Was the invasion of Okinawa even necessary?

[Fishmoto37]

The bomb was almost ready, the B-29s could reach Japan from Tinian, and the escorting P-51s could reach Japan from Iwo Jima. Why invade Okinawa?

[MrMalachiCrunch]

The bomb was a secret (or so the plan was) and was not a sure thing.  I think they had to have plan 'A' the conventional route and the 'long shot' the atom bomb.

[Fishmoto37]

The bomb was a secret (or so the plan was) and was not a sure thing.  I think they had to have plan 'A' the conventional route and the 'long shot' the atom bomb.

  Washington knew the BOMB worked. Why not wait to see the results before spending lives on the Okinawa invasion? Okinawa was needed as a base for the invasion of mainland Japan. But what was the big hurry if the BOMB could end it all?

[otahere34]

  Washington knew the BOMB worked. Why not wait to see the results before spending lives on the Okinawa invasion? Okinawa was needed as a base for the invasion of mainland Japan. But what was the big hurry if the BOMB could end it all?

It is still another piece of land under our control. I would assume the U.S. wanted to get all the land they could so when the war ended, it could be easier to deal with.

Also on the plan A and 'long shot', we only had 2 bombs, what were we to do if the Japanese had not surrendered like most of the Generals had wanted to. We still would've had to invade IMO.

[ABWorsham]

There was many that thought Bomb or no Bomb, an invasion of the Japanese Islands would be necessary, to knock Japan out of the war. If an invasion was to take place, a sizable stageing area would need to be secure, that place was Okinawa. Up to that time, no large scale surrender of Japanese troops had taken place. It was thought we might have to bleed the Japanese homeland white, in order to win the war. Such an operation would make 'Overlord' look small.

[MrMalachiCrunch]

The Trinity test of the atomic bomb was on July 16, 1945.  Only then did they truly know the fatman plutonium bomb would work.  The US had a total of 6 bombs by the end of 1945, and I am not sure if that includes the 1 test and 2 used against Japan so they might have only had a few more to use. 

Planes do get lost and shot down, things happen.  It was not at all certain these nuclear attacks were going to have the effect they did.  Moreover, the invasion of Okinawa started in April 1945, 3 months before the first test never mind operational use.   

So, the invasion was not necessary if the US was willing to abruptly halt conventional invasion and telegraph the fact they had a different way of winning.

[Octospire]

Many B-29's and P-51's were forced to make emergency landings at airfields on Okinawa as the aircraft could not fly any further due to loss of fuel or battle damage. This in itself likely saved hundreds of lives in the long run especially if the war had of continued into 1946.

As others have said a staging area was required and Okinawa was the best for the purposes of an invasion of the Japanese home islands. Also had the emperor not got involved in making the Japanese surrender possible, its likely that the war would of continued until the Japanese military was completely destroyed by the means of an invasion of the Japanese home islands.

[CWO Marc]

The U.S. had no way of knowing for sure whether the two A-bombs dropped on Japan would convince the Japanese leaders to stop fighting.  The movie "Japan's Longest Day", which deals with the events leading up to the Japanese surrender, shows just how strongly some of those leaders wanted to keep fighting to the last man, even after the two A-bombs were dropped.  They wanted to force the Americans to invade the home islands and incur such massive casualties in the process that the U.S. would be persuaded to negotiate peace terms favourable to Japan.

[Gargantua]

WARS ARE FOUGHT IN THE WILL

The capture of Okinawa was a paramount -will- item,  something that could break the Japanese resolve, coupled with everything else that was toppling around them.

"You hit your enemy with your fist, not your fingers spread." - Guderian

The oppurtunity presented itself, so command went into Okinawa, we weren't holding any punches, we we're giving it to the Japanese as hard and as quick as possible.

Therefore Okinawa was a MUST.

