(06-05-2014 03:08 PM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  Otherwise know as Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet, the United States plan for the invasion of Japan. Estimates of American deaths range from several tens of thousands into the hundreds of thousands. Estimated Japanese deaths have a top end in the millions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall

Alternatives ranged from a multi-year naval blockade to the eventual solution, the atom bomb.

Lots of unanswered here:

- What had the invasion gone ahead as planned?
- Support on the homefront was waning after the defeat of Hitler.
- Transferring troops home just to send them back to war on the other side of the planet.
- If you follow the "Iwo Jima" casualty model then its going to be bad
- Soviet domination of mainland Asia and possibly Soviet invasion of the Japanese northern island of Hokkaido

DISCUSS!!!!

There are some that insist that Russian involvement is what truly pressed Japan into surrendering to America. I find it interesting that it is nigh impossible to get to ground truth regarding the mindset of Japanese leadership in the waning days of the war.

But in a scenario where the A-bomb doesn't exist, I think the US conducts bombing operations that make Dresden and Tokyo look like fireworks displays before putting a single person ashore.