Japanese attack on US Mainland

As a followup to the Pearl Harbor raid, The Japanese High Command decides to launch a small scale suicide raid on the US mainland. Idea is to sow panic and to force the US to maintain large naval and land forces on the mainland giving Japan a free hand.

Accordingly the Japanese High Command plans to launch a raid on the US mainland by landing a small commando type unit from a submarine. Think the Makin Island raid. In Early January a Japanese KRS minelaying submarine departs the fleet base at Kwajalein in the Marshal Islands. The submarine has be modified by landing the reload torpedoes, leaving only the 4 in the tubes and other extraneous gear is landed. A 75 man unit of 2 bobtail platoons from the SNLF is assigned to carry out the raid.
The raiding force is broken into 2 platoon of 35 men, composed of 3 10 man squads with a Type Nambu machine gun, a 3 man mortar squad with Type 89 Grenade launcher and command unit of officer and platoon segreant. A 5 man HQ unit with the company commander and , additional machine gun completes the force To increase firepower each man carries a Type 100 submachine gun. Each carries several Type 91 grenades, all having the propellant charge screwed into base to allow it to be fired from the Type 89. Incendiary shells and grenades are issued to each man and the Type 89 to start fires. Rations of 3 days hard tack biscuits and hard candy are issued


The submarine takes a southern route to the US, sailing toward Mexico, then following the coast north until reaches US mainland near San Diego. The journey is uneventful until the last few days where the submarine was forced to stay submerged , The air became foul with humidity and carbon dioxide from the exhaled breath. Temperatures reached 100 deg F (39 C) The sub surfaced at night to recharge its battery and air out the boat. 2 small Mexican fishing boats were encountered and sunk to avoid tipping off the Americans of their presence The landing beaches and tides selected for the raiding force had been scouted before the war by Japanese agents posing as fishermen. The landing force piled into rubber boats on the casing of the sub. By flooding down the rubber landing craft were swept off the boat and into the sea, taking only minutes to complete the operation. Landing on the scouted beaches the landing boats were deflated and buried , the Japanese would not need them to return. The Japanese fanned out to their objectives . One squad set up a road block on the coastal road while others moved inland to attack any civilian targets they came across. Any civilians encountered were ruthlessly slaughter, men, women and even children. Houses and barns were set on fire by the incendiaries. A Fire truck responding to a reported fire was ambushed, 4 of the men onboard were killed, one wounded man managed to escape into the brush and after walking several miles to raise the alarm.
Military units from the US Navy base in San Diego were mobilized , many of them sailors hastily armed and dispatched to locate the raider. An impromptu militia of local citizens formed, arming themselves with hunting rifles and shotguns Improvised grenades were quickly made by placing a quarter stick of dynamite in a tin can full of nails, A length of blasting fuse cut to about 5 seconds was used to set it off,. Some opted to carry sticks of dynamite which they lit the fuse and chucked at the enemy. Most of the men lacked cartridge pouches or belt, instead stuffing their pockets with cartridges and dynamite sticks . The area was in total chaos as reports of Japanese flowed in, many of they erroneous. A pickup truck of these militiamen drove into a Japanese ambush and were cut down The local radio stations began broadcasting news bulletins warning people to arm themselves , stay inside and report any suspicious activity to the local authorities. In turn the local police were overwhelmed by the volume of calls coming , As day broke the local authorities began to get a clearer picture of what was going on Military patrols with assistance of local militiamen began to react to the reports coming in, clashing with several of the Japanese units. Some of the militia fighters had previous military experience, most from the Great War a quarter century before or in the National Guard . One such unit came across a Japanese machine gun position , one group engaged the Japanese with their rifles while another using what cover available worked their way close to the Japanese before launching a volley of dynamite sticks and then finishing then off with their shotguns



To be continued ........
 
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Idea is to sow panic and to force the US to maintain large naval and land forces on the mainland giving Japan a free hand.
Unfortunately the US Navy and Coast Guard will probably still have more than enough resources after this incident to maintain the safety of the continental States while also engaging in counter-offensives across the Pacific.

Merely sowing panic strikes me as a waste of men and resources. If this kind of raid is to achieve anything of concrete strategic value, it ought to be a Saint Nazaire style operation. Pack several midget subs full of explosives and have them infiltrate into a major harbour before they disembark heavily armed SNLF saboteurs and are blown up near whatever warships of significance are berthed.
 

Grey Wolf

Gone Fishin'
Donor
You could combine this with the OTL sub gun attacks on lighthouses etc, to make it seem the attack is coming up and down the coast.

