Can Japan win any battles post 1943 against the US?

ben0628

Banned
Japan cannot win the war, but post 1943 can they win any battles against the US (excluding Burma and China)?
 
Yes. Had they went through with operation KON (a major counterattack against the US invasion of Biak) instead of committing everything against the Marianas the IJN could have inflicted a serious local defeat on the US forces in the area. Kurita pressing the attack at Leyte might also have produced a stinging tactical setback. On land, the Japanese could and did produce minor successes against the US Army and Marine Corps right up to the end of the war, but because of the nature of their succession of island "last stands" there was really no chance of actually winning.

If the US had gone ahead with the invasion of Kyushu, however, there was a very real potential for disaster...
 
Battles yes, but they're still going to lose the war. And having their mail read didn't help matters much.

I agree with BobTheBarbarian, Olympic would have been a bloodbath on both sides...
 
Of course, apart from the examples above, if Koga is not killed perhaps they will have a go at Yu-Go sakusen. If they at least manage to get close enough launch their planes from maximum range, they could potentially cause havoc at Majuro.
http://www.combinedfleet.com/U-GO.htm

Also, they should try as many Tan operations as they can, not just once, they're bound to cause some more serious damage.
 
Having thought a bit more about this, it is not inconceivable that actually even battles like Phillipine Sea could have been much less of a walk in the park than it was in OTL for the americans. Imo surely the japanese plans must have been for massive, coordinated airstrikes, but everything got unravelled on the 19th of June because of many poorly trained aircrew and probably luck too and they attacked piecemeal in four separate waves, being practically anihilated in the process. But if coordination would have been a bit better, maybe if they flew a bit lower to reduce the time they will be seen on the US radars, perhaps two deckloads of strikes from the carriers, one of about 200, another of about 150 planes could have overwhelmed temporaraily the F6Fs (not all of them were airborne at the same time, the largest number during the OTL battle was apparently 142) and go through to at least one of the TGs. Sure, the flak will be murderous, but they should hit some carriers, maybe some pilots will commit jibaku, and sink one or two of them (the CVLs being more vulnerable). The second wave could again damage a couple CVs, and all in all the americans might lose 1-2 CVs and have 3-4 damaged, and maybe 200-250 planes in all. The japanese will still lose almost all of their carrier planes and pilots, but at least they will have something to show for it. With fewer operational carriers the americans might send fewer planes against Ozawa next day (if any at all), which might prevent Hiyo being sunk. Bonus points if Taiho survives too, it was a lucky hit that caused it's sinking. So the japanese might only lose the Shokaku in this ATL.
 
Top