Operation Olympic TL

Has anyone written one? I tried using the search function, but it got scared and timidly handed me threads about the 2012 London Games. After rustling it's hair and sending the search function on it's way, I thought I'd come here and ask is there an scnearios detailing an Allied invasion of Japan?
 
I did one for an MA Thesis-used a pair of wargames (one from Strategy and Tactics, the other called Pacific: 1941-45 which had an expansion set to enable OLYMPIC and CORONET to be gamed out-along with AUGUST STORM) for that. Basically, the invasion was going to be delayed anyway due to Typhoon Louise that hit Okinawa on 9 Oct 45. The delay would've been 12-15 days, so X-Day on Kyushu is no earlier than 12 Nov 45, instead of 1 Nov 45-which was the target date. I had initial objectives-seizing Kagoshima Bay, obtaining other harbors at Ariake Bay and Miyazaki, and airfields and space for further airfields-by X+35. By X+48, all U.S. Forces have achieved the basic objective of seizing southern Kyushu-with the only organized resistance being a bastion in the Kirishima Mountains, but cut off from all supply, reinforcement, etc. Japan surrenders on 15 Feb 1946 as a result.

And the Thesis Committee liked it: they felt that it made the plans for both sides "come alive", so to speak, and helped describe the battle as it was fought-on my kitchen table, at least-in the paper.
 
Well, there's this old TL, which died three years ago after just six pages. Still, it has plenty of useful information. If you want to do your own, that would be cool.
 
I did one for an MA Thesis-used a pair of wargames (one from Strategy and Tactics, the other called Pacific: 1941-45 which had an expansion set to enable OLYMPIC and CORONET to be gamed out-along with AUGUST STORM) for that. Basically, the invasion was going to be delayed anyway due to Typhoon Louise that hit Okinawa on 9 Oct 45. The delay would've been 12-15 days, so X-Day on Kyushu is no earlier than 12 Nov 45, instead of 1 Nov 45-which was the target date. I had initial objectives-seizing Kagoshima Bay, obtaining other harbors at Ariake Bay and Miyazaki, and airfields and space for further airfields-by X+35. By X+48, all U.S. Forces have achieved the basic objective of seizing southern Kyushu-with the only organized resistance being a bastion in the Kirishima Mountains, but cut off from all supply, reinforcement, etc. Japan surrenders on 15 Feb 1946 as a result.

And the Thesis Committee liked it: they felt that it made the plans for both sides "come alive", so to speak, and helped describe the battle as it was fought-on my kitchen table, at least-in the paper.

Any chance of posting the paper on here? It sounds pretty interesting.
 
I did one for an MA Thesis-used a pair of wargames (one from Strategy and Tactics, the other called Pacific: 1941-45 which had an expansion set to enable OLYMPIC and CORONET to be gamed out-along with AUGUST STORM) for that. Basically, the invasion was going to be delayed anyway due to Typhoon Louise that hit Okinawa on 9 Oct 45. The delay would've been 12-15 days, so X-Day on Kyushu is no earlier than 12 Nov 45, instead of 1 Nov 45-which was the target date. I had initial objectives-seizing Kagoshima Bay, obtaining other harbors at Ariake Bay and Miyazaki, and airfields and space for further airfields-by X+35. By X+48, all U.S. Forces have achieved the basic objective of seizing southern Kyushu-with the only organized resistance being a bastion in the Kirishima Mountains, but cut off from all supply, reinforcement, etc. Japan surrenders on 15 Feb 1946 as a result.

And the Thesis Committee liked it: they felt that it made the plans for both sides "come alive", so to speak, and helped describe the battle as it was fought-on my kitchen table, at least-in the paper.

I'd be interested to read that too.
 
Sorry, guys, but that paper is on a 3.5" floppy disk-and my PC has no floppy disk drive.....and nobody had heard of flash drives back in 1999 when I finished the bloody thing.

I'll dig out the thesis itself and put some of the key events-it may be a few days-all of my thesis material's packed in a box and I have to dig it out. I do have the actual invasion plans from both the Army and Navy (copies from National Archives in the former, microfilm copies from the latter). Nothing signed by His Majesty MacArthur, but I do have stuff signed by Adm. Chester Nimitz.
 