Japanese Americans might be thankful to be in internment camps after this, as there will be pogroms against them, with people accusing them of involvement, or sympathising
 
Admiral Halsey prediction will come true if that happens. "Japanese will only be spoken in Hell" if they attack civilians indiscriminately. So many things wrong with this. Number one is there is no Militia in 1941, everything was either Reserve federal military like the National Guard or reserve units, or state guard units and they were ready with more than shotguns and rifles. Lots of armories had at least BAR's, Thompsons, and sometimes M1919 and M1917 MG's in the arms rooms with ammunition for them. Lots of local police at that time had Tommy guns and BAR's or Colt Monitors because of the criminals in the 1930's.
 
Admiral Halsey prediction will come true if that happens. "Japanese will only be spoken in Hell" if they attack civilians indiscriminately. So many things wrong with this. Number one is there is no Militia in 1941, everything was either Reserve federal military like the National Guard or reserve units, or state guard units and they were ready with more than shotguns and rifles. Lots of armories had at least BAR's, Thompsons, and sometimes M1919 and M1917 MG's in the arms rooms with ammunition for them. Lots of local police at that time had Tommy guns and BAR's or Colt Monitors because of the criminals in the 1930's.
As for Japanese attacking civilians - they showed time and again that didnt give a s*** , civilian and military . would brutalize them with equal relish

Militia - federal law recognizes two classes of militia, the regular or organized militia covering those in the National Guard and the common or unorganized militia who covers those between ages of 18 and 45 who are not in the US forces or National Guard Also many states had State Guard forces which were to back up National Guard
State Guard could not be federalized and used outside their state without permission of the governor During World War I state guard forces were used to replace the National Guard after it was inducted into the US Army These forces was used to guard critical infrastructure- the bridge over the Niagara at Bufffalo Ny or the Soo Canal locks in MIchigan Several counties in Oregon formed their own militia forces

TILLAMOOK GUERILLAS

 
TILLAMOOK GUERILLAS
“If the same spirit and purpose animated all our citizens, similarly armed, attempted invasion of America must in the long run assuredly come to grief.”
WOW!
This is one of the best arguments in favor of the 2d Amendment I've ever read. I believe "a well regulated militia" had a completely different meaning to the authors of the Second Amendment than what most contemporary "scholars" admit today. The Virginia Declaration of Rights of June 12, 1776 and the exact same words as are incorporated in today's Commonwealth of Virginia Constitution explains it further:

Constitution of Virginia: Article I. Bill of Rights
Section 13.
Militia; standing armies; military subordinate to civil power

That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.

If the Japanese Commandos were not immediately suppressed by organized national or state military units or by the police, they would have been eventually cornered and shot to pieces by angry armed citizens. Rather than sowing long-term panic, a terrorist act like this would serve to energize and inflame the American public to the point that the "Germany First" policy may have to be relooked.
 
Again the militia did not exist then. For it to exist the Governor or President would have to declare that the militia was invoked and have them enter service. People cannot just say we are the Militia and we are attacking <insert name here>. Found it, the militia act of 1903 was what covered then and it said:
"
The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh sections give the Presi-
dent authority, in ease of invasion by a foreign power, rebellion,
or when the laws of the Union cannot be executed with the other
forces at his command, to call out " the militia " in such numbers
as may be necessary.* He may specify the period of service, not
exceeding nine months ; and any officer or enlisted man who fails
to present himself to the United States mustering officer, when so
called out, may be court-martialled. "

 
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As a followup to the Pearl Harbor raid, The Japanese High Command decides to launch a small scale suicide raid on the US mainland. Idea is to sow panic and to force the US to maintain large naval and land forces on the mainland giving Japan a free hand.

Accordingly the Japanese High Command plans to launch a raid on the US mainland by landing a small commando type unit from a submarine. Think the Makin Island raid. In Early January a Japanese KRS minelaying submarine departs the fleet base at Kwajalein in the Marshal Islands. The submarine has be modified by landing the reload torpedoes, leaving only the 4 in the tubes and other extraneous gear is landed. A 75 man unit of 2 bobtail platoons from the SNLF is assigned to carry out the raid.
The raiding force is broken into 2 platoon of 35 men, composed of 3 10 man squads with a Type Nambu machine gun, a 3 man mortar squad with Type 89 Grenade launcher and command unit of officer and platoon segreant. A 5 man HQ unit with the company commander and , additional machine gun completes the force To increase firepower each man carries a Type 100 submachine gun. Each carries several Type 91 grenades, all having the propellant charge screwed into base to allow it to be fired from the Type 89. Incendiary shells and grenades are issued to each man and the Type 89 to start fires. Rations of 3 days hard tack biscuits and hard candy are issued


