What if? Operation Downfall

Thanks again to World of Tanks. Click on our link https://tanks.ly/ArmchairHistorian and register today to receive a free Tier 6 tank, the Cromwell B medium tank, a 7-day World of Tanks premium account, 250K credits, as well as a free 10-battle rental of a Tiger 131 heavy tank, a T78 tank destroyer, and a Type 64 light tank! Sign up for Armchair History TV today! https://armchairhistory.tv/supporters/videos Merchandise available at https://armchairhistory.tv/collections/all Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fourthwall.wla.armchairhistory IOS App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/armchair-history-tv/id6471108801 Wishlist our next video game! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2878450/Master_of_Command_Seven_Years_War/ Discord: https://discord.gg/thearmchairhistorian Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArmchairHist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armchairhistorianshow Sources: Cox, Samuel. 2021. “H-057-1: Operations Downfall and Ketsugo – November 1945.” Naval History and Heritage Command. January 2021. https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-057/h-057-1.html#:~:text=The%20timetable%20for%20Operation%20Downfall,(Kanto%20Plain%2FTokyo). Givens, Adam. 2022. “Okinawa: The Costs of Victory in the Last Battle.” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. July 7, 2022. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/okinawa-costs-victory-last-battle. General Groves to Chief of Staff, “Memorandum to the Chief of Staff,” July 30, 1945, U.S. National Archives, MED records, TS Manhattan Project files '42-'46, folder 5B, copy in The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II: A Collection of Primary Sources, National Security Archive Briefing Book No. 162, edited by William Burr, The National Security Archive, Washington D.C. Hone, Trent. 2020. “Countering the Kamikaze.” U.S. Naval Institute. September 1, 2020. https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2020/october/countering-kamikaze. Jeffreys, Alan. 2023. “The Proposed Invasion of Japan.” Imperial War Museums. 2023. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-proposed-invasion-of-japan Olmsted, Dan. “Should We Use Poison Gas?” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. May 5, 2018. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/wwii-polls/roper-polls-poison-gas. “Pacific Typhoon October 1945 - Okinawa.” 2025. Navy.mil. 2025. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/pacific-typhoon-october-1945.html. “Target Committee Recommendations - Nuclear Museum.” n.d. Https://Ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/. https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/key-documents/target-committee-recommendations/. Toll, Ian. 2020. “An Attempted Coup Tried to Stop Japan’s Surrender in World War II. Here’s How It Failed.” Time. August 11, 2020. https://time.com/5877433/wwii-japanese-surrender-coup/ Toll, Ian, 2020. Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945. W.W. Norton, 2020. Trevithick, Joseph. 2020. In 1945, the United States Proposed Dumping Weed Killer on Japan. The National Interest (blog). December 30, 2020. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/1945-united-states-proposed-dumping-weed-killer-japan-175473. Armchair Team Credits: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sYjrtdKP67bvEH4UWOv-24_dwJGxZ395ZuczyKOUFNw/edit?usp=sharing