What if MacArthur dies by accident at some point in mid-1944? Instead of an invasion of the Philippines, the US moves directly towards striking Japan, with the invasions of the Bonins and Ryukyus taking place roughly four months earlier than in OTL. Say Iwo Jima takes place from October-December 1944 (February-March 1945 OTL) in place of Leyte, with the "Final Battle" that Leyte Gulf was in OTL being fought in the vicinity. Okinawa is invaded on New Years' Day 1945, with resistance wrapping up in March 1945.
Moving up invasion dates accordingly, does this mean we actually see Downfall taking place? Operation Olympic (invasion of Kyushu) was scheduled for October 1945. Under the new schedule, Olympic will go ahead in June 1945: fully two months before the atomic bomb is ready. These will be two awful months for the Allies in any Kyushu invasion...does this change the circumstances of the use of the atomic bomb at all?
Interestingly enough, Admiral King thought that Kyushu was a bad idea once Allied intelligence picked up the rapid increase in Japanese troop movements to the island during the spring and summer of 1945. It seems like the island of Shikoku was proposed as an alternative landing point, seeing as it was less defended, but MacArthur was adamant in going for Kyushu. With no MacArthur, do we see a less-deadly Olympic analogue taking place at Shikoku in June 1945?
Is this plausible? Any comments, ideas as to how this would develop would be appreciated.
Moving up invasion dates accordingly, does this mean we actually see Downfall taking place? Operation Olympic (invasion of Kyushu) was scheduled for October 1945. Under the new schedule, Olympic will go ahead in June 1945: fully two months before the atomic bomb is ready. These will be two awful months for the Allies in any Kyushu invasion...does this change the circumstances of the use of the atomic bomb at all?
Interestingly enough, Admiral King thought that Kyushu was a bad idea once Allied intelligence picked up the rapid increase in Japanese troop movements to the island during the spring and summer of 1945. It seems like the island of Shikoku was proposed as an alternative landing point, seeing as it was less defended, but MacArthur was adamant in going for Kyushu. With no MacArthur, do we see a less-deadly Olympic analogue taking place at Shikoku in June 1945?
Is this plausible? Any comments, ideas as to how this would develop would be appreciated.