During the war in the Pacific, there were two main theaters pushing towards Japan. One was MacArthur's advancements in the southwest Pacific towards the Philippines. Then there was Nimitz' island hopping campaign through the central Pacific that eventually ended up in the capture of Okinawa and Iwo Jima. These were considered stepping stones that had to be overcome to allow the USAAF to base its heavy bombers on those islands. This allowed them to fairly easily reach the home islands of the Japan.

All of this was pretty well planned out before the war even began. It was realized in the 1930s that the Japanese may well become a major threat in the area, and Plan Orange was developed. This plan envisioned the US Navy and Marines along with some Army units doing exactly what they did in 1943-45 in terms of attacking and occupying island bases.

Next was the plan to actually invade Japan itself. But before this could be realized, Japan had to be totally cut off from incoming supplies and raw materials. Their naval and air power also had to be reduced as much as possible. In late 1944, submarine operations started hunting Japanese shipping at an increasing rate, concentrating on military vessels. Shipping of all sorts had been fairly well bottlenecked along the Chinese coast. Cutting off the supply of raw materials from southeast Asia was a priority. Indeed, this was quite successful so that by early 1945, Japan was essentially cut off.

It was at this time that the USN started doing task force level attacks on the home islands themselves. Air attacks increased with aircraft hitting all sorts of targets, from aircraft manufacturing to steel production to air fields to naval installations. Attacks on Kure shipyards and anchorages were especially effective in sinking a number of the few large ships left. As the Japanese Navy and Army rarely communicated directly with each other, air defense was limited until ground spotters actually saw incoming air raids.

Later, shore bombardment began with American battleships, cruisers and even destroyers attacking those facilities their guns could reach. With no Navy to react to these incursions, there was little that the Japanese could do. Any air defense was sporadic at best and easily fought off by the carriers of the task groups.

As we all know, Japan never was invaded, even though complete operational plans for Operation Olympic had been developed. This plan was to occupy the lower third of Kyushu, leaving the rest under Japanese control. By that time the numbers of US troops would have been overwhelming and all that was needed was to develop bases for continued air attacks before the final landing on Honshu itself on the Kanto Plain where Tokyo is located.

The author tells a fairly complex story in such a way that we can all understand the sequence of events and the importance of the main points. I particularly like how the plans for Operation Olympic have been included as I never really understood the goals until now. Same for the various shore bombardment sorties as I had been blissfully unaware that such things took place. The air attacks I knew, but not the naval bombardment. Add to it some excellent maps and period photos, and you have a great look at a very important phase of the Pacific War. Highly recommended.

March 2020

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