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[[image: a war map depicting the attack plan on Japan]] [[and a note: map references various U.S. military units and their assigned assault paths. Map references Japanese city and island names. Possible landing areas. OPERATION "OLYMPIC" scheduled November 1, 1945 (X-Day) U.S. 6th Army (Krueger) [[key words:]] Jap 16th Area Army Kyushu Tsuno Fukushima Koshiki Retto Miyazaki US I Corps Kagoshima Bay Kuro Shima Tanega Shima Kuchinoerabu Shima Sata Misaki US XI Corps US IX Corps (reserve) Oct 28 Uji Gunto ?Kisakaki Shima Oct 27 40 Inf Div Oct 27 158 Regt Cbt Team US V Amphib Corps POSSIBLE LANDINGS OPERATION "CORONET" tentatively scheduled for March 1, 1946 (Y-Day) [[KEY WORDS:]] Korea Jap. 17th Area Army Jap. 5th Area Army Otaru Hokkaido Sapporo Hakodate Sea of Japan Hanchiche Jap. 11 Area Army Jap. 12th Area Army Jap. 13th Area Army Jap. 15th Area Army Jap. 1st General Army HQ Sugiyama Jap. 2nd General Army HQ Hata Jap. 36th Army (reserve) and Air General Army Sado Tokyo Nagoya Kyoto Kobe Osaka Hiroshima Tanega Shima U.S. 8th Army (Eichelberger) x Corps (Sibert) 3 infantry divs XIV Corps (Griswold) 3 infantry divs XIII Corps (Gillem) 2 armoured divs Feint Oct 30/Nov 1 US V Amphib Corps (Schmidt) 2 Marine 3 Marine and 5 Marine Divs 40 inf Div Oct 27/28 US XI Cops (Hall) 1 Cav (Armd) Div 43 inf and Americal Divs. US I Corps (Swift} 25 inf 33 inf and 41 inf Divs US IX Corps (rider) 77 inf 83 inf and 98 inf Divs (reserve corps) US 1st Army (C.H. Hodges) III amphibious Corps (Geiger) 3 Marine divs. XXIV Corps (J R Hodges) 3 infantry divs. JAPANESE AREA ARMY HEADQUARTERS -18- [[end page]] [[start page]] POST SCRIPT With the capture of Okinawa during the summer of 1945 the Americans in the Pacific had finally obtained what the allies in Europe had enjoyed all along—a large island capable of being used as a launching platform for invasion. Following the cessation of hostilities with Germany, millions of American soldiers, sailors and airmen were being redeployed to the Pacific for the anticipated invasion of Japan. The center of this immense military buildup and the primary staging area for the invasion was the island of Okinawa. American military planners knew that the invasion of Japan would be a difficult military undertaking. Japan had never been successfully invaded in its history. Six and one-half centuries before, an invasion similar to the planned American invasion had been attempted and failed. That invasion had striking similarities to the one being planned by the Americans that summer of 1945. In the year 1281 A.D., two magnificent Chinese fleets set sail for the Empire of Japan. Their purpose was to launch a massive invasion on the Japanese home islands and to conquer Japan in the name of the Great Mongol Emperor, Kublai Khan. Sailing from China was the main armada, consisting of 3,500 ships and over 100,000 heavily armed troops. Sailing from ports in Korea was a second impressive fleet of 900 ships, containing 42,000 Mongol warriors. In the summer of that year, the invasion force sailing from Korea arrived off the western shores of the southernmost Japanese island of Kyushu. The Mongols maneuvered their ships into position and methodically launched their assault on the Japanese coast. Like human surf, wave after wave of these oriental soldiers swept ashore at Hagata Bay, where they were met on the beaches by thousands of Japanese defenders who had never had their homeland successfully invaded. The Mongol invasion force was a modern army, and its arsenal of weapons was far superior to that of the Japanese. Its soldiers were equipped with poisoned arrows, maces, iron swords, metal javelins and even gunpowder. The Japanese were forced to defend themselves with bow and arrows, swords, spears made from bamboo and shields made only of wood. - 19 -