title: Orders of battle for Downfall
text: # Orders of battle for Downfall
  
  Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War II.
  
  The operation had two parts, Operation Olympic, intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island, Kyūshū, and Operation Coronet, the planned invasion of the Kantō Plain, near Tokyo, on the main Japanese island of Honshu. Olympic was scheduled for November 1945, to be followed by Coronet in early 1946.
  
  If Downfall had taken place, it would have been the largest amphibious operation in history, surpassing D-Day. The planned operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet declaration of war, and the invasion of Manchuria.
  
  ## Order of Battle for Olympic
  
  ### Allied
  
  Supreme Commander, Allied Forces Pacific General Douglas MacArthur
  
  **Ground forces**
  
  Should these four corps prove insufficient to accomplish the tasks assigned, elements earmarked for Coronet would be used to reinforce Sixth Army at the rate of three divisions per month beginning about 30 days after the initial landings.
  
      Sixth Army
      General Walter Krueger
         Peripheral landings
            40th Infantry "Sunburst" Division (Landing on Yakushima and Koshikijima Islands)
            158th Infantry Regiment (Landing on Tanegashima)
         I Corps (Landing at Miyazaki)
         Major General Innis P. Swift
            25th Infantry "Tropic Lightning" Division
            33rd Infantry "Illinois" Division
            41st Infantry "Sunsetters" Division
         V Amphibious Corps (Landing at Kushikino)
         Major General Harry Schmidt, USMC
            3rd Marine Division (Bougainville, Guam, Iwo Jima)
            4th Marine Division (Kwajalein, Saipan/Tinian, Iwo Jima)
            5th Marine Division (Iwo Jima)
         XI Corps (Landing at Ariake)
         Major General Charles P. Hall
            1st Cavalry Division
            Americal Division
            43rd Infantry "Winged Victory" Division
         IX Corps (Reserve afloat)
         Major General Charles W. Ryder
            81st Infantry "Wildcat" Division
            98th Infantry "Iroquois" Division
         Follow-up units:
            11th Airborne Division
            77th Infantry Division
  
  **Naval forces**
  
  
      Third Fleet
      Admiral William F. Halsey
         20 fleet and light aircraft carriers
         9 battleships
         26 cruisers
         75 destroyers
         incl. British Pacific Fleet
            6 fleet and light carriers
      Fifth Fleet
      Admiral Raymond A. Spruance
         36 escort carriers
         11 battleships
         26 cruisers
         387 destroyers and destroyer escorts
         394 AKA, AP, APA, APD, APH
         977 LSD, LSM, LST, and LSV
      Seventh Fleet
      Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid
  
  **Air forces**
  
  
      Far East Air Forces
      General George C. Kenney (119,000 men) – 14 bomber groups, 10 fighter groups
         Fifth Air Force
         Seventh Air Force
         Thirteenth Air Force
      United States Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific
      General Carl A. Spaatz
      Major General Curtis E. LeMay
         Twentieth Air Force (Lt. Gen. Nathan Twining) (77,000 men)
            1,000 B-29 Superfortresses
         Eighth Air Force (Lt. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle)
      Commonwealth forces
         Tiger Force (detached from RAF Bomber Command):
            480–580 Avro Lancaster bombers (about half to be used as tankers for in-flight refuelling)
         Australian First Tactical Air Force
            20 fighter/attack squadrons from the Royal Australian Air Force
  
  ### Japan
  
  **Ground forces**
  
  
      Second General Army
      Field Marshal Shunroku Hata
         Sixteenth Area Army
         Lieut. General Yokoyama Isamu (600,000 men)
            Northern Kyūshū — 56th Army
            Lieut. General Ichiro Shichida (365,000)
               145th Division
               312th Division
               351st Division
               124th Independent Mixed Brigade
               57th Division (20,000 men)
               4th Tank Brigade
            Southeastern Kyūshū — 57th Army
            Lieut. General Nishihara Kanji (150,000 men)
               Tanegashima—109th Independent Mixed Brigade (5,900 men)
               Miyazaki—154th Division, 156th Division, 212th Division (55,000 men)
               Ariake—86th Division, 98th Independent Mixed Brigade, 1 regiment, 3 infantry battalions (29,000 men)
               25th Division, 5th Tank Brigade, 6th Tank Brigade
            Southwestern Kyūshū — 40th Army
            Lieut. General Nakazawa Mitsuo (85,000 men)
               303rd Division (12,000 men) (Sendai)
               206th Division (Fukiage)
               146th Division, 125th Independent Mixed Brigade (S. Satsuma Peninsula)
               77th Division 1 tank regiment
            216th Division 4 brigades
  
