plenty of aircraft to Kamikaze the invasion fleet. Their shortage was in pilots, just like the Germans. And certainly, the Japanese had plenty of people willing to die fighting and killing Americans.

Yes, that is correct. The Japanese defense plan knew that it couldn't hold off the American forces forever. However, it was thought that if they could be beaten off long enough, and enough were killed, then the Americans would have negotiated peace.
I don't think finding Kamikaze pilots would have been a problem, as you have pointed out. At the end of the war, many people signed up for the kamikaze. I think they were very brave, but it was also quite sad.. I think the kamikaze could have done some considerable damage to the American fleet before they reached the islands. Kaiten could have as well.

I think Japan could have defeated the Americans into negotiating peace, and defeated the Americans at the battle of the Home Islands, unless the Americans had nuclear and/or chemical weapons, which they did. As the Americans got closer to Japan, the defenses were even stronger. At Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the Americans took heavy casualties, and at Okinawa, Americans became worried because of the losses.

Now, in the Home Islands there would have been millions of people fighting, and even fiercer fighting than before. I think that strategy could have made the Americans want to make peace, but I think if they used chemical or nuclear weapons, they could have won.


Meiji-Tenno

 

[unmerged(8084)]

Just wondering, how many more Japenese civilian casualties would have occurred had the end of the war not been in August 45... What I mean is, how many more civilians would have died due to starvation because of the blockade, or firebombing from the air?

 

[Tim O]

Meji-Tenno says they estimated 5 million deaths in an earlier post in this thread.