The submarine takes a southern route to the US, sailing toward Mexico, then following the coast north until reaches US mainland near San Diego. The journey is uneventful until the last few days where the submarine was forced to stay submerged , The air became foul with humidity and carbon dioxide from the exhaled breath. Temperatures reached 100 deg F (39 C) The sub surfaced at night to recharge its battery and air out the boat. 2 small Mexican fishing boats were encountered and sunk to avoid tipping off the Americans of their presence The landing beaches and tides selected for the raiding force had been scouted before the war by Japanese agents posing as fishermen. The landing force piled into rubber boats on the casing of the sub. By flooding down the rubber landing craft were swept off the boat and into the sea, taking only minutes to complete the operation. Landing on the scouted beaches the landing boats were deflated and buried , the Japanese would not need them to return. The Japanese fanned out to their objectives . One squad set up a road block on the coastal road while others moved inland to attack any civilian targets they came across. Any civilians encountered were ruthlessly slaughter, men, women and even children. Houses and barns were set on fire by the incendiaries. A Fire truck responding to a reported fire was ambushed, 4 of the men onboard were killed, one wounded man managed to escape into the brush and after walking several miles to raise the alarm.
Military units from the US Navy base in San Diego were mobilized , many of them sailors hastily armed and dispatched to locate the raider. An impromptu militia of local citizens formed, arming themselves with hunting rifles and shotguns Improvised grenades were quickly made by placing a quarter stick of dynamite in a tin can full of nails, A length of blasting fuse cut to about 5 seconds was used to set it off,. Some opted to carry sticks of dynamite which they lit the fuse and chucked at the enemy. Most of the men lacked cartridge pouches or belt, instead stuffing their pockets with cartridges and dynamite sticks . The area was in total chaos as reports of Japanese flowed in, many of they erroneous. A pickup truck of these militiamen drove into a Japanese ambush and were cut down The local radio stations began broadcasting news bulletins warning people to arm themselves , stay inside and report any suspicious activity to the local authorities. In turn the local police were overwhelmed by the volume of calls coming , As day broke the local authorities began to get a clearer picture of what was going on Military patrols with assistance of local militiamen began to react to the reports coming in, clashing with several of the Japanese units. Some of the militia fighters had previous military experience, most from the Great War a quarter century before or in the National Guard . One such unit came across a Japanese machine gun position , one group engaged the Japanese with their rifles while another using what cover available worked their way close to the Japanese before launching a volley of dynamite sticks and then finishing then off with their shotguns



To be continued ........
Marines from nearby nCamp Pendleton were dispatched to the area along with naval personnel . Naval aircraft were sent aloft to locate the Japanese raiders
They kept in contact with the ground Marines using flares and smoke bombs to mark items of interest to be investigated. The local militiamen were pulled back, some were disorganized and undisciplined, firing at anything. They were reorganized and used on guard duty to relieve regular units. As the Marines swept the area they
encountered the Japanese, in some cases in structures they had captured after murdering the owners . True to their form the Japanese fought to the death. Wounded Japanese would try to detonate a grenade in a last gasp to try take some Marines with them. Over the next several days the Japanese raiders were flushed out and killed, The last Japanese straggler was killed a week later as tried to break into a house in search of food. He was shot by the owner with a .22 When all was done nearly 100 Americans were killed and 150 more wounded , many of them were civilians. President Roosevelt issued an order rounding up all the Japanese on the West Coast and Arizona, such was the outcry to "GET THE DIRTY JAPS" . Roosevelt's order was in many cases to spare Japanese civilians from reprisals by angry Americans . Several Japanese were killed in this manner, sadly several Asian Americans also fell victim to mistaken identity because they look like Japanese. Roosevelt in a fire side radio chat cautioned Americans not to blindly lash out.