  **Air forces**
  
  
      Air General Army
      General Masakazu Kawabe
         Sixth Air Army — Kyūshū
            5,000 aircraft assigned as kamikazes, 5,000 aircraft available for kamikaze service, 7,000 aircraft in need of repair
         100 Koryu-class midget submarines, 250 Kairyu-class midget submarines, 1,000 Kaiten manned torpedoes, 800 Shinyo suicide boats
  
  ## Order of Battle for Coronet
  
  ### Allied
  
  **Ground forces**
  
  
      First Army
      General Courtney H. Hodges
         III Amphibious Corps
            1st Marine Division (Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Okinawa)
            2nd Marine Division (Tarawa, Saipan, Okinawa)
            6th Marine Division (Okinawa)
         XXIV Corps
            7th Infantry "Bayonet" Division
            27th Infantry "New York" Division
            96th Infantry "Columbia" Division
      Eighth Army
      Lieut. General Robert L. Eichelberger
         X Corps
            24th Infantry "Taro" Division
            31st Infantry "Dixie" Division
            37th Infantry "Buckeye" Division
         XIV Corps
            6th Infantry "Red Star" Division
            32nd Infantry "Red Arrow" Division
            38th Infantry "Cyclone" Division
         XIII Corps (Reserve afloat)
            13th Armored Division
            20th Armored Division
      United States Army Forces Pacific reserve
         97th Infantry "Trident" Division
  
  Thirty days after the initial assault, each army would be reinforced by a corps of 3 divisions. Five days later an airborne division and a United States Army Forces Pacific Reserve Corps of 3 divisions would be made available. Strategic reserve for the entire operation would consist of a corps of 3 divisions located in the Philippines and divisions from the United States to permit reinforcement at the rate of 4 per month.
  
  **Unsourced listing of the aforementioned reinforcements**
  
  
      For First Army
         Unnamed follow-on corps
            5th Infantry Division
            44th Infantry Division
            86th Infantry Division
      For Eighth Army
         Unnamed follow-on corps
            4th Infantry Division
            8th Infantry Division
            87th Infantry Division
      United States Army Forces Pacific reserve
         11th Airborne Division
         Unnamed follow-on corps
            2nd Infantry Division
            28th Infantry Division
            35th Infantry Division
         Strategic reserve
            91st Infantry Division
            95th Infantry Division
            104th Infantry Division
      British Commonwealth Ground Forces
         Commonwealth Corps (Lt. Gen. Charles Keightley)
            3rd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)
            6th Infantry Division (Canada)
            10th Infantry Division (Australia)
  
  ### Japan
  
  All Japanese formations on Honshu were badly understrength and lacking in equipment. The American First Army's landings would likely have been opposed by the Japanese 52nd Army and the Eighth Army's landings by the Japanese 53rd Army.
  
      First General Army
      Field Marshal Hajime Sugiyama
         Twelfth Area Army
         General Shizuichi Tanaka
            36th Army – Urawa, Saitama
               81st Division
               93rd Division
               201st Division
               202nd Division
               206th Division
               214th Division
               1st Tank Division
               4th Tank Division
            51st Army – Tsuchiura, Ibaraki
               44th Division – Ogawa
               151st Division – Mito
               221st Division – Kashima
               115th Independent Mixed Brigade – Shibasaki
               116th Independent Mixed Brigade – Hokota
               7th Independent Armored Brigade – Ogawa
            52nd Army – Sakura, Chiba
               3rd Imperial Guards Division – Naruto
               147th Division – Mobara
               152nd Division – Choshi
               234th Division – Sōsa
               3rd Independent Armored Brigade
               8th Artillery Headquarters
            53rd Army – Isehara, Kanagawa
               84th Division – Odarawa
               140th Division – Kamakura
               316th Division – Isehara
               117th Independent Mixed Brigade – Numazu
               2nd Independent Armored Brigade – Tsudanuma
               11th Artillery Headquarters – Hiratsuka
            Tokyo Bay Garrison – Choshi, Chiba
            321st Division – Tokyoa
  