I can let a few things out: the bombs are not dropped, due to technical issues at both Oak Ridge and Hanford, for one. Operation ZIPPER, the British attack on Malaysia to retake Singapore, is launched in late August. AUGUST STORM, the Soviet attack on Manchuria, takes place on 23 August. And Typhoon Louise on Okinawa forces the postponement of OLYMPIC by 15 days: X-Day in Kyushu is 15 Nov 45.

The first test of the Atomic Bomb ITTL is 12 Feb 46: three days before the Japanese surrender.

One thing that a lot of writers forget when describing the planned invasion is how close Japan was to defeat by mid-summer '45: the shortages of food, munitions, fuel, raw materials, etc.; few veteran or trained airmen,lack of a navy, experienced combat units-except for a few divisions brought home from Manchuria and China, none of the divisions in Japan had seen combat, with most raised in the Spring-Summer '45 time frame. And most soldiers called up then were either under 17 (16 was the new minimium age) or over 30. They were short of everything, and I mean everything. One division in Kyushu (146th ID) only had rifles for 10% of its men, and most of its fortifications hadn't even been started when the war actually ended. While the Kyushu fighting is bloody, and produces more casualties than Okinawa, the losses TTL parallel Normandy, which cost the U.S. about 65,000 casualties from D-Day to D+48.
 
The beginning:

August, 1945: Air and naval operations against Japan continue. Carrier- and land-based air mount strikes in general preparation for OLYMPIC.

22 August, 1945: Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov receives the Japanese Ambassador, who had been hoping for a positive reply to the sincere requests of the Japanese Government for Soviet mediation of an end to the Pacific War. Instead, the old Bolshevik reads aloud the Soviet Declaration of War.

23 August: Soviet forces attack the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, Karafuto (South Sakhalin) and the Kuriles. Fighting is fierce and bloody, but the Soviet blitzkreig on the plains of Manchuria and through the Gobi Desert into China is unstoppable. Despite this, the Japanese, as usual, fight to the death.

23 August: Operation ZIPPER begins on the West Coast of Malaya. This is the British and Commonwealth attack intended to retake Singapore. British, Indian, and British colonial troops from East and West Africa participate. Air and naval support provided by the RAF and both the Royal Navy and the French Navy (BB Richeliu with several cruisers and destroyers). Fighting is expected to last seven months.

6 September: After weeks of arguing, and two assassinations (Togo, the Foreign Minister-and Marquis Kido, the Lord Privy Seal, the Japanese Government formally rejects the Potsdam Declaration in an Imperial Rescript.

10 September: Meeting at Pearl Harbor involving President Truman, the JCS, and both Admiral Nimitz and General MacArthur. Both commanders recommend no change in OLYMPIC. Truman agrees, and though formal Presidential Approval had been authorized on 18 June, Truman insisted on a final conference to confirm the decision. After the meeting, a formal "execute" order is given for OLYMPIC.

10 September through 9 October: Air and naval action in support of OLYMPIC preparation continues. Vice Adm. Frank Fletcher's North Pacific Force operates in support of Soviet efforts to clear the northern Kuriles and enable shipping to enter the Sea of Okhotsk and deliver Lend-Lease supplies to Soviet Far East ports.

British Pacific Fleet elements mount a ten-day series of carrier strikes on the Hong Kong-Canton area to draw attention away from Kyushu.

U.S. Eighth Air Force now fully operational on Okinawa, with groups operating B-17s, B-24s, and B-29s, and either P-51H or P-47N fighters. All units are veterans of the air war in Europe.

Soviets overrun Karafuto. Japanese garrisons in the Kuriles continue to hold out. Each island must be cleared, one-by-one. And the defenders, as usual, fight to the death. The Soviets are experiencing what the Americans have gone through in the Central Pacific Campaign.

Continued carrier air strikes on Japanese mainland targets. U.S. Navy Escort carrier groups penetrate the East China Sea and launch strikes against Japanese targets on the China Coast. Several coastal targets on the Japanese Mainland are bombarded by both USN and Royal Navy battleships.

9 October: Typhoon Louise hits Okinawa, causing considerable damage to airfields, troop camps, radar stations, and other facilities. A number of invasion craft (LCIs and LCMs) are sunk or washed ashore.

10 October: Typhoon Louise slams into Kyushu, washing out defenses, wrecking crops, and imparing road travel-worse, in some areas, than the American bombing.

11 October: A delay of up to two weeks is recommended for OLYMPIC. MacArthur agrees, as does Admiral Nimitz. OLYMPIC is pushed back to 15 November 1945.
 
Top