At sea the I Boat which carried the raiders did not last long. The following night , while recharging its batteries, spotted what looked like a fishing boat, The I Boat turned its massive 140 mm (5.5 in) deck on what it thought was an unarmed fishing boat. It was in fact the 55 ft fishing boat "LUCKY DOG" , which had bee taken over by the Navy asa Yard Patrol craft. Outfitted with a .50 machine gun and 4 300 lb depth charges the YP was taken under fire the Japanese submarine, fortunately the shells missed. The YP returned fire with her .50 and crew members using rifles peppered the bridge and gun mount, wounding 2 Japanese. The submarine commander decided to dive and avoid the patrol craft. The YP skipper "guess mating": the location of the submarine dropped 3 depth charges. The old minelayer, with a test depth of only 200 feet was badly damaged and forced to surface. The YP, equipped with a civilian ham radio was able to raise the Navy base at San Diego. The Navy dispatched 2 destroyers to assist, The Japanese submarine headed south toward Mexico in attempt to reach Mexican waters . The patrol boat shadowed the submarine at a discreet distance , radioing updates . The destroyer cautiously approached the wounded submarine, wary of its massive deck gun, firing on the surfaced submarine After scoring several hits they chrged in to fished the submarine off only to be greeted with a masive explosion as the submarine commander detonated his torpedoes.
 
Admiral Halsey prediction will come true if that happens. "Japanese will only be spoken in Hell" if they attack civilians indiscriminately.
How is his prediction going to happen? I'd assume the rest of the war goes roughly as OTL. After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the Japanese want to surrender. What is the US going to do? Keep bombing Japan until there is no-one left? Or during the occupation ban the Japanese language? Neither of these strike me as plausible.
Maybe it's possible ITTL the Japanese don't want to surrender after the nukes, but then still at some point they will, either after they've lost the rest of their armies in China, or after some more nukes, or after Downfall (if Downfall fails, it's back to the nukes). At some point they will want to surrender, and that is way before the US killed all the Japanese.
 
How is his prediction going to happen? I'd assume the rest of the war goes roughly as OTL. After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the Japanese want to surrender. What is the US going to do? Keep bombing Japan until there is no-one left? Or during the occupation ban the Japanese language? Neither of these strike me as plausible.
Maybe it's possible ITTL the Japanese don't want to surrender after the nukes, but then still at some point they will, either after they've lost the rest of their armies in China, or after some more nukes, or after Downfall (if Downfall fails, it's back to the nukes). At some point they will want to surrender, and that is way before the US killed all the Japanese.
December 1941 surely can't be the first time in human history that a politician or military leader exaggerated a bit when they wanted to get across how angry they were?
Post's suggestion that an unconditional (or sufficiently unconditional) Japanese offer to surrender would be accepted sounds pretty realistic to me.
 
Again the militia did not exist then. For it to exist the Governor or President would have to declare that the militia was invoked and have them enter service. People cannot just say we are the Militia and we are attacking <insert name here>. Found it, the militia act of 1903 was what covered then and it said:
"
The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh sections give the Presi-
dent authority, in ease of invasion by a foreign power, rebellion,
or when the laws of the Union cannot be executed with the other
forces at his command, to call out " the militia " in such numbers
as may be necessary.* He may specify the period of service, not
exceeding nine months ; and any officer or enlisted man who fails
to present himself to the United States mustering officer, when so
called out, may be court-martialled. "

You're incorrect on several counts. Militias did indeed exist then, and in fact there are 22 plus Puerto Rico active state militias today, known as State Defense Forces. Governors didn't/don't need to call them into service because many are already active and ready for service. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_defense_force

Secondly, regarding the assertion that the body of the people can't just sense an immediate threat, and if not already a member of the U.S. military, National Guard or organized militia (state defense force) declare themselves members of the unorganized militia, take up their own arms and go and attack an invader, yes they can. It's the law and is a direct exercise of a citizen's U.S. and many State Constitutional rights. What's stopping them?

Per Wiki: "All able-bodied men 17 to 45 of age who are not part of the organized militia are known as the unorganized militia (10 USC)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_(United_States)
10 U.S. Code § 246 - Militia: composition and classes
(a)
The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b)The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
 
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It's all very well saying that the locals will rise up and deal with the Japanese, but there's a lot more to combat than knowing how to shoot straight. There's plenty of cases where partly trained men failed against professionals and also of properly trained men failing too.
The Oregon militia will be defending their homes, which should help, and will have hope and expectation of support, but in the first few days (before hunger, exhaustion, attrition and low supplies degrade Japanese performance) I'd be picking the elite commandos in any situation where they are attacking or can fight back. As time goes by, the militia should start improving as the Japanese tail off, but more than likely that's about the time when the State and National guard will start appearing to finish thing off.

