Back in June as I watched some of the coverage of ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the allied landing in Normandy, I was reminded of a far larger invasion that never took place but that had an impact on my life.

It was called Operation Downfall, the allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands by 1,700,000 troops that was canceled after Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The operation had two parts. The first was Operation Olympic set to begin on Nov. 1, 1945. Its goal was to seize the southern third of the southernmost home Island of Kyushu to be used as a staging area for the second part of Operation Coronet, the invasion of the Kanto Plain, near Tokyo on the main Japanese Island of Honshu. Forces allocated to Operation Olympic totaled 705,556 troops and consisted of 12 Army infantry divisions, three Marine divisions, and two regimental combat teams.

Opposing these forces on Kyushu would be the Japanese Second General Army with attached units and a strength of 605,000 troops.

These forces were supported by the sixth Air Army with 5,000 aircraft available as Kamikazes. Part two was Operation Coronet, the planned invasion on the main Japanese Island of Honshu planned for March 15, 1946.

Forces allocated to Coronet numbered 1,171,646 troops and included 21 Army infantry divisions, 2 armored divisions, I airborne division and 3 Marine divisions. Opposing these American forces on Honshu was the First General Army composed of 2 armored divisions, 16 infantry divisions, three Independent mixed brigades, and two independent armored brigades. Supporting the ground forces in these operations were the U.S. Navy’s Third Fleet consisting of 20 Fleet and light fleet carriers, 9 battleships, 26 cruisers, and 75 destroyers and the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet with 36 escort carriers, 11 battleships 26 cruisers, 387 destroyers and destroyer escorts and troop transports, landing docks, attack transports, and landing craft. In the air war support was provided to the Far East Air Forces with 14 bomber groups and 10 fighter groups. In addition, the 1000 B29’s of the Pacific Strategic Air Force provided further support along with the Eighth Air Force fresh from the skies over Germany.

A major goal of the invasion, in light of the end of the war in Europe, was to limit American casualties to the greatest extent possible by forcing Japan to surrender as quickly as possible so that American national morale would be maintained.

Following stiffened Japanese resistance in the Battles for Saipan and Okinawa, American planners understood that an invasion of the home islands would be costly. While a figure of 500,000 American casualties was used in briefings in early 1945, for actual planning purposes a figure of 1 million casualties was used Japanese planners knowing that Japan had no chance of victory attempted to organize a defense that would make the price of invading the home islands so costly for the allies that they might accept an armistice with Japan rather that unconditional surrender. The Japanese planned to commit the entire population to resisting the attack and began a propaganda campaign calling for the “glorious” death of 100 million civilians telling them that it was glorious to die for the holy Emperor of Japan even if their only weapon as a knife or spear.

At sea the Japanese defense depended on Kamikaze attacks. At Okinawa the Japanese had made one hit on a U.S. vessel for every nine attacks. Now they hoped to better this ratio to one hit per six attacks. During Okinawa fighting the target had been U.S. carriers but now the Japanese were training pilots to aim for troop transport to increase the human toll and to damage morale among American troops.

After the war the United States Strategic Bombing Survey estimated that if the Japanese managed 5,000 Kamikaze attacks that they could have sunk around 90 ships and damaged another 900. This is what America and her allies faced. The number of dead and wounded on both sides would have been horrendous.

Flushing the Japanese from caves and tunnel systems as had occurred at Iwo Jima and Okinawa had been difficult but now on a greater scale would have meant protracted bloody fighting. In the summer of 1945, my father departed the U.S. for Okinawa a month before I was born. He was a Marine Captain who would command a Machine Gun Co. in the First Marine Division that was scheduled for Operation Coronet, the landing on Honshu in March 1946.

The division expected 100% casualties between dead and wounded during the battle, so the news of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the subsequent Japanese surrender made for many happy Americans soldiers and Marines on Okinawa.

I understand that announcing to the world that we had the bomb through its use against Japan may have made the world a more dangerous place but because it brought an early end to the war it saved millions of American and allied service men from either death or becoming a casualty. Further millions of Japanese did not lose their lives in a hopeless battle for a lost cause and that is a good thing.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com