Invasion of Japan '45-46

[spock1]

Ok, so now that we know where Wehrmacht '47 is going, we need to cover the Invasion of Japan in '45-46.
With them just waiting for us to show up and use, what they thought, their best saved armour and equipment for that invasion.
I mean, the Marine and Airborne will need that combat training when they hit Europe in '47, right?
Plus the Navy guys will find out how well the fleet would have done against al the naval and air Kamikazi attacks that would have thrown at them during the invasion.
A real blood bath anyway you look at it, for both us and them!
So bring on the late Japaese War stuff!

[Schwerepunkt]

For Dai Nippon, Light tank Type 5 Ke Ho, Medium tanks Type 4 Chi To, Type 5 Chi Ri, Heavy tanks: Type 95, Type 100 01 SP, second version of same.
Now, this is good equipment against the M4 Sherman but the US would have put ashore a number of high powered weapons: Mortar Little David, 36 inch firing a very heavy bunker busting shell, tanks Light M24 Chaffee; Medium: M4 (dozer), M4A3E8 (easy 8 with 76mm long), M4A3E2 (Jumbo), T30 (155 mm gun), T28 (super heavyweight tank with 12inch armor and 105mm gun).
The US also had 40,000 tons of chemical warfare weaponry with which to strike urban centers and of course, atomic weapons. I don't think a land invasion would have been needed, but if it had, the US had more than enough firepower to take out huge numbers of Japanese.
The USN would have felt the Kamikaze weapon greatly but by the time of the invasion, Japanese pilots could not have found the ocean, much less our ships at sea. Yes, they would have sunk some landing craft but Okinawa showed the USN could stand up to whatever Japan threw at her. Land based airpower from bases in China, Okinawa and the Marianas could have worked even greater ruin with the 8th and 15th Air Forces from Europe with B17s and B24s by the hundreds. Japan's surrender was the wise choice.

[spock1]

Ok, but remember, NO Russians this trip, and the A-bombs may not, by themsleves, have driven the Japanese to surrender.
And if, as GHQ sets forth in Wermarcht '47, no A-bombs either, the invasion would have been a go!
I grant you we would have won in the long run and their "best'" would have pailed in comparison to ours in that campaign.
But, they still would have frought to the very end and we would have had a very bloody time in reaching Tokyo and ending the War with Japan.
Further, the Kamikazi planes might have been dealt with, but the numbers used would have pailed in comparison to those encountered by the fleet in the previous attemps.
Then, of course, there are those speed boats and mini-subs, torpedos really, waiting to the sink the fleet in vast numbers!
Even in the real world our guys were amazed, at the end the war, at what was waiting for them if the invasion had taken place!
We just had no idea of what they had and how well they were prepared for us!

[Schwerepunkt]

....A Bombs were developed and used. It was immaterial what the Soviets did. The atom bombs are what drove Japan to surrender. Midget subs, torpedo boats, suicide craft and kamikazes would have resulted in more Japanese deaths than Allied.
The invasion timed for early 1946 would have ended by late 46 at the latest with Japan in total ruin and literally unreconstructable. Just my opinion.
However, even considering the lack of a bomb, Allied air, sea, and land forces would have crucified Japan in no uncertain terms. Chemical weapons could and would have been used, even if a-bombs were not. The Japanese could have deployed none of the systems mentioned by me in the earlier portion of this thread but even if they had, it was doomsday for Japan.

[cbovill]

If the emperor had not interceded and declared his intentions to the big six not to continue the war, then it would probably have been Operation Olympic vs. Ketsu-Go on the island of Kyushu. The Japanese were pretty much throwing everything they had into Kyushu, even the 36th Army in the Kanto plain around Tokyo was being talked about for transfer to Kyushu. There would have been plenty of surprises for the allies. Anywhere from 5 to 10,000 kamikazes that they planned to use en masse (very much unlike at Okinawa) and upwards of 2000 small suicide craft and so forth.

But even with throwing all their eggs in Kyushu, how the hell could they possibly stop such an irresistable force as Krueger's Sixth Army supported by the 5th, 13th, 15th air forces plus the B-29's of the 20th air force, and the entire USN of 1945 (3rd and 5th fleets). With the almost complete dispersal of Japanese aircraft, using them en masse would have been extraordinarily difficult, especially given the low training level of their pilots, and the kamikaze was by far their best weapon.

Even with the best Japanese ground forces on Kyushu, moving them would have been an act of suicide as anything that moved would have been witness to kingdom come from above. The best they could probably do is stay put, use whatever they had available to them and rely on the horrible terrain of Kyushu to extract as many casualties as possible out of the US in hopes that we would consider it too much and quit. Not very likely even with war weariness at home.

Despite what many of the players at the time declared many years after the war ended, it was the sudden appearance of atomic weapons that scared the ** CENSORED ** out of them (and the emperor) and brought about such a quick surrender.

[Schwerepunkt]

I may have underrated the ability of Japan to provide some suprises (costly ones) to the Allied invasion forces. I do think that the combined strength of the United Nations, on land, at sea, and in the air would have proven Japan's military and civilian sacrifices to be futile. I do believe that there would have been more than one million Allied casualties as some pessimists indicated but IMHO the use of the bombs prevented Japan from losing as many as 5-10 million dead and wounded.
In any event, a similation of this event would be a very interesting wargame but it would have to be divided by beachhead and perhaps down to battalion level. Providing some of the better projected Japanese armored vehicles would certainly be helpful to their cause. Lack of fuel would have prevented much mobility on their part but dug in pillboxes for some of these weapons might have been an even better employment.