You'd really want the militia to act like the Home Guard were supposed to. Use local knowledge to observe and track them, block main routes if needed and pick them off if the opportunity arises, but really just make life difficult until the pros arrive
 
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Yes it is much better to let organized forces such as state gaurd, police, army, national guard etc to handle the fighting. That being siad a large chunk of population in 1941 were either experienced hunters or veterans (many from WW1) or both. And while it would he ”better“ let the trained and organized troops deal with the raid the reality is that most smaller towns are not going to just sit back and let the Japanese raid wherever they wish with no resistance. The US is amd was very heavily armed citizenry compared to other countries and and tyhis will jave an effect if they are using small raiding parties from a single sub of small ship. Will americans die fighting off the raiders? Sure. But do you think no one will die in the raid if the locals dont fight back? Japanese history would tend to lead to the conclusion that many unarmed citizens will get killed or assaulted during a raid, so the Locals will fight back. How well? who knows. But i some areas of the coast the Japanese could easily find themselves radically out numbered.
And if Japan does pull off one raid and damages buildings assault/kill unarmed locals then you are going to see local militias formed in every community near the coasts. And the raiding parties aregoing yo face tons of resistance wherever the go. They may take more a,ericajs aith them but they are going to see the locals fighting back. And Japan can only land a few very small raiding parties So it will be a handful of inside nts along the coast. That will have little more actual effect then the balloon bombs did. But it will be a huge propaganda issue and the US will get even more pissed off. Which will not help Japans cause any.
 
You're incorrect on several counts. Militias did indeed exist then, and in fact there are 22 plus Puerto Rico active state militias today, known as State Defense Forces. Governors didn't/don't need to call them into service because many are already active and ready for service. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_defense_force

Secondly, regarding the assertion that the body of the people can't just sense an immediate threat, and if not already a member of the U.S. military, National Guard or organized militia (state defense force) declare themselves members of the unorganized militia, take up their own arms and go and attack an invader, yes they can. It's the law and is a direct exercise of a citizen's U.S. and many State Constitutional rights. What's stopping them?

Per Wiki: "All able-bodied men 17 to 45 of age who are not part of the organized militia are known as the unorganized militia (10 USC)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_(United_States)
10 U.S. Code § 246 - Militia: composition and classes
(a)
The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b)The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
Again a group of people, even of the appropriate age and status, cannot just get together, say we are the Militia, and then start attacking someone. You have to have someone in the Civil authority "Call out the Militia" to respond to the appropriate persons appointed by Law as the commander of the Militia to then attack.
 
Unfortunately the US Navy and Coast Guard will probably still have more than enough resources after this incident to maintain the safety of the continental States while also engaging in counter-offensives across the Pacific.

Merely sowing panic strikes me as a waste of men and resources. If this kind of raid is to achieve anything of concrete strategic value, it ought to be a Saint Nazaire style operation. Pack several midget subs full of explosives and have them infiltrate into a major harbour before they disembark heavily armed SNLF saboteurs and are blown up near whatever warships of significance are berthed.
Could enough munitions be packed on midget subs on 1 way trip to temporarily take the Panama canal out of operation (hitting the pacific locks or sinking high tonnage ships waiting at the entrance to clog transit lanes?) for a few weeks-months to delay amarican naval redeployment and give the japenese a longer window for operations discussed in the thread?
 
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Could enough munitions be packed on midget subs on 1 way trip to temporarily take the Panama canal out of operation (hitting the pacific locks or sinking high tonnage ships waiting at the entrance to clog transit lanes?) for a few weeks-months to delay amarican naval redeployment and give the japenese a longer window for operations discussed in the thread?
No, see:
 
Again a group of people, even of the appropriate age and status, cannot just get together, say we are the Militia, and then start attacking someone. You have to have someone in the Civil authority "Call out the Militia" to respond to the appropriate persons appointed by Law as the commander of the Militia to then attack.
Once word gets out about the Japanese, people in the area are not just going to sit around and watch them rampage They are going to grab their shooting irons, call all their friends and set out to confront the raiders instead on waiting for a formal notification Remember that these are people who know each other, are probably related and thus have a high degree of cohesion . The country back then was a lot more rural, everyone had a rifle/shotgun of some sort. Dynamite was sold openly at the local store, along with ammunition Add to that local knowledge and could be an effective force, especially if not confronting the better trained Japanese directly As poster said shadow them, lay ambushes, snipe until regular forces can arrive
 
Again a group of people, even of the appropriate age and status, cannot just get together, say we are the Militia, and then start attacking someone. You have to have someone in the Civil authority "Call out the Militia" to respond to the appropriate persons appointed by Law as the commander of the Militia to then attack.
Tell that to the “militia” that decides to get together and fight against you. I believe that is the entire premise of this argument, not the niceties or legality.
 
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