[Fishmoto37]

WARS ARE FOUGHT IN THE WILL

The capture of Okinawa was a paramount -will- item,  something that could break the Japanese resolve, coupled with everything else that was toppling around them.

"You hit your enemy with your fist, not your fingers spread." - Guderian

The oppurtunity presented itself, so command went into Okinawa, we weren't holding any punches, we we're giving it to the Japanese as hard and as quick as possible.

Therefore Okinawa was a MUST.

  We have been playtesting Tigerman's Okinawa game recently and I got to musing about how necessary that invasion really was. So that is why I started this topic. Of course the battle for Okinawa was completed even before the first BOMB was tested in New Mexico. Even though those working on the project had confidence it would work maybe those in the military and Washington had plenty of doubt. Some even thought that the world wide atmosphere might burn up. Those working on the BOMB named it Trinity. It was also nicknamed the gadget!

[morrel]

For Micarthur and Patton to meet in central russia it was absolutely necessary
the other 4 a bombs could have been put to good use against anything that stood in their way

[CWO Marc]

The US managed to put together only three bombs by August 1945: one uranium bomb and two plutonium bombs.  The Manhattan Project scientists knew that the mechanically simpler uranium bomb would work, but they weren't sure about the more complex implosion-type plutonium bombs, so one of them was expended in a test (the Trinity explosion).  That left them with two operational bombs, which were used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Months earlier, U.S. analysts had concluded that it would take at least two bombs to (hopefully) convince Japan to give up: the first bomb to prove that the U.S. had a functional atomic weapon, and the second bomb to prove that they had more than one.

Regardless of the outcome of the A-bomb attacks, it was prudent for the U.S. to plan for an invasion of the Japanese home islands (Operation Olympic and Operation Coronet) in case Japan didn't surrender after the A-bomb was used.  Such an invasion required preliminary steps, one of which was to prepare to transfer some U.S. troops from Europe (where the war had ended in May 1945) to the Pacific.  This transfer plan infuriated and dismayed the G.I.s in Europe who had expected to be sent home once Germany was defeated, but fortunately it never had to be carried out due to Japan's surrender.  Taking Okinawa for use as a U.S. staging area, and to eliminate it as a Japanese airbase, was probably another necessity. 

Conceivably, the U.S. could simply have continued to fire-bomb Japan into eventual submission (Curtis Lemay's B-29s managed to demolish much of Tokyo without using any atomic weapons), without an actual invasion, if Japan had not given up.  One argument against this strategy, however, is that the many months this would have required would have given the Russians (who declared war of Japan in early August and invaded Machuria) an opportunity to land troops on the Japanese home islands -- perhaps even before the Americans themselves could land.  A Russian occupation of part of the home islands would have greatly complicated the settlement of the war and the establishment of the post-war power balance.  As things turned out, Japan surrendered before the Russians could set foot on the Japanese home islands; the Americans occupied the country, and basically took the position that Japan was now exclusively in the American sphere of interest and control, just as Eastern Europe was exclusively in the Soviet sphere of interest and control. 

[strategic planner]

Okinawa needed to be invaded as a plan b for a bomb failure. Think about pelielu, wrote off as an easy victory, phillipenes had been invaded a few days before successfully, ended up being the bloodiest and costliest battle of the war IMO

[Mallery29]

The more Japanese land that was under US control, the better....agreed that it was necessary in case the bombs failed, or if Japan was going to fight to the last man.  The faster and the more able to take over the main island before Russia could muster its own invasion force would help prevent a divided Japan like that of Germany/Berlin....imagine how the last 60 years would have played out with a divided Japan?

[Fishmoto37]

The more Japanese land that was under US control, the better....agreed that it was necessary in case the bombs failed, or if Japan was going to fight to the last man.  The faster and the more able to take over the main island before Russia could muster its own invasion force would help prevent a divided Japan like that of Germany/Berlin....imagine how the last 60 years would have played out with a divided Japan?

   How could the USSR have invaded Japan?