For example, although the Japanese had never perfected central control and massed fire of their artillery, this fact would be largely irrelevant to the type of defense they were organizing. However, Truman’s critics fail to consider the horrifically lethal conditions GI invaders would have faced: unpredictable weather, daunting terrain, and millions of Japanese soldiers and civilians willing to fight to the death.īeyond the facts that the Imperial Army was in somewhat better shape than is commonly assumed today and that the Japanese had correctly deduced the designated landing beaches and even the approximate times of the American invasions, a host of lethal tactical challenges faced GI invaders. Truman’s decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan in August 1945 confidently maintain that an invasion of the home islands – Kyushu in the south and central Honshu near Tokyo – would have resulted in far fewer casualties than were generated by the atomic attacks against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Safely removed more than half a century from the brutal World War II Pacific battles on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, critics of Harry S. – Secretary of War Henry Stimson to President Harry S. According to my recollection it will be much more unfavorable with regard to tank maneuvering than either the Philippines or Germany. The terrain, much of which I have visited several times, has left the impression on my memory of being one which would be susceptible to a last ditch defense such as has been made on Iwo Jima and Okinawa and which of course is very much larger than either of those two areas. The operation for the occupation of Japan following the landing may be a very long, costly and arduous struggle on our part. Invasion of Japan, 1945-46 Closeĭaunting terrain and fanatical resistance threatened to take a horrific toll on GI invaders.
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